Footprint Stepping Stone

Pinterest is a site that absolutely LOVE!  In fact I have become completely enthralled with it lately.  I think because summer is just around the corner and I will have spare time this summer when I am home with the kids.  I've been using probably three times per week because of all the wonderful recipes I want to try!  Anyway, I had found some cool stepping stone ideas and I remember that my mother in law had been talking about needing to get a plate made with Brooklyn's footprints since I had made her a plate from Painted Plate with Lincoln's footprints on it.  My thought was to make a stepping stone with her footprints on it.  

I started with a concrete stepping stone and some combo adhesive grout that I purchased at Home Depot.  For the decor I used some tile pieces and some marbles.  It would be fun to start collecting unique dishware pieces from garage sales to us in future stepping stones as well.  

The first step was to lay out my design.  It took me a few tries, but eventually I ended up with a pattern I liked.  I placed a thin layer of the grout adhesive directly on the stepping stone and then set my tiles in place.  Brooklyn's footprints were the inspiration around the project so I wanted them to be the central focus.  It was very hard to get a good print with the grout adhesive.  I attempted three times before I ended up with the final.  What seemed to work the best was letting the grout adhesive dry a little before making the print.  For future stepping stones with hand and or footprints I will test some other ideas for the highest quality print.    once the pattern was applied I let it set for 24 hours.  

Next it was time to fill in the space between my tiles.  I found that using an old sock on my hand helped to get the clumps out and smooth the surface as much as possible.  The stepping stone then had to set for another 24 hours.

Once it was dry the last step was to clean up the tile pieces and smooth them out.  I used a putty knife and a warm wet rag.  It took a bit of elbow grease, but really didn't take too long to clean each piece.  I think my mother in law will like it :-)