How to Make Cement Garden Stones

We had so much fun making these DIY garden stones. Follow along and learn how to make cement garden stones yourself! How to Make Cement Garden Stones

It’s time to make a concrete Garden Stone. Are you ready? This is the perfect time to hang out at home and create some. 

Pick up some cement or have some cement mix delivered to your door by Amazon (affiliate link.)

I measured out 2.5lb on my handy food scale. Glad it’s finally getting some use.

Add one cup water. Just enough to moisten all of the cement. No more.

Stir until no cement is left dry.

Prepare your mold. If you are using something inflexible like these mini loaf pans, coat them with oil or Pam. If you are using a flexible plastic mold or milk carton or such, you shouldn’t need to do so.

Add cement to pans and smooth top. Tap mold on hard surface to level and release trapped air, if possible.

If you are going to add tiles to your stone, now is the time to do so.

If you are just going to do the stamped “engraved” letters, set a timer for 30 minutes.

Maybe use this time to clean your tools. Clean cement outside so you don’t destroy your plumbing.

If you want your stone to look like ours, pick up these Stepping Stone Stamps (affil link). 

Take a peek at your cement. If water is accumulating on top, dab it dry with a paper towel.

At about 30 minutes, scratch the surface with a toothpick, if it makes a “dry” mark, you are ready. If not, wait about 10-15 more minutes. I did one stone at 30 minutes and one at 40 minutes and the 40 minute stone held its letter shapes better.

Stamp your letters. You can make small lines to use as guides, to stamp on a straight line or to find your center. Start with the center letters and work your way out to the edge.

Am I a nerd for thinking this is awesome? yes.
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keep stamping. If you mess up, you should be able to smooth out the surface and restamp. At 30 minutes, I was able to do so.

LOVE! But see how the little piece of the “E” broke?

Try to fix that with a toothpick.

Worked pretty well!

Now smooth any unwanted marks or guidelines with a clean dry fingertip.

And that’s it! Let it dry undisturbed for 24 hours.

But now you have all that cement, why not make more?

Wondering why one says “UNLESS?” At the end of the book/movie, The Lorax (affiliate link) the Lorax leaves you with a single word carved in stone. UNLESS. Since it’s time to get green in the garden, at least in Texas & California, we were inspired to show you how to make an UNLESS garden stone. Of course you don’t have to do UNLESS but Lorax fans will love the inside reference. Doesn’t every garden need a little Seuss?

Are you excited that you’ve learned how to make cement garden stones? We hope so! Visit our Garden and Flowers section for more beautiful outdoor projects like How to Build a Raised Garden Bed, and follow us on Pinterest for even more inspiration and tutorials.

This post has been edited (2020) but was originally sponsored by Universal Pictures and The Lorax in 2012.

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86 Comments

Debbie

I love playing with cement from stones to pots for plants. this past fall i helped my grandkids make stepping stones and a couple of pots that they decorated with small stone and gems. We have let them sit outside to weather so that they can plant them this summer. Keep up the great job of stoning,. I enjoy seeing what everyone comes up with.

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Allison

Love this! These would be super fun ways to label plants in the garden! Can’t wait to try!

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Laura

This is one of the best DIY gardening projects I’ve ever seen! I always love cement stones but thought they would be too difficult to make myself. I think my backyard needs a bunch of these strategically hidden in every nook and cranny.

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Jenoside

I’m a bridge engineer, so I’m always excited about concrete – precast, prestressed, reinforced and otherwise. In other news, the building material that you made those garden doodads out of is concrete, not cement (actually it was probably technically mortar, which is cement and small aggregate, whereas concrete also includes large aggregate). Cement is the binding agent used to create concrete. Once you add other stuff like that aggregate and water, it becomes something else entirely. It would be like calling cotton thread cotton – it’s made of cotton, but it is not cotton anymore.

Sorry to be all annoying and technical, but if I weren’t then I wouldn’t be an engineer (ha! technical – see what I did there?). Seriously, though, that concrete/cement thing, that’s a big deal for us civil engineer types.

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Jacinda

Not annoying at all. SO interesting…. and I live with an engineer so I’m accustomed to being corrected. HA!

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Jen

Love it! There is so much potential in this project. I especially love the stamps! Thanks for sharing.

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Valerie

Cement production is actually one of highest greenhouse-gas emitting industries we have today. The CO2 production of cement factories is pretty astounding. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2_human.html I know that data is from 2006, but things haven’t change THAT much in the cement industry in the last 6 year. I don’t want to be a grinch, and I know you’re only making a couple garden stones at a time, but every little step in the right direction counts… Is there another material you could use?

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J.

Hey…just wanted to say for whatever reason it is harder to smile….sendng a virtual hug and smile to you!

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Brocante Life Audit BrocanteHome

[…] day. * Send payment for Finn’s school trip! * And get Richard to make me a couple of these lovely cement garden bricks when he finishes re-building our little tumble-down century old wall this weekend. I want one that […]

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Raine

I love this. I’m thinking of using a roasting pan and making a small patio. The stencils would be cool for putting the date and our family’s names in.

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BrocanteHome

[…] day. * Send payment for Finn’s school trip! * And get Richard to make me a couple of these lovely cement garden bricks when he finishes re-building our little tumble-down century old wall this weekend. I want one that […]

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Debbi

I hope you don’t mind that I pinned your lovely post! You have my mind turning with the possibilities! Thank you!

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Jackie

C02 from concrete construction and cement emissions are one of the main things causing global warming. So it’s a pretty ironic project. Let’s write UNLESS in bubblin’ crude, next. I know you meant well, and anyway our planet won’t die of wee stones like yours, but it’s just kinda…it reflects how little we understand what is going to kill us.

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CommonSense

Global warming is a natural cyclic event and the raw materials for concrete are all naturally occuring and have been so for the last 250 million years !!

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Pam huber

Could you not use Plaster of Paris and tint it shades of brown or grey and follow the same process?

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P

Just FYI, the powder is cement. Once it’s mixed with aggregate and water it’s concrete. Also once cured its concrete. So they are concrete bricks. Like your driveway is concrete, not cement. Think of cement like flour. It’s an ingredient. The cake (concrete) is the final product with all of the ingredients. 🙂

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Emily Birnie

We picked up so many seashells this summer, was looking for a way to display them. Can’t wait to try this!

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Danny

I used to work with cement and plaster of paris like this back in the day. if you get a soft, flat art brush – like the white nylon kind from craft stores – and wet it you can smooth out those little marks nicely.

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James Mann

I have been looking around Moncton to see if anyone was destroying a brick building to see if I could get some bricks but I think I like this idea for the little jobs I wanted bricks for and I will be able to be creative with them. So glad I found this article.

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us

Is it the cement that creates the co2 or is in the process that makes the cement?

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Anja

This is so awesome, I love the idea =) Now I only have to find some cement and sacrifice one of my cake pans 😉 You said it might also be possible to use a milk carton – have you tried that, too? I’d love to hear your experience!

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Lorna

It’s been a long time since you posted, but for others who want to do this…like me! LOL! You could go to a second hand store, and purchase an inexpensive loaf pan to use, and not have to use the one from your kitchen. It has an added benefit of helping the charity of your choice running the second hand store!

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Kristen

Hi! Quick question, what are the approximate dimensions of your mini-loaf pans? Love this!

Thanks!

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Amanda

This is a fabulous idea!
I’m building a fire pit this summer. Is there any reason I couldn’t use these in the place of some of the pavers?

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mary

I have done this for years using for decorations in the cement leafs – stones -putting cement in round pans,square pans or plastic and odd shaped lids etc. I made mine for stepping stones, critters, and etc..but thanks for your article and getting it out to so many crafters..

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It’s 17 below zero and windy today (2/2 in northern Maine) so I’ll wait a bit before taking this on but I am psyched. Looks fun and will make excellent gifts for my family and friends!

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karissa

My husband was killed last summer and my daughter and I are going to make one for his grave and one for our yard.

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Leonard

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Janine Waite

I love this project. I didn’t know how to imprint letters in cement, so thanks for the tip and link! I’m going to definitely try making a garden stone.

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This looks amazing!! I am a huge fan of The Lorax and I read the book when I was little and I even watched the movie lots of times. I have to make one of these for the garden but I am not really sure where I can get stone stamps from where I am living.

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