How to Make a Garden Stone Handprint Keepsake

Make beautiful keepsake garden stones with these easy instructions...

To make your garden stone handprint keepsake, you'll need to start with an empty box in the shape that you wish your garden stone to be. I like to use an empty Valentine's Day candy box because they're shaped like a heart.

Start by eating all the candy. Then pull out any plastic trays and wipe out any stray crumbs, so that you have a clean empty box to work with.

In order for your garden stone to release easily later, you'll need to line the box with plastic. You can use regular kitchen plastic wrap for this. Just the line the bottom and the sides of the box with your plastic wrap, so that it comes up over the edges of the box.

Garden stones are made out of cement. You can buy small quantities of cement at your local home improvement store. The cement will come as a powder with instructions on the back explaining how much water to add to make a correct consistency. Follow the instructions carefully, and then pour the wet cement into your lined candy box.

When reading the instructions to make your cement, note if it says how long the cement needs to set before permanent impressions can be made. Once it's had enough time to begin setting up, you'll be able to push your hand into it and have the handprint stay in the cement, instead of smoothing back out.

You can use your own hand print or your children's handprints to make your keepsake garden stones. You can also use imprints of other special items; for instance, your wedding ring, a special Christmas ornament, or your child's first pair of baby shoes. Just be sure that whatever you use is washed promptly after being pressed in the cement. You don't want the cement to start drying on your special items.

With your main imprint in the center, you might also like to decorate around your imprint with marbles or pretty pebbles as accents. Push these into place, and then leave the entire box to harden and dry. It may take several days to dry out completely.

Once your garden stone keepsake has hardened completely, you'll be able to remove the candy box and the plastic, before setting your stone outdoors. If some of the plastic doesn't come off, that's okay. Just tear away or cut away as much as you can. The part that is most likely to stick is on the bottom where no one will see it anyway.

Keepsake garden stones make beautiful displays that you can add to on each special occasion. Even if you don't have a garden, you can line your front walk way with these stones for a beautiful and sentimental display.

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