Rhubarb Leaf Stepping Stone Turorial

Well, hello! I'm glad you tuned in! I have a super-fun, super-easy garden project for you this week!

We're going to build a concrete stepping stone.

I ran across this project when one of the guys at work mentioned rhubarb leaf bird baths. He said you could use the leaves to "mold" the leaf into the concrete. Since I have a number of rhubarb mounds that spawn gigantic leaves (some are 18" wide and 24" long), I wanted to try this out. What a great way to have a unique yard or garden decoration. I guarantee any guest that sees it will be asking where you found one!

What you'll need:

• A rhubarb leaf or a leaf of any kind that has good veins. I've heard of people using elephant ears, canna lily leaves, large maple leaves, and more. Use your imagination!
• Chicken wire or hardware cloth (for stability and structure)
• Wire cutters
• Concrete or Masonry Cement - You could probably also use the vinyl concrete repair cement
• Plastic bag
• Bucket, wheel barrow, or other container in which to mix
• Water
• Trowel or garden spade, to aid in mixing

Let's go!

First, pick out a nice healthy leaf. A really veiny one that will really leave some good imprints in the concrete. Mine is really big, but you could make small ones, round ones, square ones, etc. (but you'd have to build or buy a mold for that). Cut (or fold) your chicken wire to fit inside your leaf. Folding seemed like the easy route, but I wish I'd cut it instead.

This is what I used for concrete. The options are literally overwhelming.

Next, you'll want to find an area that's relatively flat and probably in the grass so that you don't get any concrete on your driveway or sidewalk. Lay out your plastic. I used a garbage bag.

Mix your concrete or cement until its a nice, thick, pliable, consistency. I've heard that it should be like brownie batter. That's probably a pretty good comparison. I mixed my concrete a half bag at a time inside an old cat litter bucket. It's hard work so plan on sweating a little. Make sure to use your little shovel to get down to the bottom of the container and get all the crumbles and mix.

****I want to stress here that concrete dust can be dangerous. If you don't have previous experience mixing concrete and have never handled it before, wear a dust mask and gloves. It also dries your skin out badly so gloves are recommended anyway. When you pour the mix into the bucket, try to minimize dust production in the first place.****

You can even probably find someone to do all the "heavy lifting" - and mixing - for you.

Before mixing.

Just started mixing.

Almost there.

Sill a little rough at this point and could have used some more water.

Once your concrete is ready, lay your leaf upside down (so the veins are sticking up) on the plastic and arrange how you'd like it to be. Using your gloved hands or your spade, glob your concrete onto the leaf making a layer about 1" to 1.5" thick. Depending on how you want your stepping stone, you may or may not want to extend your concrete past your leaf. Pat down smooth to make sure any air bubbles are released. Some of the water will rise to the surface.

Place your chicken wire on top and gently press down. Be careful not to poke or cut yourself with any cut wires.

Glob more concrete on top of the chicken wire to make another layer 1" to 1.5" thick. Pat smooth again so any more bubbles will be released.

Use the plastic to "round" the edges of your soon-to-be garden decoration. Do this by lifting the edges of the plastic and using your hands to pack and pat the concrete. This will help give it a nice smooth edge instead of a crumbly, jagged one.

Crumbly edge. Let's firm that up!

See this awesomeness? Ah, yeeeaah.

Now. The hard part. You have to wait for the concrete to do it's thing. Let it harden, or cure, depending on what kind of concrete or cement mix you're working with. The bag will give you the details. After about 24 hours, I was able to flip mine over and move it into the sun where it can cure and where the leaf will dry out faster. (more pix to come once it's in the garden!)

Once it's dry and you can't leave marks in it, remove the leaf. If you have a hard time getting the bits out, try a stiff bristled scrub brush, or just leave it - the weather will eventually take care of it for you.

After about 24 hours, I flipped the stepping stone over. If you magnify the image, you can see little burn marks on the rhubarb leaf - proof that you should wear gloves when handling wet cement. The burn marks are produced by a chemical reaction between the concrete dust and the water (Guy says it's an exothermic reaction producing heat - he's a smartass).

Now that you have an amazing stepping stone for all your friends to love and admire, you can choose to let it be concrete-colored, or paint it! I'm leaving mine like it is. You can also mix in some coloring before you mix your concrete.

Here she is! I haven't scrubbed all the bits off, just gotten off what I could with my hands.

Want to check out some other resources before you commit yourself to my process? I don't blame you! Check out Suzie Homefaker's blog for more info on how to color your concrete or the Gardens West website. You can also just do a google image or google web search, but make sure you have your antivirus program running in case you run into some malware along the way (I did). Avast Antivirus is free and is a great antivirus program. I've been using it for years.

So head outside when the weather's nice and make yourself some stepping stones! If you have a question, please feel free to comment! I love to get comments and interact with you!

Wednesday’s Child - My Wonderful Family

I had originally promised a friend to post an article about yarn, but instead decided to write about my family.  My mom and dad drove up over 1,500 miles to visit us last week.  They are both 81.  Mom will be 82 in August.  We tried to do everything they wanted to do, all crammed into a few days.  We must have gone to every thrift store in the city as well as some in other towns.

Now, I love shoes.  I torture myself looking at shoes.  I can’t wear most of them but I love trying a pair or two on.  My mom, on the other hand, loves shoes and takes it a step further.  She doesn’t just look at them and maybe try some on.  Oh no…she tries them all on and then walks up to the check out counter with at least ten pairs.  In every style and color of the rainbow.  And that’s just in one store.  She always entered empty handed and walked out with at least two, maybe three, bags full of shoes.  I guess it runs in the family.  My daughter and my oldest grand daughter love shoes too, not to mention hats and bags to match.  As my daughter says, “You can never have too many shoes.”

You should have seen them packing the car for their trip back home.  The car trunk was full, and the back seat of the car was packed to the roof.  If there had been a luggage rack it would have been full too.  Most of the back seat was full of an older wonder horse and fencing for her tomato garden.  The wonder horse was so large and akward, it had to be broken down to its smallest parts, which were still pretty big.  She would have cut the legs off to get the wonder horse to fit.  She almost took a kitten home with her too.  The cat carrier wouldn’t fit in the floor board of the back seat anyway.  My dad, he just smiles and lets her have her way and do what ever she wants.  He always says, “If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

It gets hot here in the summer and there is no air conditioning in the old farm house where I live. In the evening, they like to sip on a glass of wine out on the front porch while gazing across the gravel road toward the rolling fields.  The breeze always smells of flowers and fresh hay.  Mom and Dad sit and let their minds wander back on when they were younger and would sit in the porch swing talking with my grandmom and granddad every evening.  All of us young children would play in the front yard climbing trees and playing chase.

The two of them attended my dad’s high school reunion.  He and one other person are the only two left of his high school class.  They were supposed to attend the family reunion, but needed to leave instead.

  My dad promised his doctor he would return by Tuesday.  I would love if they could have stayed.  I love my mom and my dad.  They have so much love to share with ALL family, regardless of who that person is or what someone has done.  I hope to grow up to be like them someday!

This week's project

I've been totally pulled away from sewing the last couple of weeks and it's been completely awful. My days have been filled with work, and my evenings and weekends have been packed with activities for the kids. But this week, I'm dedicated to putting something together.

A few weeks ago, I got a cute pattern from the Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop called the Brooklyn Frock. The Brooklyn pattern includes sizes three months to eight years old and it looks like it's still being offered for free on the website so go download it!

I bought enough fabric to make two dresses, so I should be ready to go. Except for the buttons, which I'll get today since I will be out and about yet again.

Look for a post next Saturday on how the first one turns out.