Stenciled garden rocks are a quick and easy garden project or gift idea. Personalize with monograms, leaves or your favorite team logo. Step-by-step instructions and photos.
Spring peaked out this weekend for a brief visit and we took advantage of it to do some outdoor projects. I pinned this stenciled garden rocks idea from BHG.com over a year ago. I can’t remember why I didn’t get to it at the time, but I knew I wanted to do it for my mom as a gift for Mother’s Day. She enjoys gardening and has spent a lot of time getting the beds in her yard to look picture perfect. My grandma had the most amazing flower garden, so my mom comes by it honestly. I unfortunately seem to have a black thumb so far, but I’ll keep trying!
This project took me less than an hour once I had my stencils created.
Supplies:
- Garden rocks with flat surfaces
- Stencils
- Painters or masking tape
- Newspaper or other paper for covering your rocks
- Spray paint made for outdoor use
Rock selection: You can use any type of rocks that are not very porous. I used some we had in our yard as well as some I purchased from our local garden center. The largest was about 10 inches tall x 6 inches wide. A few were about 7-8″x5-6″ Larger would also work well. I probably wouldn’t go much smaller.
Stencils: I created my stencils with my Silhouette Cameo. If I hadn’t, I probably would have cut my stencils out of contact paper. The original instructions said to use regular paper and spray adhesive. I would be a little concerned about the sticky residue from that. For the monogram, I used the Times New Roman font from my computer. For all other shapes like the leaves, I found them free online by searching Google images.
Stencil Placement: Place and adhere your stencil on your rock. Then to protect your rock from overspray outside of your stencil, use painters tape or masking tape to secure sections of newspaper around the outside of the stencil to cover the rest of your rock.
Paint: Using spray paint made for outdoor use, lightly spray over your stencil in even strokes. I did 2-3 coats depending on the paint color/rock color combo. Wait 10-15 minutes between coats. For colors, I used black, copper, and cream.
Finish: Once mostly dry, remove your stencils and paper. I like removing while it still has a light tackiness to the paint. I feel like I get a cleaner line.
I made a “B” monogram for my mom and then a large maple leaf and cluster of elm leaves.
Then I decided to use up the rest of the rocks I had selected to make some for our own yard. For us I made an Iowa Hawkeye (Go Hawks!), an “H” monogram, and a cluster of maple leaves. Other ideas I considered were “Est. 2000” for our wedding year or our address.
How about you – are you making any handmade gifts for Mother’s Day?
19 Comments
Diana Rambles
Great idea!!
ntcreations
that turned out SO cute! I made have to try that for my moms birthday, she would love it! Thanks so much for taking the time to link up to the Tasteful Tuesday party @Nap-TimeCreations.com. Make sure to follow my blog via bloglovin, GFC or facebook so you don’t miss out on my features posts… it could be YOU :o)
Emily
Ginny
Very effective. I have no idea what silhouette cameo is, but it looks like great stuff.
sometimes-homemade
Hi Ginny –
A Silhouette Cameo is an electronic cutting tool (and so much more) used to cut out shapes on paper or vinyl, create stencils, etc. I just got mine a few months ago and I’m in love!
krista
Love these I wanted to make a marker for my back driveway, now I know what I’ll be doing!
Krista Low
These garden rocks are so fun! I really love this idea. My boys would have a great time making these for my garden or as a gift. Thanks for a fabulous post! Krista @ A Handful of Everything
Vickie
Wow, this really looks cool! I guess this is another project I’m gonna have to do! 😉 Thanks for the tutorial! Found you on Too Much Time’s blog hop.
sometimes-homemade
Thanks Vickie! My to do list of projects seems to be growing as well. Too much inspiration, too little time!
Diana Rambles
I love it!
susan hollingsworth
What is contact paper and where can you get it?
sometimes-homemade
Hi Susan –
Contact paper is the same kind of thing as shelf lining paper. It’s got an adhesive backing. You can buy it at most home improvement stores or in many housewares aisles at stores like Target or Walmart.
erin.hoskins@gmail.com
Hi Jenny – thanks for stopping by, I’ll definitely check it out!
Miriam
I have a rock in my flower bed in the front yard that is plain I’m going to try this….thanks for the idea….plus I’m pinning this as well
erin.hoskins@gmail.com
Thanks for visiting Miriam! It will be a great addition to your garden.
Jennifer
What a party last week on Friday Flash Blog! Thanks for joining us. I hope you’ve visited some of the other community members and you’re having a splendid week.
Jennifer
virginnia winstead
ok great ideas but i dont have any rocks/stones and dont know where to get them–maybe 4-6″ round
erin.hoskins@gmail.com
Hi Virginnia – I got mine at a local garden center. I couldn’t find any at Home Depot or Lowes, but the garden center/nursery had them in all shapes and sizes. Good luck!
katie bryant
Would you be willing to share your Hawkeye Silhouette file?
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