DIY Cement Garden Markers- Caterpillar Style!

I’m really excited about how these little caterpillars turned out. They’re the first project I’ve attempted with cement… other than our basement floor, and I can’t wait to try another one now!

I’ve been wanting to try concrete for a while, but the bag is heavy and it always seems like more work than it’s worth when I’m in Home Depot with toddlers. But now I had an excuse!

These little garden markers would make such a great gift paired with some herb plants for mothers day, don’t you think?

I thought I’d start small and make some cement garden markers. I mixed up the concrete and left it overnight only to find that it wasn’t dry yet! And we were leaving to Alberta for my sister’s grad! We planned to come home early so I could take photos of them in time to get to everyone for the challenge. BUT then I realized that that’s a really silly reason to drive 8 hours home and miss out on a day of sister time (and aunty time for our babes!). So we stayed the extra day and I missed the challenge.

And I’m more than happy with my decision- did you see how much fun we were having on Instagram?. It’s easy to let this little blog take up my time but I don’t want to let it take up my vacation time too. We have a few more trips planned this summer and I am so looking forward to just shutting off! I worked through the Calgary trip (not for my blog, but for clients) but I’m going to work my little butt off to really get a vacation next time. Do you have any tips on getting ahead on work before a vacation? I’d love to hear!

Anyways, so even though I didn’t make the challenge- I had to share these little garden markers with you because I’m in love with them.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:

• Bag of ready mix cement (you’ll only need a scoop)
• Scoop to mix in
• Stir stick
• Water
• Silicone ice cube tray in your choice of shape (this chillipedes one is what I used)
• Paint pen

Start by mixing a cup or so of cement mix with water. I just added water until it was about the same consistency as a thick pancake batter. Then, pour it into your ice cube trays and tap the tray to get any air bubbles out of the cement (they’ll all come to the top so you’ll know it’s working). The tapping is really important so you don’t have rough looking cement! You could really do this with any shape of silicone tray but I’ve had these ‘chillipedes‘ for a while and they neeeever get used for ice now that we have an ice cube machine in our fridge.

Let your cement dry for anywhere from overnight to 5 days (we were gone so I couldn’t tell you!) then stretch the silicone to pop the cement caterpillars out! Knock off the sharp edges and you’re ready to write on them! I used a gold Painters pen and found that it worked super well on the cement and only took me writing once to come out perfectly (some of them don’t work well on rough surfaces).

Have you ever worked with cement before? What did you think? Would you try making some cute cement garden markers… which shape?