Posted by camille – March 24, 2008 5:10 PM

Guest Blogger: Rita Smith, Crafts Editor, HGTV.com

Spring is in the air, which means it's a great time to start making garden crafts. And it just so happens that I have a surplus of marbles lying around after filling a vase with some I'd purchased. Garden crafts... leftover marbles...sounds like I may be making some stepping stones this weekend. Not only are stepping stones a great way to use up small bits of materials, such as beads, mosaic tiles or buttons, they're also great for preserving memories by adding a child's hand or foot print or small vacation souvenirs such as shells or foreign coins.

As these Pebble Stepping Stones demonstrate, even humble materials like river rocks look great when set in a bit of concrete.

An old cake pan, a broken tile or plate, some concrete and a bit creativity is all you need to create this Broken Tile Stepping Stone.

This Stained Glass Stepping Stone is a bit more advanced than the other two, but very beautiful and certainly worth the extra effort.