Painted Rocks Craft

Theres a really awesome movement going on and I didn't even know it! 

You paint a rock and hide it  for someone else to find. Facebook groups are popping up and whom ever finds the rock can post a picture of it. Such a cool idea..

and even making someones day better is great

My two boys and I painted these rocks. Although the boys got tired quick and wanted to play outside instead :)  I didn't want to spend a lot of money on the rocks so I got a big bag of egg rocks at Lowes. Those were the only ones that Lowes had that were cheap, reasonably sized, and shaped. Nice round smooth rocks would be so much easier to paint, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I found that if I painted the rock with acrylic craft paint first the Sharpie markers didn't work well. Maybe it was the paint I was using, but Sharpie paint pens and Faber Castell pens worked much better. I also recommend an array of paint brushes. Such as a medium one to paint the base coast, and a super fine brush for detailing.  Here's the steps I used to make my rocks..

1. Clean your rocks. My rocks were extra dirty so I soaked them in soapy water and gave them a good rinse. I let them dry overnight.

2. Cover your area with news paper ect. (I'm a messy painter so that's a must!)

3. I got my brushes, paints and water all ready to use. I also like to have baby wipes, and
    napkins/paper towels on hand.

4. I gave the majority of the rock a base coat of white or black. I set up a "drying station" with a fan so that the rocks would dry faster. I would kind of cycle the rock through..starting one rock, set it at the drying station and then start another rock and switch them out as I worked. This made the process so much faster. 

5. I looked online to see examples and went from there..I mostly did encouraging sayings. Although I will be on the lookout for nice flat rocks to snag for future more  paintings. 

6. I sealed the rocks. You want to seal them so the weather doesn't wash away your beautiful creation! 

7. The BEST part..go out and hide them!  :) 

I really enjoyed this project ..it was fun and lifted my spirits knowing that my rock might make someone smile! 

Happy Creating, 

Melissa