Have you ever wanted to make some beautiful and natural pebble art for your home? Follow along to learn how to create your own pebble art family!
I have admired some beautiful pebble art ideas for a few months now and my daughter and I have wanted to give it a try! The best thing about this project is that it is a great outdoor and indoor activity.
Materials You Will Need to Make Pebble Art
(The list is pretty simple!)
- Picture Frame
- Card stock (we used white)
- Adhesive – I used E6000 glue* and my daughter used her glue gun. That girl hot glues everything!
- Pebbles & beach glass
- Driftwood & twigs
*E6000 glue is a strong craft adhesive but it isn’t meant for children to handle. Just be sure to read the directions of use.
Optional Material
- Decorative Stones – my daughter used some of these 🙂
Finding Pebbles & Beach Glass While Enjoying the Beach
One of my favourite afternoons I had over the March break was walking along the beach in Port Stanley on a hunt for the perfect pebbles and beach glass.
We tried to find stones of different shapes and sizes but the most important thing is to pick out ones that are as flat as possible. Keep in mind they will be glued to card stock so thinner stones adhere better because they are lighter. The stones also look better within the frame if they aren’t protruding too far out from the frame itself.
But who knew it was so hard to find beach glass?! Thankfully, we did find a few pieces and a shout out to my older brother who shared some helpful tips – focus on the water’s edge and dig down into the sand a little ways.
My favourite beach glass pieces are the greeny-blue ones but we ended up finding more that were clear glass. No problem! I cheated a little bit and coloured some of my clear pieces of beach glass with a green pencil crayon and I don’t think that anyone will ever know. 🙂
We also found a few pieces of driftwood and went on a hunt for twigs when we got home.
Creating Your Pebble Art – Step by Step
Step 1 – Organize Materials
We began by organizing our materials onto paper plates. This made it easier to plan out our picture.
Step 2 – Prepare Picture Frames
Next, I removed the glass from the picture frames and then we traced and cut the card stock to fit the frame. We decided to glue two layers of white card stock onto the hard back part of the frame so that the brown colour didn’t show through.
Although we chose to remove the glass from two regular pictures frames for our pebble art, you can also use a shadow-box style frame with the glass because it has enough depth to fit the stones.
I did this step of gluing the card stock to the back of the frame for both of us with the E6000 glue (windows open and gloves on). After that, my daughter was able to go wild with her glue gun and materials!
Step 3 – Prepare “Mock Up” Of Your Picture
Using a spare piece of card stock of the appropriate size, we created a “mock up” of our picture.
Step 4 – Glue Your Materials to Create Your Picture
The best part was watching our pictures take shape by moving each piece onto the white card stock within the frame and gluing it down. The background was nice and secure because it was already attached to the back of the frame and it gave a solid white background because we used two pieces of card stock instead of one.
Step 5 – Let Dry Overnight and Then Enjoy!
Once we had created our pictures, we lay them flat to dry and left them overnight.
My daughter used some of her decorative stones from Michael’s and she ended up making two pieces of art.
This is my daughter’s favourite piece! She says it reminds her of the beach. It’s a great option for parents of little ones.
What We Loved About This Crafting Adventure
My daughter and I pretty much loved everything about this project! It’s one of our favourites. Walking along the beach with frozen fingers while we dug down into the sand at the water’s edge, coming up with a picture that was special to us, watching little pebbles become people, owls and stepping stones… this project is a keeper.
Love this! I have a question…why 2 pieces of glass for the frame? I’m not sure what you did with a second piece but love how it turned out. I would really appreciate it if you could answer my question. Thank you for sharing!
Carol
Hi Carol and thank you! 🙂 We actually removed the glass from the frames (I mention two frames because my daughter and I were both doing one) but I think what you’re referring to is that we used 2 pieces of cardstock glued to the back of each frame so that they had an opaque background (I didn’t want the black colour of the back of the frame to show through the cardstock). I hope this makes sense but let me know if you’d like more clarification! Thanks for reading!
Is there a less toxic glue to use? I don’t trust the glue gun to hold the rocks once you hang the picture. But I hate using something that will make me sick.
Hi there! I haven’t used anything except the E6000 glue but my daughter used a glue gun and so far everything has stayed in place. If you use quality glue from a store like Michaels, I think you should be OK!
Did you use shadow frames or regular frames? Thanks
I just chose a regular frame but shadow frames work as well. So long as you like the look of your frame, either should work fine!
Hi. I’ve a question. Can I use a normal picture frame instead a shadow box frame??
Hi! For sure! The picture frame I used was just a normal frame with the glass removed. My daughter chose a shadow box. Either work!
Hello. I was wondering how you prep the stones?
Thank you
I just give them a rinse and let them dry!
Love your pics just started doung rock art and you gave me wonderful ideas. Thanks
Good luck with it! Thanks for reading. 🙂
Love the pieces you and your daughter made. Great ideas and easy to follow directions.
What glue did you use for the two pieces of card stock? I have gotten bumpy finishes trying that. Love to know what you do.
Thanks,
Sharon
Hi Sharon! I just used a tiny amount of the E6000 glue since I had it on hand for the pebbles. A bit much for the task but it just needed a small amount around the edges and it sat flat without bumps. I hope this helps! KJ