concrete | Peppermints & Honey Bees

Happy Halloween! Halloween is my favorite holiday and I have one more pumpkin diy to share. I wanted to make this last Halloween but just ran out of time so it was definitely on my list this year. The Concrete Easter Eggs were my first experience with concrete and it was pretty easy so I was pretty excited. Also I did some research and I guess cement and concrete are not the same. Cement is an ingredient of concrete. Concrete is a mixture of aggregates and paste. So Concrete is stronger and will last much longer. The original idea is on the blog Fox Hollow Cottage.

First cut a hole and and design you want on the pumpkin with a knife. This one was a light I got at Goodwill so it already had a face and a hole in the bottom.

Next put plastic wrap tightly around the face so the concrete won’t leak out. Turn in upside down and spray the inside with cooking spray. I forgot this stepsons mines isn’t stick too bad but I would recommend using spray. I put my pumpkin I. A bucket to get it to stay upside down while I poured the concrete in. The concrete I used was Quikrete from Home Depot.

If you’ve never mixed concrete it’s pretty easy. Some people add the powder to the water, I like to add water gradually to the powder while I stir. Only add a little water at a time until you get an even and thick but pourable consistency.

Let the pumpkin sit for at least 24 hours after you pour the concrete.

When you cut the foam pumpkin off use a knife, scissors, and a screw driver came in handy for prying pieces off.

When I took my pumpkin off the eyes and eyes didn’t fill in all the way so I mixed some more concrete up in a cup and speckle some on to make them bigger and more triangular. It doesn’t have to be perfect though. The cracks and rough spots are what makes the concrete pumpkin interesting!

Show me your costumes in Instagram by using #peppermintsandhoneybees. Now go get your spook on!

Hey everyone, it’s Wednesday, woohoo! We’re half way to the weekend and even though we just got about 4″ of snow here on Monday, (not cool Mother Nature) I’m excited for Spring and Easter. My family never did a whole lot to celebrate Easter other than Easter egg hunts and and getting together to eat too much food, but its always been one of my favorite holidays to decorate for. I think its because I love rabbits and animals in general along with anything Spring/Summer related. I found this diy on Pinterest by Camille Styles for making concrete eggs with real egg shells. I’ve actually been working on this for a while because I needed to get enough egg shells to fill. When I would use an egg to cook with I would just break out the bottom with a knife of my finger. You want to take the bottom out so that you can fill it from there and then when the concrete is dry they can stand up. Below are the supplies I used; the cup and knife were for the concrete mix and make sure to have paper towels handy. You can usually find concrete mix at any craft or hardware store, it’s pretty fun to work with! If you’ve never mixed concrete, plaster, or anything similar, I use the mound method which is where you fill the cup up with about 1/3 water and slowly add the mix until there is a little mountain on top that doesn’t sink down immediately into the water. Stir it up until there are no clumps or bubbles. it should be about the consistency of pancake mix. I have to admit I got some of mine a little too thick and some didn’t quite turn out perfect but I like some imperfections in mine.

I got a little messy and broke one, whoops! 😉

After your eggs are filled let them dry outside for at least 24 hours. Use an exact-o knife to help peel the shell of and that’s all! If you’d like you can paint or stamp you eggs or anything else you can think of. I might do something with mine but I’m not sure what yet. If I do change them I’ll give an update.