Hi Helmar Lovelies,
Krisy back today to share what I have been working on and hopefully to inspire you. Trending in Australia at the moment is Rock Drops. Have you heard of them? Perhaps you are lucky enough to have found one? What are they? I hear you say.
Rock Drops are apparently something that started in New Zealand (I'm not 100% if that is true, but I did read the claim on a Rock Drop site), the idea is you paint or decorate rocks, add a # or Facebook symbol to the back and then hide/drop them at different places for someone else to find. Kind of like sharing a teeny bit of love. I found a Facebook reference to my Queensland rock drop site - QLD ROCKS by accident and that day we found our first four rocks.
My darling 2 year old calls them her "eggs" and sits on them daily. She won't part with the ones we have found but once you find "eggs" you can choose to re-hide them or keep them. It's up to you. We keep them and put out out own. On the Facebook page, you can put photos and clues or you can share your finds. It is really a fun activity that everyone can be involved in. The rocks don't have to be masterpieces either. If you look at my Pinterest board ROCKS - my 4 year old daughter has been pinning some awesome ideas and attempting to replicate them. Of course, 4 year old masterpieces look way different to arty mum ones, but it's all about the fun and no one cares about the decorating really, just the finding.
This is a photo from our first find.
And here is a sample of our clues when we do a drop.
So, once we found our first rocks, we had to join in the fun. We went down to our local hardware and bought 15kgs of river rocks to paint. This post is all about making your own rocks and the things we have learnt.
What you will need:
River Rocks. Source your own or head to the hardware. NOTE: make sure they are not polished otherwise the paint won't stick.
Paint - Acrylic works best - doesn't have to be expensive
Helmar - Krystal Kote Sealer in Gloss (Matte will work too)
Pens - Sharpies or Posca pens are best but again - it's trial and error give anything a go.
Now what to do:
Stay with me...Remember it's not Rocket Science its about fun.
- Lay out your rocks and look at them. Some will be in shapes that may inspire you....then start painting. For the darker stones you may like to add a base layer of white. You can you a Primer Spray (available at the hardware) or just plain old white acrylic or gesso will do. Whey you are painting, work in layers allowing each colour to dry. This will give you a cleaner finish.
- Once your stones are painted, let them dry. Depending on where you are located, it may be best to leave them overnight.
- Once the stones are dry, using your pens add decorations/outlines/eyeballs - whatever you like. On the reverse side, draw a Facebook symbol and add your hashtag. Our looks like this...
- Once they are dry, take out your Helmar Krystal Kote and seal in your artwork.
This helps protect your painting when your rock is out in the elements. For the best results, spray a number of thin coats allowing each one to dry between. If you are impatient and add the layers too thick or don't let it dry, your markers will run. I use long sweeping strokes when spraying to prevent any "drowing" of the rocks. Make sure you spray in a well ventilated area - outside.
5. When your rocks are dry, they are ready to be hidden. Have fun.
Thanks for stopping by today I hope I have inspired you to make some pretty rocks but to also get outside with the kids and get exploring. I recently went on a Scrapbooking Retreat and we did an 8 h0ur road trip. We stopped along the way and hid rocks and left clues. It was heaps of fun even when the kids weren't around. Head over to my Instagram to see where we left them.
Krisy xx
