Free Rock Painting Projects - Love Bugs, Cactus, Stone Tablet, Pansies

This week's free rock painting lessons and tutorials are brought to you courtesy of  the Creativity Portal together with Ernestina Gallina.

The Creativity Portal is a great website for inspiring creativity. All types of arts and crafts are featured on the site including rock painting ideas and inspiration.

Ernestina Gallina (featured on my blog in an earlier post) has shared these additional lessons on the Creativity Portal website.

These free, how-to rock painting guides include:

• Supplies you'll need
• Illustrated step-by-step instructions for creating your very own painted rocks

Valentine Love Bugs

Valentine Love Bugs I painted on rocks using a free how-to lesson

These little, painted Love Bug stones make really cute Valentine's Day gifts. I took the idea a little further by arranging the painted Love Bug rocks in a Valentine basket and also found a valentine handkerchief to use as padding. Of course, Love Bug rocks aren't just for holidays. You can also show that special someone how much you love them by hand painting a Love Bug for them.

Stone Cactus Project

A stone cactus I made using this free, how-to lesson

My friend said my cactus looked like a pickle. Her daughter loved it and wanted it for her own. I definitely need more practice painting rock cacti but that's the beauty of trying out rock painting using free tutorials.

I modified Ernestina's project with my own ideas. I did not feel comfortable using moulding powder (plaster of Paris) due to the safety precaution warnings. Instead I made my own version using flour and water. It was very messy and next time I will just anchor the painted rock in a pot with pea gravel or small pebbles instead of permanently anchoring it.

As a finishing touch, I glued pea gravel to the top of the pot instead of colored sand as suggested in the project.

Written in Stone

My painted rock using the Written in Stone tutorial

This project was a little more challenging and I have only painted one rock using this free how-to guide. I chose one of my favorite scripture verses: "A happy heart makes the face cheerful" from Proverbs 15:13. It's a clever idea for painting all those favorite quotes, sayings, and personalized messages on rocks for those special people in your life.

Painting a Basket of Pansies

My pansies in a basket from this free tutorial

Of these four, free, how-to lessons, I think this pansy tutorial is the most challenging. However, the end product is just beautiful and once you have the pattern, you can vary the colors of the pansies. (This project was on my rock painting "to do" list and I finally painted it in June 2017.)


Thank you Creativity Portal and Ernestina Gallina for giving us more rock painting inspiration and nudging our creativity.



The free projects mentioned in this post along with their links were viewable on the date of this post. I cannot guarantee how long the projects will remain free and available online.


© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks