5 Imaginative Rock Painting Ideas

"Rock Art! Painting and Crafting with the Humble Pebble" by Denise Scicluna inspired me for a 5th week of rock painting.

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An imaginative idea is painting a colorful circle first and then adding the mandala design. (I need more patience & practice to make mandalas on rocks! They always end up lopsided and become doodles instead.)

Making Mandalas: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

Your imagination can run wild because colorful ladybugs are one of the simplest designs to paint on any shape or size of rock.

Brilliant Bugs: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

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As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

These pebble messages are tokens of faith, peace, and love and can be carried in a pocket. Any meaningful words, names or quotes can be painted on pebbles.

From Me to You: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

Black and white paint gives this imaginative owl design a clean, graphic look and complements the pebbles' natural colors.

Hoot Your Pebbles: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

Note: When you click on certain links in this post, I may receive a commission for the purchase of products.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

These colorful fish rocks used two of my favorite things - dots and metallic paint.

Fish Tails: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

Note: When you click on certain links in this post, I may receive a commission for the purchase of products.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Useful Links

• "Rock Art! Painting and Crafting with the Humble Pebble"
• Pretty rock painting ideas from "Rock Art!"
• 5 fun rock painting ideas from "Rock Art!"
• 5 creative rock painting ideas from "Rock Art!"
• 5 easy and colorful ideas from "Rock Art!" 
• A Rock Painting Book Perfect for Beginners (Blog Post of May 19, 2015) 

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks 

There's a Reason to Smile Every Day This Week

Smile, smile, smile. It's National Smile Week August 5th - August 11th. 

Some Benefits of Smiling

• lowers blood pressure
• boosts immunity
• relieves stress
• puts others at ease
• creates a positive atmosphere
• lights up your face
• it's an international language that everyone understands

Words of Wisdom to Help you Smile

A smile is a facelift that's in everyone's price range!

Tom Wilson

A smile is the light in your window that tells others 
that there is a caring, sharing person inside.

Denis Waitley

A smile is the universal welcome.

Max Eastman

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.

William Arthur Ward

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

Dr. Seuss

I have witnessed the softening of the hardest of hearts 
by a simple smile.

Goldie Hawn

A smile is happiness you'll find right under your nose.

Tom Wilson

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, 
not only we, but everyone will profit from it. 
This is the most basic kind of peace work.

Nhat Hanh

If the world's a veil of tears, Smile till rainbows span it.

Lucy Larcom

Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.

George Eliot

If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love.

Maya Angelou

If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.

Andy Rooney

If you walk down the street and smile at someone, that will get passed on to the next person. That has the power to change someone's day.

Julianna Margulies

Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either.

Henry Ward Beecher

Laughter is regional: a smile extends over the whole face.

Malcolm De Chazal

Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.

Paramahansa Yogananda

Let us always meet each other with smile,
 for the smile is the beginning of love.

Mother Teresa

Nobody needs a smile so much as the one who has none to give. So get used to smiling heart-warming smiles, and you will spread sunshine in a sometimes dreary world.

Lawrence G. Lovasik

Nothing you wear is more important than your smile.

Connie Stevens

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, 
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
Nhat Hanh

The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions - the little, 
soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

'Tis easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows along like a song; But the man worth while is the one who will smile 
when everything goes dead wrong.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Leo Buscaglia

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.

Mother Teresa

The catch phrase for the day is 'Do an act of kindness. 
Help one person smile.'

Harvey Ball

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks

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