I mentioned a while back that I started painting rocks as a hobby. It’s something I enjoy doing on a bad weather day, or just when I have some free time. After I’ve painted up a batch, I find places to leave them for others to find — at a WalMart, a rest stop, restaurant, or anywhere. It’s been a lot of fun!

One of my challenges is finding places to acquire suitable rocks, inexpensively. You’d think I could just pick them up along the road, but it’s not that simple. I’m looking for rocks with a rounded, smooth surface that will be suitable for painting. Unless you live along a river or lake, that’s not so easy to find.

I bought my first batch of rocks from Michael’s craft shop. Large round river rocks run about 5 for $7! That’s not sustainable. My next batch of rocks came from my sister’s lakefront property on Flathead Lake in Montana. They were perfect – smooth, rounded, flat-ish and free! I picked up a sizeable stash and they lasted for months. Score!

However, since I’m not going back to Montana very soon, I began to cast around for another (inexpensive) source. While in Anderson, I located an outfit (Green Stone in Noblesville, IN) that sells landscaping rocks of all shapes and sizes. I called to verify that they sold any quantity by the pound, and Jeff and I headed over. The tumbled Mexican stone was smooth and about the right size, so bin in hand, we dug  in. After about 10 minutes of digging and sorting, we had extracted 40 pounds of rocks. The cost?  A whopping $20! That is enough rock to last me awhile!

They were fairly clean, but I took the time to give them a quick wash and rinse. That way I can be sure they are clean and ready to go when I want them. With so many rocks and ample supplies, my sister and I had a rock painting session together! It really is fun and kind of zen to play around with color, shapes, and inspirational words. Now I have a whole new batch to leave in likely spots.

Rock On!