What are the steps?
I saw one made by a friend of a friend of a friend and was told to make bird bath to mound up sand. How do you place the leaf to get impression?

What to use for cement mixture?

What can it be painted with?

What kind of paint would be safe for birds?

I saw you could use the cement coloring, but how much would you need for 1 large leaf molding?

Your directions on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.

I started by mounding a pile of sand (I used my granddaughter's sandbox), then I laid the leaf face down on the mound of sand and filled sand in around it, smoothing the leaf down so it doesn't have folds in it.

From there, I added handfuls of Quikcrete (mixed with water and the bonding agent/fortifier...using the whole bottle of fortifier). I layered handfuls of the concrete mixture on the back side of the leaf and patted it smooth with my hand (use gloves)...make it fairly thick so it is strong enough. Smooth the concrete out with your hands and shape it at the edges of the leaves.

Then just leave it sit at least overnight...maybe a little longer...cover it with a tarp or something if it's hot or rainy.

After it's had a chance to dry, carefully tip it over and let it dry a couple more days. You can brush off any extra sand around the edges with a whisk broom. The leaf will be stuck to the concrete, but as the concrete leaf dries, the real leaf will dry up and can be brushed off.

From there, you can stain it or paint it or just leave it concrete-color. You'll be amazed how easy it is. BTW, I also made some using the same technique with smaller leaves and plaster of paris. They turned out nicely, too.

Good luck!

Here's a link on how to make a leaf casting: http://www.gardensandcrafts.com/leafcastings.html

Here's a link with instructions for a leaf stepping stone. This is pretty much how we made ours.