An attempt at a Tutorial

I had an area in my backyard that I did not know what to do with. I thought about grass, flagstone, pavestone... I decided to think out of the box and save money. SO...

I went to Home Depot and bought 30 square stepping stones. Well actually I bought 15 one day and made another trip for the remaining 15. I could hardly push my cart with the weight of the stones and my 30+ pound helper!

I love black and white checks. I love McKenzie Childs Courtly Check. I love the Alice in Wonderland look, so I went for it. I drew my pattern with pencil like the picture above.

Using an old rag, I rubbed every other check with MinWax stain. I knew they would end up dirty, so I did not even bother with white paint.
I never took a picture of them after I painted the remaining checks with black paint.
I was just too excited and ready to get them in my yard. No time to slow down to take a picture.
I used outdoor latex paint.

Here is the area with nothing last year on the Fourth of July.Here is what it looked like when I was finished.

Here is what it looks like now with all the beautiful spring flowers blooming.
As of now, I just have dirt in between the stones. I may do something different if weeds get to be an issue. I had even thought about planting something in between them.
Any suggestions???
I am certainly open to them!

Hard to believe that it looked like this 3 months ago.