Here in the southwest desert of Arizona, we don’t really have a typical autumn. The weather is cool, which means that it is finally in the 80s, but there are no scarves, jackets or changing leaves. It’s the changing leaves and Autumn colors of the higher elevations that I love most.
On our trip up to Northern Az last weekend, we had meant to collect some leaves. We came home with only a few, which are pressed in my moleskine journal. I had wanted to make some kind of Autumn decoration for the house, so with some creative thinking, the boys and I decided to make our own leaves.
Now, you may have beautiful leaves that surround your home, but the great thing about these is that they don’t crumble, you need paint, and they involve making a mess. The ingredients for a fun activity with the kids.
Here’s what you’ll need:
A brown paper bag
acrylic craft paints in assorted Autumn colors (yellow, orange, green, red, brown, copper, gold)
paint brushes, sponges, old toothbrush
blow dryer (optional)
scissors
twine
1. Take one brown paper grocery bag, tear it open into one flat piece. Tear into 3-4 large pieces and crumple into a ball to give it lots of texture. Flatten out.
2. Prep paints by diluting with a bit of water
3. Slop paint all over paper.
4. Allow to dry. Use a blow dryer to speed the process (optional).
5. Lightly sponge on metallic gold and copper paint
6. Spritz some diluted brown paint with a toothbrush to create speckles.
7. Admire your pretty paper.
8. When paper is completely dry, cut into leaf size squares and cut out leaves (this is where the kids lose interest). If you are lucky to have sizzix machine with leaf shapes, that would be a really easy way to make leaves. I don’t have one so I cut them all by hand. It wasn’t as hard as it may seem. I stacked several squares together and cut several leaves at the same time while watching Glee (again).
9. Glue stems onto twine and hang your pretty garland on a window or around a door.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Those are lovely! And what a great project to do with kids! Thanks for the how-to.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:56 am
i love it! i think i’m going to do this with my children today
October 12th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I love this!!! My mom is a 1st grade teacher in the Valley and she used to make me collect leaves when I lived in cooler climates. I passed this along to her and hopefully she’ll do this with her class soon.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Great project! The leaves turned out so pretty. Thank you.
October 12th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
This is gorgeous and so it your blog.
I was just feeling a little silly for hanging silk fall leaves above my windows. This would be a much better option! (and the girlies would like making them, too)
October 12th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
so *is* your blog. (sorry for the type-o)
October 12th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
This is a fantastic idea, thank you, my kid and I will do this to decorate our room!
October 13th, 2009 at 1:30 am
Oh, I just love this idea. I am from Boston but have been living in Greece for almost thirty years and so miss the autumn season with all the lovely colored leaves. Now I can have them with your delightful idea!
Thank you so much for sharing,
Lis
October 13th, 2009 at 1:48 am
Hello from a visitor in South Africa. I am a non-digital scrapbooker who occasionally trawls the blogs– lovely leaves and much-better-than-average technique run-through!
thanks & keep safe–JR
October 13th, 2009 at 1:50 am
This is such a wonderful project! Thanks for sharing! It’s my first time here on your lovely blog and im really enjoying it herre. Have a lovely merry happy day and love to you!
October 13th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Followed a link here from somewhere and so glad I did! What a lovely project, definitely going to have a go at this.
October 13th, 2009 at 5:05 am
Hi , there thanks for visiting my wee blog, and sweet comment about my art show set up.
I love this leaf tutorial , nice and cheap , but sooo effective, fun for the kids!
I love your inspiration board, hmmm makes me want to work on mine…
Marisa’s course is sure getting our brains going huh?
October 13th, 2009 at 6:03 am
they look beautiful and real! we will be making these great leaves since we too don’t have any real fall leaves in FL.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I love these leaves! I could see them scattered across a Halloween party buffet table or the centerpiece of a Thanksgiving table! My kids and I will have to try this- thanks for sharing it!
October 13th, 2009 at 9:13 am
I live in the Valley and miss the changing leaves too. Love this idea! I’m thinking of driving my boys up to Prescott on Thursday since it’s a fairly short drive and they are on fall break this week! I’ll be taking my watercolor journal to paint leaves. REALLY love this idea and will have to try it out!
October 13th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Oh how I miss your blog! So glad to see another wonderful project; I totally think I might be capable of this one, lol; I’ll bookmark it for the day when I get my hands back,
October 13th, 2009 at 11:07 am
What a great idea!
October 13th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
These are so, so pretty! Thanks so much for sharing the how-to, I’ll be linking.
October 13th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
This is so pretty. It looks like a fun and messy time to spend with the kids. I have been into making garlands with them so we will give this one a try. Thanks
October 13th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Although we live in Vermont where the leaves do change and are gorgeous…this is a fabulous craft that is perfect for children. An easy way to recycle bags too!
October 13th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Hi there- Look for a post on this craft tomorrow on Ohdeedoh at noon. Very pretty!
October 13th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
These are wonderful! Such a creative idea!
October 14th, 2009 at 4:56 am
Thanks for the fabulous tutorial! I think this is a wonderful idea fall leaves in the backyard or no. Every year I mean to gather and press them, but somehow all the raking and other work that they entail often means this never happens. Love it!
October 14th, 2009 at 9:52 am
AMAZING .. nuff said.
October 14th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Love this! Great idea. My 3yr old will love this! Adding it to my bookmarks for a fun weekend project! Thanks for sharing
October 14th, 2009 at 11:12 am
What a cute idea! And you are right that this would be a great project even in places where there are lots of fall leaves. (I am not sure I would want to bring any of the fall leaves inside around here anyways since they are soaked from our fall rains…)
October 14th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
very impressive leaf shapes from what i can gather
October 15th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Thanks, this is perfect! Living in Hawaii it’s hard to come across a good fall project that doesn’t require gathering fall colored leaves (of which we have none!).
October 15th, 2009 at 7:33 am
I clicked through from Ohdeedoh…
These are so great! Living in South Florida, we don’t have true fall either. This looks like a craft even my toddler could help with! Thanks for sharing – they’re just lovely.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:41 am
These leaves are just beautiful! Now I know what I’m going to do with all these paper bags I’ve lovingly collected. Thank you so much!
October 16th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
October 17th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I love to feature these with a link on Friday-great idea!
October 18th, 2009 at 12:00 am
I love it! I was just lamenting the lack of fall color earlier this evening – how timely.
http://runawaylawyer.blogspot.com/2009/10/glorious-colors-of-autumn.html
October 18th, 2009 at 4:39 am
love this!!
peacej
October 18th, 2009 at 7:56 am
What a great idea- even if we do have autumn leaves in abundance in the UK- these will stay fresh. Will also take this idea and make some table placemats that can be laminated
Thanks!
Lisa xx
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I would put a fold down the middle of the leaves to give them more of a realistic look.
October 25th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
These are so much fun! Thanks for the idea. I know how you feel since I too, live in Arizona (Marana). Today I found a leaf in my pocket that I collected last week and forgot to press. Oh well… Thanks for rescuing me and I plan to share your project with my card class. Thanks.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:26 am
these are fantastic! going to make some next week with my little guy and his Baba