autumn leaf craft
“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things…I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.”
– Leo F. Buscaglia
I know, I know. Another craft. Blah. We’re SO boring! But we do so much of this kind of crap, and I really want to keep a record of the day-to-day fun stuff. Especially the artsy stuff. Because I am NOT one of those moms that’s gonna save every little thing ever touched by her kid, so I have to stash a memory somewhere. . .hence the creation of this fantastical conglomeration of brain-pan ruminations (blog) in the first place! 
Anyway, this craft is awesome! It is technically recommended for kids 8 and up, but I figured that the overage in MY age would make up for Super Puff’s lack thereof. It totally did. She had no problems at all, and had a good time with the creation. Our whole family has been enjoying the outcome of this one for about a week now…
First, we went on a nice walk around the neighborhood and collected loads of pretty leaves from the trees that we could reach, and freshly fallen ones from the ground. After pressing them in a book for an hour or two, we glue-painted jars (from the dollar store – it would have been cooler to recycle jars that we already had, but all of the recent rain has knocked most of the leaves off the trees, and I still had a LOT of jelly left!) and stuck our favorite leaves on, being careful not to overlap them too much.
After the glue dried, we ripped some white tissue paper into 2 – inch(ish) strips and ‘painted’ it on over the leaves with a mixture that was half-glue and half-water.
That’s it! Project done! (though it did have to dry overnight)
Here is a picture of the finished product during the day, with the full force of the afternoon sun shining in from behind. . .
And while they might not be much to look at without the light directly on them – they’re absolutely stunning in a dim room with candles burning from within. . .
These fit in perfectly with the theme of the month and season. Thanksgiving is upon us, but autumn is still a frequent topic of discussion as we continually witness the leaves changing into their brilliant colors and tumble without care from their branched perches to our feet. Fall offers a wonderful opportunity to teach (and learn) about the various types of trees, and which type of leaf belong to each. Examples of the differences are far easier to find and examine when the leaves come down to our level! This is a project that we might be repeating in the springtime with flowers and petals. . . I’ll have to remember to save my jelly jars!
Huginn, Muninn, and me 
maygan said,
November 22, 2009 at 1:30 am
Chesh, those are so pretty and T did an awesome job with them! If it weren’t so soggy around here I’d rush out tomorrow with Trent to do some, maybe we’ll get lucky and have a dry day.
wecki77 said,
November 22, 2009 at 1:19 pm
They are beautiful!
Kendall said,
November 22, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Those turned out awesome!!! They turned out better than I expected when you were explaining them to me. Maybe next time, you should try it with colored tissue paper?? I wonder how that’d turn out…
I dunno about the “overage.” I think you’re pretty close to 8! 😀 If only mentally! *wink*
Amber said,
November 22, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Those are too cool.
I wish I liked doing crafts.
Sarah Benedict said,
November 23, 2009 at 9:37 am
Those are awesome!
Kelli said,
November 23, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Those turned out so pretty!! I may have to try this at our house!!!
Saumya said,
November 25, 2009 at 5:38 pm
They llok awesome!!great work both of u!!!
YoMama said,
December 10, 2009 at 8:28 pm
They’re beautiful!
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