We made a fall leaf garland today to add to our Thanksgiving decorations! Maia and I worked on it together, writing things we were thankful for on the leaves as well as designs and pictures.
This is something I’ve wanted to do ever since Sarah at Quince and Quire posted about her beautiful hand-painted leaves last fall. And then Cassi posted her list of crafts to instill thankfulness in children this past week which further inspired me. For this garland, I put a couple ideas together, namely Sarah’s leaves and Playful Learning‘s grateful tree with something that we could hang on the wall.
I love it!
And it was even more fun to make than I expected.
How to Make A Beautiful Fall Leaf Garland
Maia and I started with fall leaves we had pressed, Sharpie metallic markers, and poster board to protect the table. We wrote what we were thankful for—family, light, friends, love, chocolate, birthdays, etc.—on some of the leaves, traced veins on some others, and just decorated the rest. Maia and I both loved this and spent over an hour drawing and writing.
The leaf makes a great fall canvas…
Afterward, I used my hot glue gun to glue the stems of the leaves to some black satin ribbon. Have I mentioned that I love my glue gun? I love my glue gun. It seems to make the impossible possible. I briefly thought about sewing the leaves on but pictured leaves and stems crumbling around the sewing machine. Not a pretty site after all this work. So glue gun it was.
And here is the finished fall leaf garland. I love how it looks against the pale blue walls in the living room.
I think this fall leaf garland may be a keeper. I can imagine looking forward to doing this every year with my family.
Aren’t they beautiful? I just love how well the metallic Sharpies show up on the Autumn leaves!
They look nice in the window, too, with the light shining through.
How about you? Do you have any family thankfulness traditions? I’m looking for more ideas to incorporate into our family life, both for Thanksgiving and in general.
This post contains affiliate links.
That is absolutely gorgeous! I love the creativity and the thought to string up like a garland!!! Very cool.
This is a beautiful project! I love it. How long did you press the leaves before decorating them?
Two weeks I think, but you could probably get away with about three days.
i LOVE what you did with your leaves! we decorated some last year and mailed them away to friends, but i am sucker for anything garland and made from natural objects. this is inspiring!
Great idea, love the designs on the leafs. I think we are going to collect some leaves today.
Thanks for the inspiration. This is a new one on me and just lovely. Can’t wait to try it and recommend it to the parents in my classes!
Since we’re a little short of fall leaves here in Phoenix (temperature still in the 90’s), my preschool class makes a gratitude chain. They cut strips of fall-colored paper (lines already there) and tell us something they’re thankful for for each one. We write on the strip and they add it to the chain. They love the straight line cutting (because it’s easy enough for most of them to feel very successful) and the stapling. The thinking of something they’re thankful for–not so much. It takes a lot of explaining what “thankful” means or we get 600 versions of “Christmas presents” (something you say “thank you” for.) Our chain eventually is carried by the line of kids to our fellowship hall and becomes the centerpiece of our “table” for the school’s Thanksgiving feast.
these are gorgeous, jean!
Absolutely lovely- will have to do this- thanks!
Really beautiful but I hesitate — we have had bad experiences lately with both Sharpie (Henry) and hot glue (me). Maybe for next year when my boy is a year older and I am less sleep deprived! :)
This turned out beautifully! What a great way to use all the leaves!
wonderful idea. love this. what a perfect way to celebrate fall and being thankful. must try with my kids – they will love it.
Ok, we’re definitely going to have to do this! I hope it’s not too late to collect enough beautiful leaves…
beautiful! will definitely have to give this one a try. the leaves are just now becoming pretty amazing!
Wow, I love it! We’re going to have to get some of those pens. The ones where you traced the veins are particularly cool.
That is so beautiful, Jean!! I have also been gathering ideas for thankfulness projects, but haven’t quite chosen yet. This makes me just want to get going and choose!
Beautiful… the girls are going to love it! What a wonderful way to express gratitude and bring the colors of the season into your home :-)
i loooove this and am going to go hunting for proper leaves on our island today. not sure if we’ll find anything workable. but, i’ll be sure to post back to you if we do this succesfully! thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas always… : )
LOVE!! Artful, meaningful, and gorgeous all at once, thanks for sharing, we are going out right now to collect leaves for this!
PS Have you considered sewing an Advent calendar? I have been searching the web for ideas, and found a current sew-along with felt that I might do but wondering if I can use freezer paper stencils instead of embroidery on felt? BUT I prefer to wait until the Artful Parent tells me what to do, you have impeccable taste and I love everything you do. ;) Your idea from last year is my back-up plan, but I want something more permanent. Just wanted to plant the seed… :)
lovely! What a super idea.
This is great! Thanks for the inspiration! I want to do this. Time to press some leaves!
Great project! I’m a sucker for anything leaves! We’ll fo collecting soon!
I am loving your website. It’s fantastic! I’ll be coming back for some more great ideas, thanks. I just wish I had thought of this one. We collected lots of leaves but didn’t get anything made with them. They just sat around shriveling up.
Just beautiful! We don’t have “Thanksgiving” in Australia but what a lovely holiday – nice to have an opportunity to stop and take count of your blessings! My kids are a little young yet (still trying to get them to remember to say ‘thank-you’!) but will put this in the project diary for next year! (Just a word of ‘thanks’ from me – absolutely love your site and blog. Look forward to your messages every day! I have 2.5 year old boy/girl twins and a 9 month year old boy and am enjoying all their art activities. Also thinking of setting up a toddler art group – just trying to find a venue – not sure i’ll be able to cope if it’s here!. Absoltely fascinated by how my kids do things and what they come up – even at this age – and how different their individual styles and preferences are. In terms of drawing and painting, my son loves big expansive drawings that fill the page and my daughter hones in on one little bit. Be interesting to see how this changes over time – if it does – and how it reflects their personalities. Anyway, will write again with some specific questions re. the toddler art group, but just wanted to say hi and ‘thanks’!)
Monique – I have considered sewing an Advent calendar, but I’m afraid it’s not on the must-do list for this year. Perhaps next! I haven’t tried freezer paper stencils or fabric paint on felt, but imagine it would work okay. Let me know if you try it!
Thanks for the lovely comments, everyone!
This sounds like the start of a lovely family tradition. :)
Oh what a lovely idea! My daughter adores collecting all of the leaves around our place…this would be an excellent way to do something with them other than collecting them in the bag. :)
(No traditions to share – sadly we are still working on this)
Did you have to do anything to preserve the color in the leaves? I seem to remember if you soak leaves in some sort of solution (cannot recall) before pressing them, they keep their color for years.
ha ha shit
cbhg
I seen this post some time last year, after it was too late. I can’t wait to do it this year though! I’ve added it to our autumn bucket list, which I plan on blogging about later today and linking back to you. Thank you so much for sharing this. This is seriously one of the best ideas ever!
Just stopping by to let you know that I have featured your project on Fun Family Crafts! You can see it here
http://funfamilycrafts.com/thanksgiving-leaf-garland/
If you have other kid friendly crafts, I’d love it if you would submit them :) If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above.
Muy bonito!
I’m writing because I run a sensory site and am looking for great ideas for Thanksgiving. And as any parent, we’re looking for terrific Thanksgiving crafts and ideas for kids with Sensory Processing Disorder and on the Autism Spectrum. Would you add a link to a craft idea or two on our blog? Here’s the link to share and get more traffic to your site…
http://thesensoryspectrumblog.com/2012/11/04/calling-all-bloggers-fun-family-thanksgiving-crafts-ideas-wanted/
I live in Abu Dhabi now, so there are no fall leaves to be found, but we are going to do this with paper. I think they will love it! Thanks! We need a little pick up this time of year being away from family and friends.