Fall Leaves Banner
This festive autumnal garland starts with a nature walk, takes less than an hour, and can be made by all members of the family with materials you probably already have at home.
To start: Take a walk around your neighborhood to gather leaves. After a ten-minute forage in our yard, we gathered an assemblage of leaves from garden weeds, fruit trees, and house plants. Thanks to the colors we used, even our Southern California array of evening primrose, fig, and grape leaves still looked very Fall-like in our garland.
Materials:
A few pieces of construction paper in Fall colors: red, yellow, orange, brown
A few crayons in Fall colors with the papers removed
4-5 feet of jute garden twine
A stapler
Scissors
Directions:
Before you start, you can press your leaves between two paper towels or grocery bags in a heavy book overnight to make them easier to handle for rubbing, but it’s not essential that you do this.
Create a series of leaf rubbings by placing leaves under construction paper and rubbing the crayon firmly over the page to bring out the edges and veins in the leaves.
Cut out leaf shapes and staple a few inches apart along a piece of jute garden twine. Having a good quality garden twine will mean it doesn’t kink and fray, keeping a neat appearance.
Leaving several inches on each end, trim the twine and hang to bring the energy and color of Autumn into your home.
