DIY Lovely Leaf Crafts

Capture the spirit of the season for the rest of the year by bringing autumn indoors! Leaf it up to us to help you with some fun, easy, and elegant crafts with leaves this fall.

Pressing your Leaves for Crafting

Before we begin crafting, many leaf crafts require pressing and preserving the leaves before incorporating them into your next DIY.

Step 1: Choose leaves that are intact and not dried out. Try to get them as fresh as possible. Gently clean them off so that they don’t grow mold during the drying process.

Step 2: Gather ingredients for pressing your leaves: cardstock or other absorbent paper and a ton of heavy books. You can also purchase special flower or leaf-pressing books designed just for this purpose.

Step 3: Lay leaves down on a sheet of absorbent paper, spreading them out so they don’t touch. Lay another sheet of paper on top. Continue this process until you have all your leaves between paper. Stack your heavy books, binders, or other heavy flat objects on top.

Step 4: Press your leaves for 24-48 hours. You don’t want to press them too long, or you’ll lose their vibrant colours.

Preserving your Leaves for Crafting

After pressing your leaves, you may want to go a step further for certain crafts and preserve the leaves. Preserving the leaves will make sure they don’t dry out to the point of crumbling. You’re essentially sealing and locking in the moisture in the leaf so it doesn’t fall apart.

Try a beeswax sealing method or for a quick and easy way, use glue or Mod Podge. Spread your leaves out onto sheets of newspaper, take a foam brush, dip it in the glue or Mod Podge mixed with a bit of water, and apply a thin layer on the front of the leaf. Allow to dry fully before using in your next leaf craft. Now we are ready to create!

Framing Lovely Leaves

If you’re looking for a simple DIY leaf craft, grab a few picture frames or shadow boxes and get to work. Framing those perfect fall leaves is a great way to bring those autumn vibes into your home all year round. Collect colours in a monochromatic theme or gather every colour of the autumnal rainbow. Arrange them in shapes or patterns that attract the eye.

Cascading framed leaves: With a tall vertical frame, you recreate the process of trees dropping leaves! Start by spacing out a few choice leaves from the top of the frame to the bottom with ample space in-between. At the bottom, layer leaves to create the illusion of a pile of leaves on the ground. When you’re done, it should look like a few leaves gently falling into a leaf pile.

Grid-work leaves: This one is ideal for the minimalist who wants to bring fall into their decor without getting kitschy. Section off an area with four frames in a grid pattern. Add a leaf to the center of each frame. You can choose a monochromatic or complementary colour palette of leaves to suit your style.

Ombre effect: We love this one! Take a longer frame and arrange leaves in a colour gradient. Start from light to dark or dark to light, creating an awesome focal point for any space.

DIY Leaf Bowl

Try crafting your own festive fall decor by creating a leaf bowl. Instead of following the preservation tips above, you will glue the leaves to a blown-up balloon. Layer and glue the leaves all over the balloon so that there are no bare spots. Let it dry completely, and then pop the balloon. Gently peel it away from the leaves, and you’ll be left with a leafy bowl that you can store or display light objects in. Talk about a fall centerpiece!

Light it up With Leaf Lanterns

Create your own leaf lantern craft following similar steps to the DIY leaf bowl. Take a mason jar of any size you’d like and apply leaves on the outside of the jar as you did with the balloon. Remember that these leaves will stay glued to the jar permanently, so make sure you like how they look! You can layer the leaves just along the bottom of the outside of the jar, or as far up as you’d like. Once it’s fully dry, light a tealight or pillar candle, whatever fits best, and place it inside your new leaf lantern. This leaf craft will light up the inside of your home, patio or porch with a warm autumn glow.