Ever looked at the ground of your local park? It’s not just for dirty needles and goose feces anymore. This time of year, in fact, you can find more household decorations than the aisle of jars with ironic phrases painted on them at Hobby Lobby. Plus, you don’t have to battle the disgruntled employees with the tin buttons that read, “I’d Rather Be Felting” (I made that up…craft joke).
I found the little darlings in the above picture while bicycling through the park, actually the same day I found that free sombrero, pretty big day for me. I didn’t have an exact plan for them, they were just so pretty, and I had a backpack. It was fate.
I pressed the biggest, fanciest leaves of the bunch in my dictionary under the words “years”, “last”, “loveliest”, “smile”. Allllllright, not really, but that would have been poetic, hm? They came out perfectly thin and beautimous. For now, they will serve as a a coffee table decoration until something really fantastic comes to mind: majestic crown perhaps, or tiny loin cloth. Time will tell.
Smaller, less fantastical leaves need love too. Martha (THE Martha) has a habit of covering her tiny fallen leaves in beeswax and making extravagant garland out of it. Now, I love me some Martha, but I don’t have beeswax lying around. I do, however, have one of those smelly candle things where you put wax in the top and a tea candle on the bottom and the wax melts. Same diff. A little dip and a dry later and I had preserved the color and shape of my little friends. I strung them together with some embroidery thread and…
Splendid fall colors, lighting up the night. I’m patting myself on the back.
“Autumn, the year’s last loveliest smile.” -William Cullen Bryant
Tags: crafts, domesticmacgyver, reusing, seasonal, the home
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