Fall Leaf Placemats

I'm going to preface this post by saying we did this craft in a hurry. It was a last minute decision after leaving the pumpkin patch to make a "leaf craft" when we got home. I have lots of ideas of how to dress this up, but Pinky was happy with it as it was, so I left it alone.

It all started when Pinky found a leaf that she deemed "prettiest ever." She wanted to keep it, so I immediately thought we should do a craft with it. If you don't know by now, I'm a huge fan of contact paper crafts, so I came up with the idea of leaf placemats. These would be great for a Thanksgiving tablescape.

First, we headed outside to gather more leaves. Pinky was ecstatic about this part. Try to gather lots of different types, sizes and colors of leaves for the most interest.


Next, cut out the bottom layer of the placemat. I just winged this part, but if you want you can measure it out and have all the placemats the same size. I went with a general rectangular shape, removed the backing paper and taped the contact paper down to the table sticky side up.

Add your leaves. Pinky took great care in choosing where to add her leaves.




You could also add other embellishments to the placemat - crayon shavings or tissue paper confetti in fall colors, a picture of a turkey, the recipient's name, etc.

When all of your leaves placed, top with a second sheet of contact paper and trim the edges, if needed. Be sure to smooth out any air bubbles and really get the two pieces stuck together.

This is where we stopped, but you could go further and trim the edges with fancy trim scissors or even add a border to define the edges. I really think these could be dressed up quite a bit.

For the best results, I recommend pressing the leaves before using them in this craft. Of course, this was something I thought of *after* we had started. Oh well. They may not last very long, but for now, they are making our table look very festive!