Garland of Gratitude

Living Green

Here is a great way to remind your family what they are grateful for.

What You'll Need:

- Construction Paper (in fall colors)

- Leaf Template to Trace (I searched for a free one on the internet)

- Twine

- Tape

- Scissors

- Pen or Marker

The How To:

-First trace your leaf pattern on to your construction paper.

-Then cut them all out.

- Next crumple up all the leaves to give them a worn look.

- Now have each person in your family come up with at least one thing to be thankful for and have them write it on their leaf.

- To hang the leaves, fold the stem of the leaf over the twine and tape the stem to the back of the leaf.

- If you have children who are not old enought to write on their own, you can have them draw a picture on theirs instead.

This is a great way to help everyone to have an attitude of gratitude.

Fall Leaf Hanger

So Simple

Here's a fun finger painting craft your children will love helping you make.

What you'll need:

-White Poster Board
-Red, Yellow and Green Finger Paints
-Raffia
-Stick
-Leaf Stencil

The how to:

-Drip the finger paint in different places all over the white poster board and have your
children spread it around with their fingers.

-Let it dry and then do the same thing to the other side.

Once the paint is dry take your leaf stencil and trace it onto the board.
(I used a leaf cookie cutter as a stencil.) Trace nine leafs.

-Cut out the leaves and punch holes in the tops and bottoms of each leave
except for the bottom row. (punch only one hole in the top of the leave)

-Use the raffia to tie the leaves together. (Three rows of three leaves.)
Then tie each row to the stick.

-Tie the raffia to each end of the stick to make the hanger.

For some personal charm, add some some pictures to each leaf.

Fabric Acorn Tutorial

Love it.

I must say that I fell in love with these fabric acorns! They are perfect for using up those scraps of fabric that you may have laying around.

The tutorial to make these cute acorns can be found over at Zemphira~ scatter art.

She also has a set for sale at her etsy shop.

Photo from Zemphira~scatter art blog.

Fall Tree

Just For Fun

Here is a great way to bring a little bit of home-made fall into your house.

What You'll Need:

- Coffee Filters

- Spray bottle

- Water color paints

- Paint brush

- Scissors

- Glue gun

- Tree branches

The How To:

- First get out some coffee filters and spray them with water from the spray bottle.

-Then, start painting them with the water colors. It's fun to watch the colors spread out on the wet coffee filter. I had my kids use fall colors (yellow, orange, red, green, brown) to paint them with.

-Next (when the coffee filter was dry) I folded it in half several times until it was too small to fold anymore.
-Then I drew half a leaf on it and then cut it out.

-Next comes the glueing on of your cute leaves. Put a drop of glue from the glue gun on the end of a leaf and stick it on the branch.

And there you have it. A fun and easy craft that lets you prolong the feel of fall after all the leaves have fallen off the trees outside.