Fall is upon us and the wonder of God’s beauty is breathtaking! After all, HE is the best artist of all! Why not preserve a bit of that beauty with some Fall crafting?
We’ve all done it- ironing leaves between wax paper. Unfortunately, it’s something our parents remember, but… now-a-days wax paper is such absolute JUNK that it doesn’t really work anymore. But that’s ok. I’m going to tell you what to do about that. 😉
Step one: Collect the amazing leaves that God has painted with his wonderous brush!
Have lots and lots of fun with this step- it’s important!
Collect all shapes and colors. Don’t forget that green is a color!
Arrange your leaves on your wax paper…
When we ironed, we quickly discovered that wax paper just doesn’t have enough wax to work for this craft anymore.
There are 3 solutions to wax paper not working anymore…
- Use sheets of contact paper instead of wax paper. I’ve done this with the kids in years past and it works beautifully. Just peel the paper for them, lay it carefully sticky side up, and let them stick the leaves on. Cover with another sheet of clear contact paper and trim the edges. For the rest of us that DIDN’T have contact paper on hand this year…
- Try adding some crayon shavings in between the leaves. Now you have enough wax to make your wax paper stick, and you also add a pop of color to your creation. You can use a pencil sharpener to “sharpen” the crayons and collect the shavings. A little bit goes a LONG way.
3. Use packing tape!
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In the same way as you use the contact paper, you can lay packing tape sticky side up, stick small leaves to the strip, and place another piece of tape on top!
Our favorite way to make leaf suncatchers…
Lay out wax paper, arrange the leaves in a skinny line, then stick them down to the wax paper with a long strip of clear packing tape. Then edge the border with washi tape, and trim.
These strips can be hung from your window to let the sun through, or pinned to your lampshades. Same concept.
I absolutely love being able to enjoy the magnificent colors of the leaves from inside our home!
Never forget that enjoying your time together is always more important than the final result of your craft. Your kids will remember the experiences more than anything. 🙂
Remember- always walk the narrow path! Love you guys!!!
This is really awesome!! A couple years ago I too discovered wax paper no longer works! If you have a laminator—that also works amazingly. It makes the colors so vibrant! We taped ours to the windows! And years later they still look great.