Autumn Leaf Handprints

After going on a Pinteret frenzy for two days and occasionally going outside for some fresh air, I came up with an easy autumn craft I thought would be fun to do every year. 

What we used:

-leaves (autumn colors, but still flexible; don't use crunchy, brown ones)

-mod podge 

-non-toxic paint 

-scissors

Optional supplies:

-glitter

After walking my dog this morning, I noticed my neighbor has a big tree in his back yard with very pretty leaves.

Peyton and I knocked on his door and I asked if I could steal some of the leaves off of the tree. He said I was silly and I could have as many leaves as I wants. He even helped me reach the extra pretty ones on higher branches! 

Once I found the leaves I liked the best, I grabbed some mod podge and pasted the leaves to some paper. 

I wanted them to be as flat as possible, but I didn't want them to accidentally get glued to the pages of a book or anything, so I found the areas of the leaves that I wanted flatter, set tea light candles on them, and then set a notebook on top. 

After about 15 minutes, I took the notebooks and candles off, just to make sure they didn't get stuck. 

Choose a bunch of leaves. It's safe to assume they won't all be perfect and a few of them will get messed up. 

Once the paste dries, choose a paint color you think would look nice. I chose orange to stick with the autumn theme. 

Now, this was the tricky part for me. You might want another person to help you, depending on how old your child is. I did this by myself because I was trying to surprise people with these little gifts.  Take your non-toxic paint, choose either a hand or foot, and brush on a thin layer. Once the paint is on, gently press on the leaf. 

I chose Peyton's hand and she didn't really want to open her hand once I put paint on it! Her handprints kind of smudged all over the leaves haha. 

 

I outlined her handprints with a little bit of mod podge and added some glitter to highlight them. 

Then I painted a generous amount of mod podge on top of the leaves to seal in the glitter and to preserve the leaves. 

It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it made me happy. The next time I go to the craft store, I'm going to get one of those wire trees so that every year, we can add a new leaf to it.