fall decoration tutorial

I LOVE fall.
There's no two ways about it.
I won't go into detail about how and why I love fall because most of you already know and most of you probably feel the same way. Since we moved to south Texas I don't get to experience fall the way I grew up experiencing it. It's been nice the past couple of weeks because we've had cooler weather (how's a 30 degree drop in temp for you?) and it's been raining quite a bit. Although the kids are stir crazy...and I am a little bit too, it's been great to have the windows open, pull out the jeans and long sleeves and enjoy the weather. However we are not experiencing any sort of color change in the leaves. That is one of my favorite parts of fall. So, I decided that I'd bring a little bit of the fall into my home since we don't have it outside. The kids and I were at Target the other day and in the dollar spot they had bags of silk leaves and some fall stickers and stencils. I picked up two packs of leaves, a pack of the stencils and some plates for Thanksgiving (hey mom, remind me when you come for Thanksgiving that I have dessert plates :)). I figured that I could do something with the silk leaves to help decorate my house for my favorite season!

I decided to hang the leaves in a free falling sort of fashion. I also thought it might be fun to add some words and pictures on the leaves and use the stencils I had bought. (Of course you could just write your own letters and save even more money) So, here's my quick tutorial for you to make your own fall leaves "mobile".

Gather your materials: Fall leaves: $1. Stencils: $1. Sharpie: on hand Hemp or twine: on hand Scissors: on hand. Total cost for feeling the fall: $2Trace your letter or picture on the leaf with a pencil.Color it in with a sharpie (you could probably use any type of marker) but protect your work surface because the sharpie will bleed through the leaf.Cut a small slit in the top of the leaf string some hemp through the slit and tie a knot. Tie a knot at varying lengths on the one string of hemp and string a plain leaf onto the hemp stopping at the knot.Hang the individual strings of hemp onto a piece that is hanging horizontally.Space them to suit your taste or space. And then you're all done! Stand back and enjoy the falling leaves!I also made a leaf garland of sorts to hang in the kitchen! I love it and will make one for the living room as well over the fireplace.Hope this tutorial made sense. Let me know if something isn't clear. Also, if you use this tutorial and create your own fall garland or falling leaves I'd love to see what you come up with!