Fall tree craft

Last year I made a “Thanks Tree” Just some sticks, dried leaves, and little pieces of paper with different things I was thankful for like: Family, Faith, Freedom, etc. This year I decided to make a fall tree. Once again I went out and gathered some sticks and dried some leaves. Only, instead of writing what I was thankful for, I used photos that seem to illustrate some of the fun parts of fall to me.

For the base, I used a couple rubber bands to make the sticks into a bunch, then I put them in this pitcher I had on hand which was made by a local craftsman. I then used scrap computer paper to crumple up and stuff around the bundle to hold it upright. I used other leaves I’d dried to cover the paper:

I decided to reuse the photo holders from my Valentines Family tree craft. I used some of the same photos like family photos from past Thanksgivings, others I changed. Here’s some close-ups of some of the ones I added from my photo files:

For the leaves I just went out and picked some in my yard a couple weeks ago and put them in a old phonebook with some other books stacked on top to dry. I like using phonebooks since you don’t have to worry about leaving sap on the pages of a regular book, and the paper is also quite porous which helps with drying. I’m not sure how leaves will hold up, last year I sprayed them with a clear varnish, but we shall see. I was going to use a hot glue gun to attach the leave, but I couldn’t find it right off, so I was forced to get creative, and I think I actually may like the results better. I got out some twist ties from the bag drawer, then used some of my dad’s wire cutters to scrape the paper/plastic off the wires (this is much harder than I remember as a child, since it’s not just paper). I then used the wires to attach the leaves.

Here’s the completed project:

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