Autumn Leaf Bouquets

I can't believe it! The weather here is finally under 90 degrees! It is simply amazing! I can go outdoors and breathe normally without feeling like I'm breathing through a warm, wet sponge. (Ugh.)

I love fall. :)

Since the weather has been nice, I've gone into craft overload. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a Fun-kin faux pumpkin to carve! I haven't started on that yet, that will be another post soon. I've also started working on my Christmas wreath (crazy, I know.) and I've actually run out of thumbtacks, so that's on hiatus for now. That is also another post for another day.

I saw this amazing post on Pinterest about making pumpkins from dryer hose so I went out and bought ivory spray paint and dryer hose and I'll have another post on those soon! (AHH so many blog posts!) For today's post, I decided to make some indoor autumn decor since I put up my autumn wreath on my front door. I made the wreath last year from left over faux maple leaves I had bought for my wedding decorations. The wreath base is a pool noodle!

Here's one of my bouquets!

I also made a short tutorial on how to make them!

Autumn Leaf Bouquets

Supplies

Hot glue gun
Hot glue sticks
Wooden skewers OR plastic drinking straws
Faux maple leaves (comes in 50 per bag from Dollar Tree - I used 1 bag per bouquet)

Instructions

I spray painted my skewers bronze, but this isn't necessary since the leaves will be covering the skewers up. First, put a small dab of hot glue on the tip of the skewer or straw.

Put your leaf on facing outward on the glue dot.

Turn the skewer over so that you can see the back of the current leaf and put another dot of hot glue.

Stick on another leaf.

Repeat. You can use this formation for gluing on the leaves to make it look fuller.

Terrible illustration, I know. It's hard to photograph the real thing.

I made 3 separate bouquets for one vase. I only glued leaves about 5 inches down or so on the stick. If your vase is shallow, just trim the straw or skewers until only the leaves show. If the sticks aren't tall enough, stuff some scrap paper or filler in bottom of the vase to hold up the straws/skewers.

I also made some using drinking straws and put them into my other vase in the kitchen for display. I made copper wire "fillers" to add some quirkiness.

I just put the wires in the straws in the middle!

They're pretty easy and quick to make! I'm glad I could find a use for those left over wedding decorations! Perks for having a fall wedding! Yay!

I haven't tried this using real leaves, but I wouldn't think they would last forever as faux leaves would. They would eventually dry out and make a dried leaf mess.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more autumn decor posts and tutorials! :)