Is fall in the air in your neck of the woods?   Even here in Florida a few trees are starting to change color, including the sycamore in my backyard! Yay! So, in honor of the nip in the air and the beautiful fall foliage, here are 10 fabulous fall leaf crafts that use beautiful fall foliage to decorate your home right now and for Thanksgiving.

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Virginia to visit my brother and his family. The fall colors were simply gorgeous! We brought home a handful of colorful leaves, pressed in a book, but they ended up fading quite a bit by the time we got home 3 days later. So sad 🙁

Here is what they look like, still pretty, but not as vibrant.

But I did manage to frame some, so it will be a great reminder of Fall for years to come!

So the first thing I want to show you is how to preserve leaves the right way for your leaf crafts.

The secret is glycerin! Once they are preserved, you can leave them as is (no pun intended) for crafts, to be simply framed or just to display on a table.

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Make a gorgeous leaf garland.

This one used big, glossy Magnolia leaves and would be so pretty for Thanksgiving.

This amazing relief (oh my, another pun!) is made with aluminum foil. Really!

Use spray adhesive to stick the leaves to a board. Cover the whole thing with aluminum foil.  Lightly spray matte black spray paint on it and gently rub some of the paint off with very fine steel wool.  I think this is simply gorgeous!

Use fast-dry clay to make leaf bowls.

These are lovely just as is in white, but they would also look wonderful lightly tinted with color.

Look at these elegant leaf-printed table linens.

So many ways to customize the look of these linens.  You can choose any color you want for both the cloth and the paint.

Rustic yet delicate leaf-covered mason jar.

I love how the light diffusely shines through for a soft glow.

These would look nice on a mantel or a window sill.

Another take on a leaf-patterned mason jar.

Yes, I know this is kind of a “cheat,” but if you don’t have lots of leaves available, but still want the look, I think these painted mason jars are perfect. I love the colors they have chosen, too. These would be awesome on the tables for a Fall-themed wedding reception.

See 20+ more mason jar crafts here.

Make leaf roses.

Here is a very unique but stunning way to use leaves. And it really doesn’t seem terribly hard to do, either. What an elegant centerpiece this would make.

A leaf bowl.

I’ve seen so many versions of this on Pinterest, but most of them use artificial leaves.  Those do look nice, but this one uses real leaves.  I think it turned out great.

Hammered leaves.

An interesting and unusual way to make leaf prints.  They use a plastic cutting board for stability and sandwiched the leaves between thick paper and layers of paper towels.  Simply hammer the leaves to transfer the color right onto the artist paper.  The paper towels soak up the excess juice.  There are so many possibilities with this year round.

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And finally, if you don’t have any leaves around you, make leaf cookies.

I thought this was so clever.  I saw 2 different recipes for this.  One made their own sugar cookie dough and the other simply used store-bought dough.  Simply divide up the dough into 5 equal sections and add orange, yellow, red, and green dye and cocoa powder to the last section.  pull apart the sections of dough and lay them out on parchment paper with the colored dough all jumbled together.  Roll the dough flat so the different colored sections meld together.  Next, just cut out  multicolored leaves with a cookie cutter. (Here are some on Amazon.) Draw on veins with a toothpick and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Pretty!

I think I am going to take some of my favorite leaves from our trip and frame them.  I’ll post it when I’m done. 🙂

So, I hope you found some great inspiration to gather up some fall leaves and make your own fabulous fall leaf crafts!

What kinds of trees show the best color in your area?

Happy Fall, y’all! 🙂

~ Pam

P.S. Since we don’t have a lot of fall color here in Florida, see the fall topiary I made with silk leaves and flowers.