Fall Craft Day!

We had a full day at home today due to Fall Break. I decided we would do some fall crafts and they would be based on the pretty leaves outside. And, I was inspired by Clover Lane's post on waxing leaves.  Love that blog!

First, we collected leaves.

I didn't have the wax that was mentioned on the blog, so I thought the waxing leaf thing was out for today. So I decided we would make fall placemats with wax paper. When we got home, I wrote the kids' names on a piece of paper. They colored them and then cut them out. (You'll notice this is the last photo of Jack. He got bored and ran off to play all by himself. He's my best independent player!)

Apparently, the wax paper I have is worthless. They didn't really melt to the leaves. I seem to remember ironing leaves, or having my mom do it, and then cutting them out and having pretty wax leaves. Didn't happen today. So, these pretty much were a dud. Didn't stop the kids from liking them though. I had them pick their favorite leaves and arrange them with the letters of their names. Then, I ironed them together. I cut out edges out of scrapbook paper and let them glue them on. 

Again, pretty much duds. But, they had fun and that's all that matters. I'm going to have to work on finding wax paper that actually melts. 

I'd take any suggestions on the right type of wax paper. See how unclear it is? I just don't get it!

This was the mess left in my kitchen. Someone at MOPS last week said to not be afraid of messes and I certainly wasn't today. And, you know what? It cleaned up just fine. :) 

Then, as I was cleaning up, I remembered I had a 100 pack of tea lights I had unpacked a while ago. I wondered if that would work for the leaf waxing. And, it did. I did exactly as the post directed and heated the candles in a disposable pan over the stove. Only problem was that I got the wax too hot. It got bubbly and started to boil when I put a leaf in the wax. Don't let it get that hot! And, certainly don't try to cool it down with ice. I've experienced that before too. Bad idea. 

The girls were able to help here too. It was a little scary letting them get so close to the hot wax. But, they did a great job. Here are a few of my favorites. I made a big pile of them. It got a little obsessed. :) I tied up a few and hung them from the window and then put the rest in my jars on the table. Pretty and very fall-y. 

One last thing... if you have a skeptical husband, you may want to do this when he's gone for the whole day. Tom came home when I was heating the wax and gave me the what for. Yeah, I made a mistake. No, I didn't burn down the house. :)