I haven't been crafting much lately. Every once in awhile I work on a diamond painting, but otherwise life has been busy. Awhile ago I saw beautiful embroidered leaves on a Facebook ad similar to these. I thought that was so neat and wanted to try it. I went out and gathered leaves, wiped them and left them to dry, but didn't get around to them until they were really dry. However I decided to try them out. I did some research and found a few places that give directions including one for kids.
Using a rounded tip needle I decided to give it a try. I discovered that my very dry leaves made it pretty hard to embroider. Sometimes the stitches would rip through the leaf and not hold the shape. However I found straight stitches, blanket stitches, backstitches, chain stitches and French knots usually worked. However the close together stitches I saw would be impossible without something on the back to stabilize it. I decided to try a newer leaf. I found this red one outside today. I wiped it and left it to dry (since it was raining all day).
I used a backstitch to put on the letters. I discovered two strands of embroidery floss works better than one. It was easier with a fresher leaf but there were still some spots that ripped and lost shape (like in the H). However I am happy with it. I am planning another autumn leaf craft soon. If it comes out well I will share it.
I also have been looking over some of my past crafts. I started Crafty Moms Share to share ideas as well as activities that Hazel and I were doing when she was younger. Many of our crafts are not the greatest since I always shared photos from the crafts she made. She was three when I started the blog. When I looked back at some earlier crafts like these autumn peg dolls, I thought I can do better. I pulled out a peg doll and painted her dress red. Then I gave her brown hair with a permanent marker and drew on a face.
I bought a package of fabric maple leaves at the Dollar Tree. I started to play around with them. I decided to use the yellow one for wings. I had tried two of them but didn't like it. I cut the middle point off the leaf to make the wings.
Before gluing on the wings I was thinking of the top of her head. I was thinking of using an acorn top, but I got rid of my supply awhile back since we weren't using them. I took one of the fake leaves and put it on the back and then tugged the middle point over head like a cape and loved how it looked. So I added and orange leaf as a hooded cape and then added the yellow wings.
Overall I am happy with how my crafts came out! Stay tuned for more autumn crafts to come! I definitely am hoping to get back to crafting a bit more.
