Fall Decorations: Burlap Leaves

I had a lot of burlap leftover after making my table runner. I love the rough texture and fall feel of the fabric, so I decided to make some additional table decorations with it. Of course I turned to my good friend Pinterest to see what I could find. I loved the simplicity of these leaves. It looked like something I could actually make.

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I found some leaf templates online and printed them out. Then I traced one on to my burlap and cut it out as a tester. Good thing I did one before making all of them. The leaf began fraying immediately. You couldn't even tell what it was after a bit.

I googled some solutions and found that if I Mod Podge the edges, the burlap won't fray. I used my homemade version of half glue and half water. I covered the whole leaf rather than just the edges in a thin layer of the glue and found that it gave it great texture and movement.

After spending what felt like hours cutting out my leaves, I was ready to start painting them! I borrowed some acrylic paint from Katie and started playing.

I liked how the leaves in my inspiration photo were painted with veins and an outline, so that's what I did.

Initially I was going to make a garland out of the leaves, but I ran out of time. Instead, we used them as table decorations. I think they looked gorgeous under the candles.

The best part is that these leaves will last forever! I'm thinking I might stick them all in a big hurricane vase on the console by the front door. Or maybe I will turn them into a wreath. We'll see. All I know is that I love them and they were definitely worth the effort.