How to Make Leaf Place Mats

Making leaf place mats is an entertaining project for children, and they look beautiful on your dinner table during the fall season. Collecting brilliantly colored autumn leaves is only half the fun. Arranging them into a lovely work of art that your children can say they made themselves, makes up the rest. Tie it all together with some photos and you have a masterpiece. This is a great pick for a fall craft project.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Clear contact paper
• Autumn leaves
• Photos
• Scissors

1. Choose a day when you and your children can venture outdoors and collect beautiful autumn leaves. Different sizes, shapes and colors work the best. Make sure the leaves are freshly fallen, not wet or too dried up, and free of any insects that may have been inhabiting them. You will also want to take lots of pictures that you can also incorporate into your place mats.

2. Place all of the leaves into a cardboard box, and put aside for later in the project. Develop your film or digital prints, and set them aside, as well.

3. Cut two pieces of clear contact paper, each the same exact size. They should be cut to the size of the place mats that you would typically use on your table.

4. Remove the backing from one of the pieces of contact paper, and lay it out flat in front of you with the sticky side up. If you are using contact paper that is on a roll it may have the tendency to want to roll back up. You can solve this problem by holding each corner down with a small piece of masking tape.

5. Arrange the leaves to your liking over the sticky contact paper, and add your photos. The photos can be trimmed with decorative scissors to add a fun look.

6. Remove the backing from the second sheet of contact paper, and lay the sticky side of that sheet over your project to complete it. This should be done very carefully and evenly. You will want all of the edges to match up neatly.

7. Smooth any wrinkles or bubbles out of the place mats by running your hand gently over the top.

8. Trim off any uneven edges with your scissors to make a clean cut edge all around. You can also use decorative scissors for this part as well.

Tips & Warnings

• As stated earlier in the article, you will want all of the edges of the place mats to match up. You may find it easier to remove the backing of the second piece of contact paper as you go. This offers less chance for mistakes, and you don't lose a whole piece of contact paper if you do mess up.
• Be sure that if you do this project inside your home that you check the box first before bringing it in. You wouldn't want to allow any unwelcome visitors into your house.