I have spent the past two weeks making leaves from book pages and most of them have been painted the colors of fall. I decide to leave one batch of oak leaves unpainted - just the natural color of an aged book - and create a fall tablescape in natural tones. These I attached to branches painted black.
I made three branches, added them to my book page basket (tutorial
here) along with a scattering of found feathers for a fall arrangement in muted tones.
I started by making a slew of leaves from strips of pages from old books. I posted extensive tutorials on how to make these leaves
here.
I made a bundle, painted some for other projects but left about 30 natural for this arrangement.
Creating the arrangement started with a hot pink flower pot my daughter gave to me when I visited last week. I knew it would great spray painted matte black.
I then experimented with an idea I'd seen on Pinterest from
Doodles, Dabbles, & Dreams. I used Great Stuff insulating foam to hold the sticks in the pot. I am pleased to report that it worked like a charm and better than many other things I have tried. I even hard a partial can left in the closet! Recycled books, pot and finishing up old supplies!
After spray painting some twigs black, I arranged them using painters tape to hold them in place. I sprayed the foam into the pot trying to not over fill because of the foam expansion. I left it over night to cure and the results are excellent. The branches are held firmly in place. It made working on it much easier.
I used hot glue to glue the leaves onto the branches. Notice the coffee can? It has about 2 " of small rocks in the bottom and I use it as a holster for the hot glue gun. It keeps it off my work surface and it doesn't matter if some of the hot glue drips on the rocks below.
I put a small amount of hot glue on the leaf and then held it next to branch. I had a pencil ready to push it in place with out burning my fingers!
And I just kept adding them.....
And adding them....
I added some other treasures from my collections to the grouping and took photos to share.
But then I also added a touch of fall color to the arrangement. I think I love the sereneness of the all natural interiors but my inner self pops out into color every so often!
Dont' miss all my other posts about the other arrangements I have made using the book page leaves, and the tutorials. Links to all below.
Previous Posts of Interest
©2012 Ashbee Design, Marji Roy
I'll be sharing this at the following link parties this week. Check them out for other fall ideas.
Hope to see you there as well!