Making a Fall Leaf Bowl

I have a little secret to reveal. I've been writing posts for parentsavvy. I wanted to keep it hush hush until they posted my first post. Our focus is going to be crafts. I have a lot of ideas. A whole list of them actually. 

Don't worry I'll let you in on the crafts on here as well. As long as I use different pictures, and write it in a different way I can share! I took tons of pictures. If I've seemed more absent it's partly because I've been writing for parentsavvy.com, and partly a mess of other things that life has thrown at us.

The first craft we worked on is:

It's been back and forth weather here in Nebraska. Last week it rained most of the week, the week before that it was summer like weather, and now it's finally starting to feel like fall.

Nebraska does have 4 true seasons. The leaves do turn colors, but there's a lot of brown crunchy ones on the ground as well.

Since Isaak and I started this project a few weeks ago, there wasn't a lot of variety on the ground for leaf colors yet.

I've always struggled with what to do with Isaak. He's a needy child in the fact that he loves doing things with people. Mica on the other hand is fine as long as he has books to read or Legos to play with. Isaak has always enjoyed both arts and crafts. Let's face it, the selection for boys is slim! I think making up crafts to do with him will both stimulate his creativity and fill that need to do things with someone.

Step One: Buy or get a flexible plastic bowl. Usually the cheaper the better. You want it to be really flimsy. We reused a bowl from a craft kit: Craft-tastic Paper Bowl Kit by Ann Williams. You don't need to have this kit to do this fun project. If you get the kit it's $16.99 at Target. You can reuse and reuse the bowls that come with the set.

Here's a bowl Isaak made from the set:  

The bowls were cute, but they had a lot of girly patterns and colors. We took the process, but added our own twist to it. Here's the bowl from the kit. It's really flimsy. The cheaper the bowl the better!

Step Two: Since there wasn't a lot of fall leaves here just yet, we used fabric leaves. I've had them for a long time. My sister gave them to me from Oriental Trading Company.

If you have lots of  fall leaves there's no need to buy anything. Get outside, and get some leaves.

Step Three: I helped Isaak combine some glue with water. You can use either Elmer's Glue or Modge Podge You just want it thin enough to paint on bowl with a brush or foam brush. We even used our fingers to slather the glue on.

Step Four: Just dip the leaves in the glue, and put it on the bowl. Try and keep the leaves fairly flat, and overlap them.

Keep overlapping the leaves. We did a few layers. I liked the variety of colors, but one single color could be cool as well.

Step Five: Isaak loves glitter, so I mentioned that he could add glitter glue to the bowl. He was so happy to add glitter. You could add acrylic colors to it, or leave it. I could see doing the whole bowl in red leaves, and painting gold paint on it as well. *Note if acrylics won't stick to the leaves, you can add just a drop of dish or hand soap to the paint. That helps it to stick.

We painted a 2 layers of glue over the fabric leaves just to make sure the bowl would be sturdy, and not floppy.

Step Six: Give it plenty of time to dry! We just let it be for a day. It may be ready to peel up before then. But why rush a good thing? Don't peel the bowl up if the glue is still wet.

Step Seven: When the bowl is dry, peel the leaves up around edges. This is where it's vital to have a flexible bowl. You could have a hard plastic bowl, but it may have to stay a part of the design. I'm not so sure you could peel the leaves off of it.

Like I said the cheap bowls can be reused. Isaak's already talking about making a paper bowl for his teacher for Christmas.

We were both so happy with how it turned out!

Can you see the glitter?

Isaak opted to put acorns and pinecones in his fall leaf bowl. What would you put in it?

I like that this craft can be done by boys or girls. It's fun for adults or kids. It's really great for anyone!