Preserving Fall leaves with Mod Podge – Bring ‘Autumn’ into your home!

October 10, 2012 by Archana

Adding natural elements in your home always gives such an earthy feel. Whether it is wood, stone or indoor plants, the colors and textures that are available naturally just cannot be replicated in its entirety. The beautiful Fall/Autumn colors outside takes me into a dreamy mood. All I want to do at sunset is to just relax in the balcony and stare at the gorgeously radiant shades of yellows, oranges and browns.

There are several ways to preserve leaves and flowers – dipping/coating them in bees wax, glycerin or liquid resin (which I haven’t tried out) but I used mod podge because, well, I already had it at home. The idea behind this has been inspired from this crafty blog. Applying mod podge made the dried-out leaves supple and brought out their deep rich colors. This is a really in-expensive craft and the pops of color adds so much life to any dull corner/space or a wall. If I think about it, I actually did not spend even a penny on this – I already had mod podge, sponge brush & parchment paper and the photo frame was something I bought a couple of years ago but completely forgot about it until now!

Things you’ll need:

– Fall Leaves – Maple or any other kind you like
– Mod Podge & Sponge Brush
– A photo frame – I used a 8 * 10 inch frame with a 5 * 7 matte
– Parchment paper (optional)

How I made it:

– Pick out some beautiful and colorful fallen leaves from you back-yard, front-yard, porch or anywhere they are accessible to you.

– Flatten out the leaves in between news papers and place some heavy weight so the leaves are nicely pressed. Leave them for overnight or a couple of days.

– Carefully, remove the pressed leaves onto a parchment paper and using the sponge brush apply mod podge onto the leaves first on one side….let it dry and then on another side. Do this really careful else the dried leaves might tear up. After the mod podge dries, you will see the leaves are flexible and moist and hence easy to work with. Repeat the mod podge one more time.

– Take a photo frame and remove the cardboard inside. Decide a design you’d like for the leaves. Apply mod podge on the back of the leaves and stick them to the cardboard. Once, the design is complete close off the frame.