Thrifty Thanksgiving ,Autumn garland

In this time of Holiday season many of us don't have extra money to spend on holiday decorations .I know most of the bloggers out there are writing post about Christmas already. But for me, I don't start thinking Christmas till I recuperate from all that Thanksgiving eating and cleaning up.So, I will be doing Thanksgiving decorations for the next few days . This post is a thrifty decoration for those of us that want to be festive but not spend to much money .So here is one that shouldn't cost to much .





You will need:
 a leaf or two
Brown paper bags,brown craft paper ,
 old news paper or book pages
a pencil
scissors
twine,string or ribbon
glue
thumb tacks
for color crayons or paint
Some time
your imagination

Take a walk outside around your house or around the block and gather a few leaves of your choice.If you can't find any leaves you can us a fabric leaf or a leaf shape you can find on the web and print it out  .I used a leaf shaped coaster that I made a few years back , which I used as my leaf pattern .

I ironed my leaf as flat I could between two sheets of heavy weight paper then traced the shape on to cardboard from an old cereal box then cut .This will be your template 

trace and cut on to your paper 

I stacked the paper so I could cut a few at a once ,to save time .

I used a strait pin to hold my papers together while I cut.Once you think have enough, if you wish to add color now is the time to do it before you start to glue them to the twin .

 Next measure the amount of string ,twine or ribbon that you will need .I'm hanging mine on a fire place mantel and I want it to hang a little on each side, so I allowed for the extra length .I found my center of the twin and start gluing on the leaves going in opposite directions.

  I put a line of glue down the center of the leaf,then placed the twine into the glue.

Then I repeated the process of the glue line and placed that on top of the glued leaf and twin .

I repeated this over lapping the leaves slightly till I reach the end of the line .
Then hang it .
That's it Your done .
Since this is paper,and paper will catch on fire, remember not to hang it over an open flame.

I did color to some ,just so you could see how they would look.I did mine with craft paint but crayons work good too.

 I didn't want to much color in my dinning-room so I chose to go with the plan brow paper and kept it simple.I hope you use this as a starting point for your own creation add or change to it any way you like .Remember go to my Facebook page,friend request me  https://www.facebook.com/zanahomespun.crafts so you share your Creation with me .

Have FUN.


My next post, I will show you some other things I put and made on my mantel.