Yes, I had my hanging hearts up for seven months! I thought about just leaving them up but with Christmas coming and the way I love to decorate, I knew it wouldn’t happen. So I decided to use the tension rod for some fall decor before Christmas gets here and I put the ornaments up again. Since I’m a New England girl at my core, Fall for me means gorgeous, vibrant leaves on the trees. I love the reds, oranges and yellows in the fall foliage. It one of the things I miss most about living in the PNW (and the lack of close apple picking, but that’s another post!) I decided that having some fake falling leaves in the random empty space would be a perfect way to get a foliage fix, even if they are fakes! Being fake means I don’t have to worry about them crumbling and making a mess, right?!?
Supplies:
Tension rod that fits the space/window you’re filling
Fishing line
Leaf Garland
Fake leaves
Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
Scissors
What I did:
1. I put the empty rod up and then wrapped the leaf garland around it. I finagled it so it would stay in place by itself.
2. I cut varying lengths of fishing line
3. On each end of the fishing line, hot glue a leaf. I tried to vary the colors on each string.
4. Once the glue was cool, I took the line over and draped it over the rod and the garland. You can either keep the line equal so the leaves are next to each other or you can move it up and down so the leaves stop at different lengths.
*hint* Carrying more than one strand at a time can cause them to get tangled up. I spent more time untangling the leaves than I did making them. Next time I wouldn’t carry as many at once.
5. Make as many falling leaves as you want.
6. Stand back and enjoy!
I was able to complete this during nap time with a lot of time to spare. It’s also pretty cheap. I paid $5 for the whole thing as the only item I had to buy was the leaf garland. I got it 50% off at JoAnn’s. It was originally $10 so it ended up being five bucks. I saw the packages of silk leaves (50 in each one, which is MORE than enough) at the dollar store. If you have a glue gun, glue sticks and fishing line, they’re free! You might have to buy the tension rod but then you can reuse it for more decorations. So for well under $10 you can have a super cute fall decoration!
If you make one or something similar, I’d love to see the finished product!
