We’re all suffering from some CAD (Covid Affective Disorder) these days and instead of decorating for Christmas already, I decided to decorate with some autumn colors. With the help of Pinterest and inspiration from our beautiful city park, I gathered up some leaves to get started.
After coming home with my collection of leaves, I sorted through them again to choose my favorites. I found a post on Pinterest that said you can coat the leaves in wax to help make them soft, pliable, and last longer. So I pulled out my beeswax and added it to some candle wax I had saved.
Then, I put the jar of wax in a pot with water and set it to boil and melt the wax. Once it was melted, I used a pair of chopsticks to grab the leaf stem, dip it in the wax, and lay it out on parchment paper to cool. See video below.
To finish off my leafy string of lights, I grabbed my hot glue gun and glued one leaf to every other light. The string of lights is the perfect length to go around our living space walls. Watch the video below to see the full effect.
If you already have wax, lights, and a glue gun this project is basically free! If not, purchasing those items is fairly inexpensive. Also, hot glue is very easily peeled off, so if I want to use these lights for something else, I can. I’m not sure yet how the leaves will hold up, but I would definitely use them again for future projects if they don’t fall apart.
I think these lights are super cute! Along with my vase of chestnuts and our lanterns, it’s a good start to our autumn decorations. When it’s cold enough to have a fire as well, our home is very cozy.
Sustainably Sensible 