Autumn Leaves Bouquet: Ali Does It Herself

Ali Does It Herself
adventures in grown-up living
Autumn Leaves Bouquet

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When I saw this post on Design*Sponge last fall I absolutely itched to try it out. I
love autumn, and having grown up near Gatineau Park, I have learned to
appreciate the beauty of watching a large forest slowly turn from green to a
million shades of yellow, orange, and red. Unfortunately, that doesn’t really
happen in St. John’s. In the autumn here, we have green leaves on the trees,
and then we get storms like Leslie, and all the leaves fall to the ground and go
dry and crunchy and brown almost immediately.
So when I knew I was flying back to Ottawa for a weekend in September, I came
determined to carry out this simple project. The problem is that even in Ontario
it’s too early for most of the trees to have made the change. Cait kept me
updated with leaf reports leading up to my flight, and her reports all said the
same thing: the leaves are all green, dude, it’s not going to work out for you. As I
flew into town, however, I could see a few orange and yellow trees dotting the
Greenbelt, so I knew that with a bit of searching, this thing could happen,
despite Cait’s protests.
So one afternoon, after Teedz and Tego had made it to town, Tego and I took a
stroll in the nearby park to see what we could come up with. Lo and behold,
there were two big old maple trees whose leaves had just started to turn and fall
to the ground. They weren’t totally orange or red, but the splashes of green I
think added to the character of the thing.
We started gathering, picking up maple leaves of different sizes and shapes.
You need probably 10-12 maple leaves with stems for each flower, plus a
variety of thin, relatively straight sticks to use as stems. And floral tape,
which you can buy at any craft store.
You start with smaller leaves at the centre and get bigger as you move outwards.
Take a relatively small leaf and fold down the centre and two outside points
towards the middle of the leaf.
This gives you the basic shape for a petal.
Roll that tightly up to form your “bud”.
Now take another leaf, fold down the points, and wrap it around your bud.
Keep repeating that, rotating the flower the whole time so it looks natural, until
you get something that is a size you like.
Tego and I found that if we weren’t careful our buds started to stick out past the
reaches of the other petals, so you want to make sure to keep that sucker
tamped down inside.
When you get something you like, pinch the bottom of the leaf where the stems
are and start wrapping it up with floral tape. Take one of your sticks and lay it at
the base of the flower and keep wrapping, taping the stems to the stick.
We learned that floral tape is not actually sticky. It sort of relies on tension to
stay stuck to stuff, so make sure that you pull it tight. We found that once we got
to the end, if we wrapped the tape several times around itself tightly enough it
wouldn’t unravel on us.
We kept on until we had a full dozen, then Tego trimmed the sticks so they were
approximately the same length — you don’t want them exactly the same or the
bouquet will look weird, but you don’t want them to be radically different either.
Then we tied it up with ribbon and gave it to our cousin as a hostess gift.
Everyone thought we had bought them at some fancy craft fair, and were super
astonished when they found out that we’d made them ourselves during a walk
in the park!
As they are, I think the leaf bouquet will last about a week or two, depending on
the freshness of the leaves themselves. If you want them to last longer (if, as
Cait suggests, you have an autumn wedding coming up and you need time to
make a large quantity of these suckers), then you can dip each flower
individually in gel medium (which you can get at art or craft stores) or even
spray the bejeezus out of them with hair spray or another form of lacquer and
they should last you several months.
I’m also interested to try this with non-maple leaves to see if I come up with a
different shape. I will let you know if anything comes of that.
***EDIT, 30 January 2013***
The florist who supplies the flowers at work did this to dress up a bouquet. Very
nice, don’t you think?
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Related:
The Glycerine Trick
In "Geekery"
Leaf Skeletons
In "Crafty"
Fall Leaf Wreath
In "Crafty"
Author: allythebell
A corgi. A small boy. A sense of adventure. Chaos ensues. View all posts by allythebell
allythebell / 28 September 2012 / Crafty, Garden, Gifts, Home, Tips & Tricks, Waste Not /
bouquet, Craft, diy gifts, floral tape, flower, Gatineau Park, handmade gifts, hostess gifts, leaf,
leaves, maple, Maple leaf, natural gifts, Ontario, Ottawa, recycled gifts, rose bouquet, roses, stick,
upcycled gifts
35 thoughts on “Autumn Leaves Bouquet”
LKD
28 September 2012 at 7:20 AM
This makes me wish I was getting married this Saturday instead of in June!
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allythebell
Yes, but if you get married in June you can have peonies and all manner of
beautiful REAL flowers. Congratulations!
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LKD
Thanks!
I don’t like flowers that much. Going for a butterfly one instead. Also
hoping my bridesmaids will like vintage brooch bouquets!
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allythebell
That’s a genius idea — I love vintage brooch bouquets. I tend to
gravitate towards the sparkly ones so I hope I have a daughter someday
I can suggest it to!
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abichica
wooowww!! that is so amazing… awesome!!
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allythebell
Thanks, and so easy too!
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Anke Schott
I love walking around in the woods and now, if I just take along a roll of tape (I’ll
give masking tape a try), and because I have an excuse to hang out just a little
while longer, I can walk out carrying a bouquet! Thank you!
Like
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allythebell
I bet masking tape would work just fine — and it comes in green, too!
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sjs721
Ali, I LOVE this idea. Beautiful!
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allythebell
Thanks!
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mckinleymilestones
This is amazing. Thank you thank you!!
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allythebell
You’re welcome — and thanks for visiting!
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frugalfeeding
28 September 2012 at 7:38 PM
I think that is amazing… truly. I always have respect for these sorts of things,
because I could never do it in a million years… at least not with such a great
outcome.
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allythebell
1 October 2012 at 7:50 AM
This was easy enough that even YOU could do it, Frugal.
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tastytrendstoday
This is an amazing idea. I can’t wait to make my own bouquet.
Like
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kismitoffeebar
The things I would do to get one now ! No maple leaves here in Singapore but I’d
love to try other leaves. Oh wait, there is no autumn either. I did refer to the
source blog and found another creative place to follow ! Thankee
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allythebell
I’m sure you could try it with something else …
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allythebell
Always happy to help!
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Richelle
The colors are gorgeous! What a perfect idea for a fall-tme bouquet!
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alibahbah
Reblogged this on Through the looking-glass… and commented:
This is so clever, I can’t wait till the leaves fall over here too
Like
Reply
countingdownfromzero
Reblogged this on countingdownfromzero and commented:

Love this!!
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Jessica@CapeofDreams
These are so cool!!!! I am going to try to get around to this project this fall. The
leaves here in NY are just starting to change. I will let you know if I do it.
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allythebell
Please do, and send me a picture! I’d love to see it done with leaves that
have turned all the way.
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Mingyu
2 October 2012 at 6:13 PM
This looks really awesome!!!!
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allythebell
2 October 2012 at 6:14 PM
Thanks, Tego and I had a good time putting them together too!
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Reply
Pingback: Leaf Roses « William, Wallace (& Wildthing)
Pingback: 14 October 2012: autumn leaves and berries « Gratitude every day
Karissa
7 June 2013 at 7:15 PM
Do you have pictures from your wedding where you were using these?
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allythebell
7 June 2013 at 7:34 PM
Hi Karissa, these weren’t for a wedding — just for fun — but you could
definitely use them in an autumn wedding.
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Karissa
7 June 2013 at 8:22 PM
Those will be getting used in my wedding bouquets. How hard were they to
make?
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allythebell
7 June 2013 at 9:20 PM
Oh they were pretty easy. Tego and I did the whole bouquet in about half an
hour, not counting the leaf gathering. Once you get the first one under your
belt the rest just kind of happen. A good thing to do while watching TV
maybe!
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Karissa
9 June 2013 at 2:26 AM
I did a bouquet (with fake maple leaves because I am incredibly

impatient)
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allythebell
9 June 2013 at 11:11 AM
Hahah, yeah waiting until fall is tough. Send me a picture!
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xmaiushka
I really loved the idea. I’d choose them over roses actually..
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Reply
allythebell
Me too!
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Ali Does It Herself

adventures in grown-up living

Autumn Leaves Bouquet

This gives you the basic shape for a petal.

33 bloggers like this.

The Glycerine Trick

Fall Leaf Wreath

35 thoughts on “Autumn Leaves Bouquet”

wooowww!! that is so amazing… awesome!!

Ali, I LOVE this idea. Beautiful!

This is amazing. Thank you thank you!!

You’re welcome — and thanks for visiting!

This is an amazing idea. I can’t wait to make my own bouquet.

I’m sure you could try it with something else …

Reblogged this on Through the looking-glass… and commented:

Reblogged this on countingdownfromzero and commented:

Pingback: Leaf Roses « William, Wallace (& Wildthing)

I did a bouquet (with fake maple leaves because I am incredibly

Hahah, yeah waiting until fall is tough. Send me a picture!

Enter your comment here...

The Uber Cookie

494,928 DIYers and counting

Join 20,184 other followers

Enter your email address

Wingin’ It Wednesday: Fruit Cookies for Fall

Ali Does It Herself / Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

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