Rainbow leaf crown

This past weekend we went hiking along the New River Trail. The colors were absolutely gorgeous! i collected leaves during our walk with the intentions of making a few leaf crafts with them.

We don't have any pretty maple trees at our house. The majority of our trees are oak, yellow poplars, hickory and Sassafras. ALthough they get pretty, we do not get the deep reds, purples and oranges that the maples produce.

i collected maple leaves in all the colors of the rainbow, and then i found this beautiful bradford pear leaf that looked like it had been tie-dyed.

When you have leaves in rainbow colors it's really hard not to play with them a bit.

They were so pretty, i couldn't stop taking picture of them. :)

i've never had much luck keeping leaves pretty. i also like the impermanence of them. So i wasn't looking for a way to keep them, just something fun to last the day. Then they can be returned to the compost. i decided to make a simple leaf crown with them. We make leaf crowns every year. They are very easy. I take a piece of construction paper, and cut it into 1 1/2" strips. Then glue two together to make a long strip that fits around your child's head. Then i use hot glue to glue the leaves/flowers/acorns and what ever else in place.

For this one, i just arranged the leaves to make a rainbow. i wanted to use the Bradford pear leaf in the center, but it already lost it's color and turned brown. Once your leaves are glued on, you can glue or tape the ends of the paper together to make a crown.


My girl dressed up in her rainbow fairy dress by Sarah's silks and spent the afternoon dancing...

and spinning.



The rainbow leaf crown was perfect on an absolutely perfect fall day.