Crayon leaves for a pretty autumn window

We've all seen Martha's crayon hearts for Valentine's Day.  They're so sweet, I thought it would be fun to put an autumn twist on them. 

So here's my take on her idea:

I picked out good fallen leaf colored crayons. 

I sharpened them into shavings onto a sheet of wax paper. 

I think I used 6 entire crayons onto a sheet that was 12x18ish.  I will warn you, that is way too many crayons for that size paper!  Less is more when it comes to the crayons.   Just a sprinkling will do.  Trust me and the wax that is now in my kitchen tile's grout.

I put another sheet of wax paper on top of the first sheet covered with the crayon shavings.  I protected my ironing board with a brown grocery bag, and with my iron on the lowest setting, I ironed the crayon shaving sandwich. 

Move quickly, because it only takes the tiniest bit of heat to melt the crayons into a pool of wax.  I think even the sheet of wax looks pretty in an abstract art kind of way. 

After everything cooled, I took fall leaf cookie cutters I have and traced them onto the sheet of wax. 

I cut the leaves out with scissors.  I tried an Exacto knife at first, but the scissors worked just fine and were much faster.

I took a 1/8 inch hole punch and made a hole in each leaf.  Then I took brown embroidery floss and looped it through each hole.  In Martha's example she used white floss for her hearts, so that's why I chose a coordinating floss myself.  I think the next time I do this, though, I'll probably use clear thread instead. 

I used my rotary mat as a guide to make sure the floss would position the leaves how I wanted them in the window. 

I then looped the floss over a dowel and rested it on the ledge of the window. 

I loved this project and I think I'll be doing it for every holiday from here on out.  Good thing I stocked up when Target had 25 cent Crayolas!



ps. You can find a link to this post at Kimba's and at Cheri's.