AEDM Day 23!

Oh how I LOVE the rare occurance when what I am envisioning in my little peanut brain actually manages somehow to flow through my body, out my hands and manifest itself into the art I am creating! Well, I suppose that sometimes it is actually more like my BRAIN is too big & full of what I see and am inspired by and want to attempt to create...but it is my not all that talented HANDS who are the ones who just will not play nice & cooperate in creating what I am thinking of & seeing in my mind!
Anyway, perhaps with the loving spirit of Thanksgiving soon upon us, they both decided to work in tangent today, and for that, I am very thankful! ;)

This is not a GREAT BIG IMPORTANT PIECE OF ARTWORK or anything...just a simple sweet little more crafty-than-artsy banner deco that I have been wanting to make to hang within our fall theme embellished fireplace mantel & hearth.

Although it seems like this fall got cut a bit short with the early onset of rain here in the (duh) PNW, the trees on our acre of woods and all around our area still put on an incredible display of firey reds, rich burgundies, bright yellows and glowing oranges!

I always like to collect some of the very most beautiful leaves to press, dry & preserve for future use in decorations, crafts and art...it IS my very favorite time of year, after all!

One of the best places I happened upon to colecttons of super saturated colored leaves this year was at the bus stop I frequent, just down the street! Here is a photo from a few weeks ago that will give you an idea of the abundance of beauty, all for the taking!

And this photo was taken pretty early in the season...at my most recent bus ride last week, the leaves were about 5 inches deep! Yep, I brought home about 2 dozen, which dried nicely in a giant 6 inch thick old disctionary I have!

So for this little project I used the dried fall leaves, some random scrapbooking paper I had in designs I liked for fall,an Elmers tape runner, Elmers white school glue, Quick grip adhesive, 5mm wide wine colored ribbon, a hole puncher, a sheet of yellow posterboard, pinking shears, and gold glitter letters.

And bonus! It was created without spending any $, because I either already had everything on hand or it was *free*...thanks to Mother Nature!

Here is my little holiday pretty for today!

As simple as it was to make, I think it looks just lovely and will be hanging it every fall, with fond memories of an enjoyable project that came out just how I imagined & hoped it would! (as well as remind me how very much I have to be thankful for, EVERYday!)

It doesn't really take much to keep me...

Happy Me-Laurie Z!