It's Just So Purty!

I was not looking forward to autumn this year. We were having such a great time with our old pal summer, and I wasn't ready to say goodbye to afternoons at the wading pool and muggy late evening walks. When I was a kid, my favorite part of summer was waking up early and rushing outside to see if it was already hot. Living in the Northwest with all of our rain and moss and hippies, it was just so exhilarating to have warm sun streaming in through my window and not a cloud in the sky. We only get that about two months of the year. September through June? Rain. Boring, gray, monotonous rain. Don't get me wrong, I do have a certain appreciation for a cozy mug of cocoa on a rainy afternoon, but when you have two pent up kids who are about to make your head explode, it's really hard to be unable to go outside and play.

Surprisingly though, we haven't had very much rain so far this fall. We've been able to continue our neighborhood walks, and I think I've actually started to become friends with autumn. I can finally see what all the fuss is about over all the pretty colors and clean, crisp air. On our walk yesterday, I was deeply inhaling the sweet smell of fallen leaves, marveling at their beauty, and I decided that I had to do something crafty with those leaves. I am about on the bottom rung of amateur painters, but my idea is so exciting that I decided to give it a try.

Here's my plan: I got out a huge canvas that was hiding in the back of my closet, and painted it like this:



I want to collect some red, orange, yellow, and brown leaves, and quick press them in the microwave. Then, I'm going to try to decoupage them on the canvas, in the shape of a tree. Since I've never decoupaged before, this may be tricky. But we shall see. I'll let you know how it turns out.