Paper Oak Leaves and Acorns Tutorial

For this year's fall decorations I wanted to expand on the style of my Paper Bag Pumpkins with their muted colors and rustic, crinkly texture.  I'm really on a Kraft paper kick right now.  I love the feeling of it and the simple brown tone.  These individually handmade leaves can be combined into a centerpiece or wreath.  I've made them in three colors: the plain paper brown, a matte dove gray, and a metallic silver.  I think they would also look amazing with gold, and maybe  a deep rusty pumpkin orange.

Supplies:

• Brown Kraft paper
• scrap paper
• cardboard
• pen & mechanical pencil
• scissors
• brown floral tape
• 24 gauge floral wire
• 16 gauge wrapped floral wire
• wire snips
• hot glue gun, hot glue sticks
• awl
• white glue
• paint brush
• matte gray acrylic paint, metallic silver spray paint
• acorns
• container of your choice.

Step 1: Oak leaves can be pretty tricky to draw freehand, so I've made a template. If you live in an area that has oak trees, by all means, trace real leaves!  I don't have access to oaks, so I've traced a vintage millinery leaf to get my shape.  You can also print out this picture here and use it to make a template.  

Step 2: I think the best part of this project is the texture of the paper.  Create the texture by taking a piece of brown paper, and crumpling it up in your fists.  Crumple, and then flatten it out.  Then repeat 4 or 5 times.  Each time you crumple it, you are creating a more complex texture.  There's a point where it starts to feel almost like fabric, and feels almost soft.  Smooth out the paper, and use your template to trace leaf shapes.  Imperfections are A-OK!  I let the lines wobble and stray.  They don't need to be cookie cutter.  

Step 3: Cut out the shapes. Again, feel free to be messy.  It's nice to have variations in the leaves.  

Step 4: Place the leaf on a piece of cardboard or the back of a notepad, and use a mechanical pencil (with NO lead!) to draw the center vein down the middle of the leaf.  It will just lightly emboss the paper.  This is a minor detail, but a nice one.  If you want to go all out you can draw in all of the veins.  

Now do it all over again, and make a big pile of leaves!  This is a good project to do in front of Antiques Roadshow.  

Step 5: Paint some of the leaves in a matte color.  I'm using Folk Art Home Decor Chalk paint in Parisian Grey.  

Step 6: Give some of the leaves a metallic finish.  I took some outside on a piece of cardboard and spray painted them silver.  

Step 7: Now we'll attach the stems.  Paint some white glue on the ends of your skinny floral wire, and use the tail-end of your paint brush to press the stems onto the backs of your leaves.  Let dry.  

Step 8:  Use some brown floral tape to bind the leaf stems onto a thicker piece of floral wire.  Add one or two leaves a little farther down the stem to make a branch.  

Step 9: Now we'll make acorn stems.  Use an awl to carefully poke a hole in the acorn's cap.  Fill the hole with a dot of hot glue, and insert a doubled piece of skinny floral wire.  

It's nice to have some acorns on their own in the arrangement, and some bundled together as if they grew in a cluster.  

 Add acorns to your branches with floral tape.   Make a nice variety of branches with different configurations of leaves and acorns.  

Select a container for your arrangement.  I've used an antique ironstone pitcher with a spikey flower frog at the bottom to hold the branches in place.  A pumpkin would make a super vase, or even an old basket.

If you have extra branches, they can be bent into a little wreath to put on a window or cupboard.  

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  As always, if you love it, share it!