Like lots of my posts start….”When trolling pinterest,” I came across these beautiful pottery leaf bowls. They were definitely professional and glazed, but I thought to myself – I can make a cute knock-off and include the kids in the fun. While we can’t eat out of the bowls or wash them, they do make very elegant decor and a great gift. We took one to Nana last week and she loved. It now is living on her coffee table and Izzie will go wild when she visits and see her work being displayed!

Also, this is a great project for CHEAP!!!! We used clay left over from making ornaments ^[1] last Christmas and other supplies we already had around the house.

Izzie and Lucy both had a blast and it looks way better than the typical kid craft.

Materials:

• Leaves
• Air-dry or Oven-bake clay
• Rolling pin
• Acrylic Paint
• Gold spray paint

The girls and I put on our shoes and headed out to the woods in search of pretty leaves. When I told them we were going to do a craft, they would have been happy to stop at this step – the actual crafting part came as a surprise bonus! lol.

Izzie and Lucy had a blast picking leaves off the trees and searching for all different kinds. The bigger the leaf, the bigger the bowl. The more intricate leaves, like from a maple tree, were my favorite, but really any leaf will do. Also, we used leafs just off the tree since they are less brittle and will keep their shape when making the bowls.

Once we collected WAY more leaves than we actually needed, we headed back inside.

I first busted out our oven back clay. You could also use air dry clay if you’re willing to wait a bit longer to paint.

Izzie and Lucy worked the clay until it was warm and soft.

We then used a rolling-pin to roll out the clay, thin and even. Btw, yes, that is our play dough rolling pin – not real pretty.

Izzie and Lucy each picked out their favorite leaves and placed them, centered on the clay.

Once we had the right placement of the leaf, Izzie and I used the rolling-pin to press the leaf into the clay.

With our first leaf, I was scared of hurting the leaf (because I hear leaves get their feelings hurt pretty easily), so I didn’t press hard enough – leaving too slight of an impression of the leaf.

After that, I used the rolling-pin to press it in so deep that the clay actually covered the stem and leaf in some places. The point is, press harder than you think you need to.

We then very carefully lifted up the leaf, starting with the stem.

I rolled more clay than I want use for the bowl so, using a sharp, pointed knife, I cut an oval around the leaf. For another, I cut the outline of the leaf.

Once the girls removed the excess clay, I lifted the clay leaf and placed it in one of my stoneware bowls, since they are oven-safe.

I baked the clay as directed on the package, removing from the oven and allowing to completely cool before removing the clay leaf from the bowl.

By this point the girls had taken naps and awoken to find that the bowls were ready to paint.

I was kinda worried that if I let them paint the bowls, they may not be pretty enough to display. I let that go and embraced the process! (It turned out that they bowls looked awesome and not at all painted by kids).

I gave the girls four different pools of acrylic paint, in fall colors, and Q-tips for each color and let them go at it!  Tip: Yellow and gold paint did not look as good on the final product, so we stayed clear of those colors.

Then, after the acrylic had dried, I lightly spray painted the bowls with gold metallic spray paint.

Done and beautiful! I thought about displaying it on my new fall mantel, but it was too small and didn’t show as well. But it does look great on my mom’s coffee table and our own couch end table!

What do you think? Where would you put an autumn leaf?

As Always, thanks for reading!

Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook ^[2] and Pinterest ^[3]!

We linked up at: Southern Hospitality ^[4], DIY Show Off ^[5], House of Hepworths ^[6], At The Picket Fence ^[7], His and Hers ^[8], Craft Envy ^[9]