In the very early years of my blogging career, I connected with Layla of the Lettered Cottage.  I was smitten with her design aesthetic and eye for styling.  We both wrote tutorials for HGTV.com (you can find mine HERE) and wrote and contributed photography for several of the same editors and magazines.  We met at a few blog conferences over the years and even partnered on the very first Chapel Market hosted by her community in Alabama.  As another fun piece of history, one of the colors in the MMS Milk Paint line, Layla’s Mint, is named after her.  It was a color I custom-mixed for a secretary desk for her kitchen and we added it to the line soon after.  (That color is still available HERE.)  So, when Layla asked if I would like to team up to share fall decorating inspiration or a project with our readers, I said yes.  I don’t pull out all of the stops for fall decorating, but I thought it would be fun to put together a simple fall mantel with a free craft project as a bonus.

I didn’t know 100% what I wanted to do, but I had it in my mind to play around with some craft paper.  I thought about making a garland or wreath, but in the end, I envisioned branches in the ginger jars on the mantel.

So, why paper leaves?  As I was cutting oak-shaped leaves out of paper bags and packing materials, I questioned if this was just crafty busy work.  The benefit to making your own leaves, though, and affixing them to bare branches, is that you forego the mess of shedding leaves that will continue to dry and deteriorate when you bring them inside.  These will last as long as you want to leave them out and you can even keep them to use in future years.

Cutting out the leaves might seem tedious, but I was able to get a pretty good pile in about ten minutes.  Since I used thin paper lunch bags and packing paper, I was able to cut 4-6 layers at a time, making multiple leaves in one pass.  If you need a guide, you can use real leaves for a template.  I just kept it freeform and generally in the shape of an oak leaf.  I also tried to vary the sizes and shapes for a more natural look.

Here is a short video showing how I cut, folded/crinkled the leaves, and then hot-glued them onto branches…

It took me a few tries to figure out the best technique.  I settled on gluing two or three leaves together and then folding them over a branch tip until the glue cooled.  Having a few layers of paper acted as a buffer between the hot glue and my fingers.  Of course, you could use a double-stick tape if you want to keep your fingerprints intact.

I just collected some branches from around our yard and neighborhood.  I looked for ones that had a sculptural quality and would be a good scale for the ginger jars.  I affixed the paper leaves in places where leaves would naturally grow so they might look real at a glance.

I didn’t even have to use anything to hold the branches in place.  I just let them fall where they wanted.  I scattered some extra paper leaves across the mantel and bought a few small pumpkins and squash.  As I was looking around for pumpkins, I found acorn and buttercup squash to be cheaper than mini pumpkins and then I can actually roast and eat them.  The dark green also works nicely with my color palette and the size was perfect for the mantel shelf.

I kept a few whelk shells mixed in just because I like them and used some old books for height.

Even as I was making the branches, I wasn’t sure if they would look good or stupid.  Some projects are just like that!  In the end, I decided they looked good and I love how the mantel turned out.  It was simple and inexpensive yet it looks elegant and appropriately seasonal.

You can find details on how we designed and built the fireplace surround HERE.

If you don’t already follow The Lettered Cottage, you can follow Layla’s blog HERE and her Instagram account HERE.