Fall Leaves & Thanksgiving Sleeves

My favorite season of all...Fall!  I love taking afternoon drives and seeing all the beautiful colors of the leaves on the trees.   I like the cooler weather...just before it gets cold (sweater, not coat), and watching the birds trying to decide whether or not to make a run for it, down south.  And of course...Thanksgiving dinner!  Which got me thinking about the table dressing... 

Not too long ago I found some wonderful jingle-bells that were in the shape of acorns, and I was thinking they would look great on the table for Napkin Sleeves (aka napkin rings).  I still haven't found the napkins I want yet, but at least you'll get the idea anyway.  My MIL bought me the lovely green jeweled leaves for the table center and I'm hoping to find napkins to match...eventually.  =)

I'm thinking of warm butternut squash soup...Mmmmm

Step 1

1. Start with cardboard tubing, cut into thirds (or desired widths) and sand lightly.  This could be tissue tubes, paper towel tubes, etc.

Step 2

2. Using wired ribbon wider than the tube, wrap around the tube and cut ribbon to size, allowing about 1/2" to overlap. 

Roll ribbon, right sides together, and insert inside tube. 

Wrap both edges around the cardboard tube edges evenly and smooth insides.  No need to add adhesive for this step, as the wire on the ribbon holds it secure.

Step 3

 3. At this stage you can choose a ribbon that is the same width as your tube for the outside.  I chose to use the same ribbon for consistency.  Because the ribbon was too wide for the outside, and I didn't want raw edges inside, I laid one edge in line with the tube's edge and accordian folded the center of the ribbon, using one valley & one mountain fold -- so that the opposite side of the ribbon met the opposite edge of the tube (see photo for step 3)

Step 4

Run a line of adhesive down center fold and adhere.  Fold raw edges inwards on one end -- wrap ribbon around tube and when ribbon meets together fold other end inwards as well.

4. Using a strong adhesive, adhere the ribbon around the outside of the tube coming together to form a thin seam.  Napkin sleeve is pretty as is...or you can add some embellishments, as I did.

Using my Cricut, and brown Coredinations CS, I cut two types of leaves with vines (3 each) from the Thanksgiving seasonal cartridge at 2 1/2".  The I used the Autumn Type embossing folder to emboss the titles onto the leaves.  Because I used cardstock with a lighter core color I was able to do some light sanding to bring out the embossing a bit more.

Next I used Glimmer Mist to spray generously onto the leaves.  The more glimmer mist you let puddle and dry, the more color you'll achieve on a darker color, such as the brown I used.  I was only looking for a bit of color and shimmer, so I used a paper towel to lightly dab the liquid shimmer and let them air dry for a bit (you could also use a heat gun). 

 Next I used Mod Podge to coat the leaves to make them more durable.  And since they will also be on the table, I thought it would be nice to be able to wipe them off, if necessary, from splatter.  While the leaves were still wet from the Mod Podge I sprinkled Martha Stewart leaf glitter on top. 

Very important to note...because these will be used in the presence of food it is essential to remove any loose glitter.  Once the Mod Podge was dry I removed all loose glitter.  Any glitter that wasn't completely covered with a second coat of Mod Podge came off. 

For the ribbon...I used white seam binding that I scrunched up and sprayed with my Mini Mister filled 3/4 with water, 2 drops Forest Moss reinker, 1 drop Sage reinker, and a pinch or two of Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls--which gave it the gorgeous green coloring.  You can dry carefully with a heat gun as I did, or air dry.  Just a note -- the ribbon will look darkest when it is first sprayed, but lightens significantly once dry.

For the final effect I used a thin paintbrush to paint on Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls over one of the words on each of the leaves. I just sprayed a mist of water on an acrylic block, added some of the Perfect Pearls with the paintbrush to the water until it was the consistency I desired, and painted directly from the block.

To put it all together I wrapped the ribbon around the seam of the napkin sleeve a few times then added the acorn bell before tying into a bow. I secured it further with a metal leaf brad I poked through the bell's jump ring & ribbon. For the leaves & vines, they were simply hot glued to the napkin sleeve.

Here's hoping you're enjoying the last bit of fall weather before the final push of winter comes blowing through...at least in my neck of the woods.  =)

Happy Thanksgiving!  Lisa