Happy Fall, friends! It is Neftali back with you today taking on a super fun project. But before I begin, I’d like to start with a question... Have you ever seen something at a store and thought to yourself, “I can make that!” Well, I say that a whole lot, but I don’t always execute, to be honest. But this particular project really seemed easy, and I thought it would be super fun to share with you how to DIY your own “leafy” placemat using the gorgeous papers from Cardstock Warehouse.
Today I am going to be recreating a lovely leaf-placemat that I originally found at my local craft store. Here is a look at that lovely original piece I found… and next to it, is my finished project.
So awesome right? It’s so fun when you can recreate something at home. Best of all, it’s using two awesome cardstock papers from the Cardstock Warehouse shop. So, are you ready to read and watch all about how I created this lovely placemat? Let’s gather up our supplies first.
Supply List:
- Cardstock Warehouse Cardstock Papers: Gold Metallic Stardream, Natural Pergamenata Parchment, Paper Bag Kraft
- Sewing Machine
- Gold Metallic Thread
- Brown Thread
- Glue Gun
- Scissors
- Electronic Die Cutting Machine
- Leaf Shape Die/Cut file
To begin, cut tons of lovely leaves. By tons, I mean roughly about 60 of the gold paper, and another 60 of the parchment paper. It depends on the size of your placemat. I created one using an oval shape from at 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of kraft paper, to give you an idea of the size. I used a simple cut file from the Silhouette Design store. You can always use a manual die of a leaf shape, if you don’t have an electric die cutting machine. Or of course, you can print, trace and cut all the lovely leaves by hand. The option is yours.
I used two types of papers for my leaves because I wanted a bit of dimension. I used the fabulous combo of the Gold Metallic cardstock as the bottom layer, and the Natural Pergamenata Parchment paper on top. This gave off a similar look to the original placemat I was inspired by.
So once I had cut all of my leaves, I began to attach my leaves together. I layered the leaves and added a single row of stitching using my gold thread. My intentions were to just use gold thread, however, I decided to add a bit of contrast to some of them by also using a dark brown thread. In the end, I loved the contrast of stitching.
Now it's time to assemble my placemat. I grabbed a sheet of the Paper Bag Kraft paper and cut it into an oval shape using my scissors. To place my leaves, I started from the outside in. I placed each stitched leaf so that it covered the kraft paper underneath as best as possible. Below are the finished results.
Don’t you just love it?! I would invite all of you to give this project a try. Just a tip, you’ll have tons of fun cutting leaves, but to make multiple placemats you might have to cut a couple hundred leaves. The good news is we still have a few weeks until Thanksgiving dinner, and there’s plenty of time to make these if you’re wanting to debut your beautiful placemats for Thanksgiving dinner.
I also have a full tutorial process video on my YouTube channel which you can find below.
I have really enjoyed making this project and I can’t wait to display it on Thanksgiving. I hope that you are feeling inspired to get some crafting done for this holiday season. We all have something to be grateful for, wouldn’t you say? I will be back next month sharing more fun paper projects. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Until then, you can find more inspiration from our creative design team on the Cardstock Warehouse Instagram, Facebook and also Twitter. You can always tag us with your paper projects, we love seeing your creations! Also, you can also find me on social media linked below. Stay crafty friends!
Neftali
1 comment
This came out so lovely. The colors also blend so well. Love it!