Fall is here and the leaves are changing, which means families are heading to their favorite locations to find fall leaves. Here is a great way to capture their spectacular colors forever!With your parents' permission, use your flatbed scanner and place your leaves color side down in interesting patterns, or perhaps more natural ones, as if they were falling from the sky. Make sure if you have an option to preview the scan that things are the way you want them to be before you finish. The more you play with it, the more ideas you might come up with. Maybe animal shapes or flowers, an autumn butterfly perhaps?
Don't worry if you can't go into the mountains to find leaves, there are many beautiful shrubs and trees in your neighborhood or even your own yard or a neighbor's that have wonderful fall colors. Look around and see what catches your eye, just make sure you have your neighbor's permission before you cut across their yard, and always see what has fallen on the ground first before picking any off a tree or bush, especially after a big gust of wind. That way the color stays a little longer for everyone to enjoy!
Here are some Maple leaves from the mountains, as well as some leaves from a vine in my mother's yard. Both are equally lovely if you ask me. Notice the leaves with some green still in them have a few nibbles taken from them from some lucky bug - don't pass over imperfect leaves, they add interest and authenticity to your collection.
After you are done with the leaves, if you don't want to dry them in a book (these are still fresh) you can add them to your compost pile if you have one! As far as your scanner goes, maybe Suzanne has a suggestion to keep it protected from the leaves. I didn't think of that when I did these and there were some spots I had to clean. Again check with your parents for permission and how best to clean up afterwards. Suzanne may have a good suggestion for that as well as she is more computer savvy than I!
