Fall is a wonderful time of year. It brings everyone together for holidays. Thanksgiving is about friends, family, and food (oh and being thankful). What better way to decorate for Fall than by making a personalized placemat. It is a great project to do with the kids, too. Now this is the part where I brag about living where there are beautiful leaves to collect for this. Ha! Take the kids out and collect a bunch of beautiful leaves. The more variety of colors and shapes the better. Get the ones that have been eaten by caterpillars, too. They have character. Press the leaves in a book. Now you will need the following: construction paper, scissors, clear Con-Tact paper, leaves, and glue.
Glue or tape two standard sized pieces of construction paper together. Start placing leaves on in any way you want. Use a tiny dot of glue to help the leaves stay in place. If you are doing this by yourself, you can use a glue gun, but this so much fun to do with the kids. When you are done placing your leaves on the paper, cut a piece of clear Con-Tact paper wider than the construction paper. Cut another piece the same size. Peel off the paper backing off of one piece. place it sticky side up on the table. Put the construction paper on top of it. The Con-Tact paper should be underneath your placemat. Now take the paper backing of the other piece of Con-Tact paper. loosely place it over the top of your leaves and construction paper. Press in the middle of the paper to push the Con-Tact paper down and stick to the leaves and underlying Con-Tact paper on the bottom. You will slowly work your way out to the edges. You can use your forearm for this or a rolling pin. Seal the edges by pressing the Con-Tact paper together firmly. Trim off excess, but be sure to leave about an inch completely around the placemat. You are done! You can embellish further with pretty ribbons, buttons, etc. if you wish. You will want to make sure to do this on the outside. It is too difficult to try to get everything to stay in the exact spot when laminating this to put little things like that underneath.
Now you have a festive Fall placemat that is perfect for Thanksgiving, or until you can’t hold off any longer and bust out with the Christmas decorations. :-) Try it.
This post was linked with other great ideas on Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family. 
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