Saint Medal Tree {with long lasting fall leaves}

Just thought I’d share an update on our original Saint Medal Tree idea…..

After Hurricane Sandy ran through our area our trees were mostly bare and the beautiful colored leaves were hard to come by. I had hoped to have the Saint Medal Tree as our dinning room décor for a bit longer, maybe till Thanksgiving, but with so few leaves left I was forced to be a bit more creative.

Plus, I thought this might be better for anyone out there who doesn’t have access to countless trees like I do. All you need is a few sticks and some nicely colored leaves.

I found the last few red and yellow leaves that remained on a tree in our yard, I even had some help from my sweet hubby to reach the ones up high. 😉  I gathered about three dozen leaves and brought them inside.

My four youngest girls covered them with Modge Podge on both sides.

 We placed them on a large sheet of paper (wax paper would be best) and left them to dry. 

I went back every few hours just to flip them and move them around so they didn’t stick to the paper.

After they were dry, they had a beautiful shiny coating that made them feel kinda like soft plastic. We hung them with Christmas hooks on a few bare branches which were arranged in a vase. Then we hung on our saint medals. Our shiny new leaves look great with our shiny medals.

The best part is I don’t have to keep changing the water or getting fresh branches!! So, Hurricane Sandy made me stretch my brain and actually made my life easier.

 (Except, for the fact that we need to replace our barn roof!!)

Here are a few pictures of our original Saint Medal Tree.  This is with regular “non-modge-podged” leaves that had to be replaced every three or four days…..

Or you could get artificial leaves, too! 😉

Hope you are all safe this week!

God Bless!

~Jen-Marie