Autumn! Failing Leaves

My craft for the day was a dismal failure. I'm hoping you find that refreshing from this world of amazingly creative, often seemingly perfect mommy bloggers. I'm not even close to perfect and my brilliantly conceived craft fell apart, literally. But I'm getting ahead of myself... first the book!

The Book - Autumn Walk by Ann Burg

The language in this little board book is fantastic! Just listen to this:

"A whiff of apples and cinnamon toast,
air that is corduroy cold.
The street is ablaze in crimson and brown,
and the sun shines pumpkin-gold."

How wonderful is that?!? The story is in first person and describes, well, an "autumn walk" through the outdoors. Burg is a former English teacher and it shows through language as crisp as autumn leaves. She describes the wonders of nature and the change of seasons in rich, descriptive words rare for books written for toddlers. I'm thrilled to find a board book that is an actual joy to read!

I'm less thrilled with the illustrations. They're not bad, but I wish Harper Collins had matched Burg with a more sophisticated artist. The images are very cartoony with a dog-boy as the main character. The colors are bright and engaging for babies, but I would have loved to have seen something more in the line of My Many Colored Days.

The Craft - Pressed Leaves


Yes, I successfully pressed a bunch of leaves. So creative, I know. What I wanted to do was press, seal, and hang the leaves in a window as sun-catchers, but I didn't have contact paper. So I tried ironing wax paper together. It didn't work. Still, it's not a total loss. I'm pressing the leaves in my Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. In two weeks they'll be able to tell me the definition of a slew of P words and will be ready for a very cool Thanksgiving project. Check back!

In the meantime, here are a few other leaf-themed crafts I found...

• Decorate a glass door with Homespun Light
• Create a leaf butterfly with No Time for Flashcards
• Salt dough leaf prints from That Artist Woman