Autumn is a great time for needlework, because it gives us so many beautiful materials: leaves, vegetables, fruits, flowers, acorns, cones and twigs. And how cozy is the house, if it is decorated with a decor in a yellow-purple range. In this material you will find 6 ideas of autumn crafts for yourselves for adults and children with step-by-step master classes and a selection of photos for inspiration.
Idea 1. Autumn Topiary
Topiary is an ornamental tree, which can decorate a dining table, a mantelpiece or a space at the entrance door. For its manufacture, you can use natural or artificial materials, for example: leaves, berries on twigs, acorns, cones, chestnuts, flowers, dried cilantro slices, as well as felt, sisal, flax and everything that your fantasy tells you. In the next slider you can see several examples of such autumn crafts.
Autumn topiary made of artificial flowers
The crown of this topiary for Halloween is decorated with green chopped peas
Artifact from an artificial flower hydrangea
Crafts made of artificial autumn leaves
Topiary of pumpkin, autumn leaves and flowers
Next, we present to you a simple master class on making an autumn decorative tree from artificial leaves and berries.
Materials:
- Clay pot;
- Wooden stick or branch;
- Two balls of foam or floristic foam;
- Materials for decorating the crown;
- Dry moss (you can replace it with sisal);
- Adhesive-pistol and several glue sticks;
- Scissors;
- Side cutters or secateurs;
- Acrylic paints for painting the trunk, ball and pot (optional).
Instruction:
Step 1. Cut a sharp object in the ball-base hole for the trunk depth of about a third of its diameter. Baste a hot glue in the hole and insert a barrel into it.
Step 2. Insert the second ball into the pot. If the ball is not tight enough in the pot, put a newspaper around it. Cut in the ball hole for a trunk depth of 2-3 cm Insert a hole in the hole with the crown and adjust its length. Next, drip the glue in the hole of the ball, install the barrel into it and start filling the hole with glue, laying around the trunk and small pieces of paper. This is to ensure that the hot glue does not too deepen the hole.
Step 3. Paint the pot in the desired color, if its original appearance does not please you. In this project, the pot was painted with a spray-paint in a shade of dark bronze from Rustoleum (sold in building markets, for example, in Leroy Merlin).
Remember that the design of the pot should be simple and unpretentious, so as not to distract attention from the crown. If necessary, paint the trunk and / or balls at this stage. Balls are desirable to paint so that the spaces between the decorative details are invisible.
Step 4. As long as the paint on our workpiece dries, sort the decorative details by shape and size. If you use artificial leaves, flowers and berries with a wire base, then by cutting them, leave "stems" about 2 cm long. This is necessary in order not only to glue the parts, but also to stick them into the ball - then they will hold more reliably . If the "stems" do not have a wire, then the details should be cut off "under the root".
Step 5. Now it's time for the most interesting - the creation of the crown. First, evenly distribute and glue the largest parts on the ball, then the middle parts. Finally, fill in the blanks with small ornaments.
Step 6. Well, that's all, it remains only to decorate the ball in the pot with dry moss or sisal, pre-treated with glue.
Idea 2. Pumpkins from sleeves from toilet paper
And here is another idea of an autumn craft on the topic of vegetables, which can be made with children - pumpkins from sleeves from toilet paper. The possibilities for decorating such handicrafts are endless. For example, children can use colored paper, gouache or sequins, and adults can use gold leaf, fabric or lace.
Materials:
- Sleeves from toilet paper or paper towels;
- Scissors;
- Twine;
- For decor: brushes, gouache or acrylic paints, PVA glue and sequins or book pages, etc .;
- Cinnamon sticks or twigs (to create the core of the vegetable);
- Sacking, felt or cardboard (for making leaves).
Step 1. Flatten the roll of toilet paper and cut into rings.
Step 2. Decorate the rings with material that you like, such as kraft paper, scrapbooking paper, cloth, ribbons, or simply paint them with acrylic paint. Also you can arrange pumpkins exactly as in this master class - with sequins and stripes of book pages.
Method 1. Using a brush, glue the outer side of all rings with PVA glue, and then sprinkle abundantly on them with sparkles. Wait for the blanks to dry, and then coat the sequins with a second layer of PVA glue to protect them from shedding.
Method 2. Cut out thin pages of paper from the book pages and glue them to the rings on PVA glue or glue stick.
Step 3. To form your pumpkin, thread the twine thread through the rings, then tighten its two ends and tie the knot as shown in the photo.

Forming a pumpkin from the rings
Step 4. Now, in the center of the pumpkin paste cinnamon sticks or trimmed twigs.
Step 5. Hurray, your pumpkins are almost ready, it remains only to add to them leaves cut from sackcloth, felt, cardboard or any other material available at hand.
By the same principle, you can make a pumpkin from the rings of any material.
Pumpkin from paper rings
Pumpkin from tin rings
Pumpkin from Willow Rings
See also: Flowers from paper with their own hands - 4 master classes for beginners.
Idea 3. Leaf panel
Next, we present to you the idea of crafts made from autumn leaves. Since hot glue and sharp objects are not used in this master class, you can easily connect children to work, and especially to the collection of material.

The idea of an autumn craft made of natural material that can be made with children and used for seasonal home decoration
Materials:
- Wooden board or thin plywood;
- Pre-dried leaves (instructions on how to dry leaves and flowers read at the end of the article);
- Thin twig;
- Stain;
- Brush;
- PVA glue;
- Marker;
- Any heavy object as a press.
Instruction:
Step 1. Cut a tree with a jig saw and sand the ends with sandpaper.
Step 2. Paint the board with stain and leave to dry.
Step 3. Using a marker, draw a maple leaf on the board by hand, using a template or a stencil.
Шаг 4. Начните приклеивать предварительно высушенные листья (см. Инструкцию по их высушиванию at the end of the article) по принципу веера, стараясь разместить их так, чтобы их края совпали с контуром картинки. При этом не стоит приклеивать листья полностью, пусть их верхушки будут немного свободными, чтобы панно обрело некоторый объем. На каждый приклеенный листочек ставьте какой-либо подходящий по размеру пресс на минуту.

Fixing a leaf with a press
Keep in mind that the leaves will not stick together immediately, but after drying the glue will hold well.
Step 5. To make the outline of the picture more clear, cut the leaves in some places. However, try to resort to such correction as little as possible, so as not to lose the beauty of natural lines.
Step 6. Now attach a twig to your panel in place of the stem, break off the excess and glue it.
In the next collection of photos are examples of no less original autumn panels.
The dried leaf covered with gold paint in a frame
Leaves on the glass in the frame
Autumnal panel of dried leaves, rushes and berries
Autumn herbarium within the framework of
Panel on canvas from the frame, trimmed with acorn hats
And finally, we offer to see a video lesson on how to make your own hand-made autumn hand-made pannon in a leaf with a frame made of acorns.
Idea 4. Wind music from natural materials and not only
The next project is an interesting example, but very simple in the manufacture of crafts from natural materials and finished parts, which the child can do almost independently.

Autumn Wind Music
Materials:
- Two or one wand;
- Natural and factory materials for decorating threads: pine cones, flat pebbles, acorns, wooden beads, metal small candle stands (used in this project) and everything that comes to hand and corresponds to the theme of autumn;
- Twine;
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks.
Step 1. Paint some elements of the future wind music, if there is such a need. In this master class, the author painted the stones in bright yellow and red colors.

Painted pebbles
Step 2. While the decorations are drying, tie the two sticks of the cross to the cross and tie the center of the cross with a twine as shown in the photo below. You can also use just one long stick or, say, a hoop.
Step 3. Cut 9 twine strings of the desired length with a small margin on the knots, so that later you get two rows on each branch and one in the middle.
Step 4. To create one row of wind music, take a piece of twine and start stringing on it beads or other details, passing the ropes into the holes twice or tightening them tightly in knots. The stones should be additionally fixed with hot glue. In order not to be mistaken with the order, the details should be pre-arranged in the desired order. By the way, especially ringing elements are better placed opposite each other, so that their chimes in the wind could be heard better.

Mounting stones

Forming of wind music strings
Step 5. At the end of each string, tie knots.

Bead on twine and knot
Step 6. After each thread is finished, tie them to the branches to double knots with a drop of glue added.
Below are other examples of this unusual decoration, made from cones, acorns and leaves.
Idea 5. Candlesticks in the form of autumn leaves from salted dough
Leaves can be used not only as decorative or finishing material, but also as a template and a stamp for creating crafts from any mass for modeling. Take note of the idea of autumn crafts with children in the form of such pretty sheets of salted dough. By the way, they are not only beautiful in themselves, but they can perform a practical function, for example, they can store various decorations or put candles.

Candlesticks from salted dough
Materials:
- Ingredients for kneading the salted dough: ½ cup of salt, ½ cup of water, 1 cup of flour;
- Capacity for kneading dough;
- Стеклянная мишка;
- Rocker;
- Knife;
- Large leaves;
- Vegetable oil;
- Acrylic colors are yellow, red, orange and brown.
Instruction:
Step 1. The first thing to do is go for a walk with the whole family and find at least two beautiful large leaves.
Step 2. Then mix the salted dough. To do this, simply mix all the ingredients and roll the dough to about 6 mm thick (not less), so it does not turn out to be too thick, but not too brittle.
Step 3. Lay out your leaves on the test and walk it with a rolling pin with light pressure.
Step 4. The next step is to cut the shape around the sheet. Use a sharp knife and, of course, take this piece of work on yourself.

Cutting a Shape
Step 5. Remove the leaves. Turn the glass bowl over and oil it with a thin layer of vegetable oil.
Step 6. Carefully pick up the sheets and put them on bowls.

Stacking the dough on a bowl covered with oil
Step 7. Put the bowls with the test in the oven, heated to 250 degrees and leave them to bake for 2-3 hours.

Baking of salted dough
Step 8. Remove your blanks from the oven and let them cool without taking off the bowls for about 15 minutes. Then gently lift the leaves and leave until completely cooled.

Blanks
Step 9. As soon as the bowl has cooled, proceed to painting. To do this, pour out the colors of each color on cups and let the children mix them themselves and paint the inside of the leaves first, and then the outer one. Crafts made from salted dough are fragile enough, so they should be painted carefully, without pressure. Wait until the paint dries and, if desired, cover the bowl with a layer of PVA glue. He will make the craftsmanship dull and make it a little tighter.

Painting a bowl
Forms of leaflets can be different.

Leaves of salted dough
By the way, if you do not want to mess with salty dough, then you can replace it with soft plasticine. Below is an example of such an article.

Autumn crafts from plasticine
See also the material: How to make a candlestick with your own hands: 70 photos, 7 ideas and master classes.
Idea 6. Garland of felt
Felt, although not a natural material, crafts made of it are the most that neither is the autumn. Today we suggest you make a simple garland of felt leaves.
Materials:
- Several sheets of felt of autumn colors;
- Twine;
- Scissors;
- Glue;
- Thick threads with a needle;
- Pencil.
Instruction:
Step 1. Download and print out the leaf patterns (see the download template below), then cut them and outline the outlines.
Click to download the template
Step 2. Cut out the blanks.
Step 3. In manual large stitches sew streaks.
Step 4. Now, keeping an equal interval, hang the leaves on the twine. To do this, tail each leaflet wrap around twine and fix with glue. If you wish, you can sew details. Wu-alya, the autumn garland of felt is ready!
According to the principles of this simple master class you can create a variety of garlands with decorations in the form of acorns, cones, pumpkins, etc. The following selection of photos shows some examples of autumn garlands of felt.
Banner of felt for Halloween
See also: How to make a garland by yourself.
How to dry leaves and flowers
Method 1. This method is suitable in case you want to create a panel, applique or other non-removable crafts. Lay the sheets or flowers between the pages of the book at a distance of about 3 mm from each other and each day shift them to other pages (also respecting the interval of 3 mm). Within a week the paper will absorb all the moisture from the plants, and you can use them for creativity.
Method 2. If your article does not imply the use of flat leaves, then you can dry them by simply gathering them in a bundle and hanging them upside down in a dry, ventilated room. In this case, keep in mind that from the sun's rays the leaves will lose their color completely, and in the shade they will retain.
Method 3. This method is suitable for drying and preserving the color of leaves and cornflowers. Fresh, freshly ripped leaves / cornflowers blot with a napkin if they are wet. Place each sheet between two layers of wax paper, put a paper towel on top of the resulting "sandwich". Preheat the iron and make sure that the steaming mode is turned off. With pressure, iron the paper towel for 2-5 minutes. Turn over the "sandwich" and again iron it through a paper towel, then gently remove the waxed paper.
- To dry the leaves and flowers do not break, they need to be lowered into a solution of water and glue PVA, diluted in a proportion of 4: 1, and then leave to dry.