Better Homes & Gardens Copycat Fall Door Decor

Not much crafty has been going on at my house lately. Scrapbooking, yes. I've been trying to use up as many scrapbook supplies as I can so that there is less to move down to the basement when my scrap room makes the big change into a nursery! (We just signed a contract this weekend to replace the carpet in the room. So, SERIOUSLY, no new scrapbook supplies will be making their way into my house. I have to use what I've got!!)

But I happened to be out shopping with a friend the other weekend, and there was a Michael's nearby, so I popped in to pick up a few craft supplies in order to make a festive, fall door hanging like the one I saw in a recent issue of Better Homes & Gardens.

If you live in a townhome community like we do, then you probably still have a bunch of leaves all over the place because the hired landscapers don't come around to get rid of any of them until after all the leaves have fallen in mid-November. So there were plenty of dried-up leaves for me to choose from to make this project.

You basically cover leaves (I used 10) in craft glue and glitter, and hot glue the leaves to ribbon. Then tie all the ribbon together at the top to create a loop for hanging on your door.

Here's a side-by-side comparison with what this looked like in the magazine and what my DIY version looked like:

Okay, so this isn't #PinterestFail-worthy by any means. It's just that mine looks somewhat less elegant than the one in the magazine. I think this has to do with a few things:

1. I found the perfect ribbon at Michael's, and then they wouldn't sell it to me on the roll. It had to be by the yard, and I had NO idea how much ribbon I was going to need for this project. So I had to go back to the ribbon section where I had to settle for a less desirable wire-rimmed ribbon (because the magazine said it had to be wire-rimmed) that I could purchase on a roll.

2. I thought I was matching the glitter colors pretty well, but my glitter ended up looking bolder and brighter than the glitter in the magazine. Maybe if I had splurged on some Martha Stewart Crafts glitter... I bet Martha makes subdued glitter colors. Doesn't that just seem so Martha?

3. My leaves were not very flat. If you find some leaves that are still kind of damp from a recent rain, I would take those and press them in a book until they dry, and then hopefully they will be flat enough that covering them with craft glue (I used Aleene's Tacky Glue) using a foam brush will be a whole lot easier.

That said, I was just going by the limited directions and supplies given in the magazine. They seemed easy enough. But apparently, I should have watched this video tutorial on the Better Homes & Gardens website. Because APPARENTLY, the supplies you need vary slightly from what the magazine says. Instead of a foam brush, use a paintbrush. Instead of craft glue, specifically use Mod Podge. Oh, and instead of real leaves, use fabric leaves. Also, you'll need five to six yards of ribbon.

*sigh*

Am I keeping this on my front door for the fall season? Of course! I spent a whole Sunday afternoon on this project!

Will I try again next year? Yeah, I think so. Partly because those leaves are not going to last a year in storage and partly because I would like to give it another shot with different glitter and fabric leaves.

But say you went on a family hike and picked up some real leaves to save for crafty activities with the kids. I think your kids would like getting their hands sticky and messy with glue and glitter. (Maybe you take over the hot glue gunning.) And then who cares what the finished project looks like? You and your kids made something fun together that you can do year after year!

What do you guys think? Got any festive fall decor crafts that you plan on making this year?