Ruby and I went for a walk today,…in between the bursts of rain we’ve had lately in Southern California. Rain is unheard of in SoCal, which is why I’m LOVING it,…and after posting about it on Facebook the other day, I realized why I enjoy it so much. To put it simply, Southern California lacks the coziness of fall.

Growing up on the Northeast Coast,  I took fall for granted. I didn’t realize how unbelievably cozy, crisp, and wonderful fall really was until I came out to San Diego. Now, when October rolls around and it’s still 75 degrees and sunny, the best I can do is drive over to Starbucks and buy a Pumpkin Spice Latte,…in my flip flops and t-shirt. Ugh. Not Fall. Although I do love those drinks. But when the rain comes, it’s all of a sudden grey outside and cool enough to wear, gasp!, a sweatshirt! or sweater! or shoes that tie! and I absolutely soak it in!! I’ve already made two different types of soup this week,…and baked pumpkin bread (which will be getting its own post in the next few days!).

So,…Rain. You can stay for a while, I don’t mind.

When Ruby and I went for our walk this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find all of these colorful leaves! Although we are lacking the maple and oak leaves, I can’t complain. These will do!

And after we found our leaves, I remembered this craft I used to do as a kid. So simple, yet such a fun decoration to hang throughout the fall season!

All you need is an ironing board, wax paper, and an assortment of leaves.

Tear out two sheets of wax paper, being equal lengths. Lay your leaves in between the two sheets of paper, then iron on top of the wax paper, making sure each area is covered to fuse the two papers together. Then you’re finished! So easy!

I’m not sure if my wax paper wasn’t as good of quality (I bought it at the dollar store!) or if it’s just like this, but I remember the paper fusing together a bit better. But, all in all, it worked well and the end result is having it fuse together enough so that the leaves stay in place and you can hang your leaves proudly.

Make sure to hang them on a window,…so that the light shines through and shows the beautiful colors of each leaf.

After we did the wax paper, I played around with a laminator my sister gave me a year or so ago. The laminator actually worked well, but you had to make sure you used flat leaves, otherwise they broke or wrinkled.

This was a cozy fall activity that was also so very fun and simple!

Not only that, but it was also interactive and a great learning experience. From gathering the leaves outside, to identifying the colors in each leaf,…Ruby and I even counted our pile of leaves. And now she’s so proud to see her little project hanging in our kitchen!

So try it out and let me know how it goes!