Monday, August 09, 2010

Free skeleton leaves!

Absolutely free!  Here in Twin Lakes, and actually anywhere I've been in Wisconsin or Illinois lately I am often finding the ground sprinkled with free skeleton leaves!  Granted they aren't quite as pristine and colorful as those perfect albeit very fake looking ones you can buy at Michaels or on ebay, but they are beautiful, and every once in awhile I find an absolutely stunning one.  Often I keep the leaves their natural color, but sometimes I color them using Prismacolor art markers

Next time you go for a walk outside, bring along a small plastic bag in case you find some on the grass or pavement.  When you get home, either place them in your Microfleur, or just put them in a heavy book to press them flat.  Since most of their flesh has been removed (most likely by a Japanese Beetle) they will only take a day to two to completely dry and press flat.   

What have you made with skeleton leaves?

Labels: , ,

11 Comments:

Blogger Eat To Live said...

I used to press and dry leaves but as I have gotten older, Time flies and who knows where it has gone.

I am on a mission to find and follow 10 new interesting blogs a day for a month.

I am your new follower and hope you can stop over to my blog and follow me back.
My Journey With Candida
http://myjourneywithcandida.blogspot.com/

7:54 AM  
Blogger Elizabeth said...

Well thank you for stopping by Terry! You will be doing a lot of blog reading! I will stop by and check out yours as well.

8:16 AM  
Blogger Aruna Sarode said...

I live in Round Lake and when I go for a walk, I am seeing some trees full of such leaves with perforations! I couldn't believe my eyes. Looked amazing when the light shines through the holes.

9:35 PM  
Blogger Elizabeth said...

Aruna,

I haven't actually noticed the leaves still on the trees - I bet that would be amazing...I'll look for that.

6:45 AM  
Blogger Nan said...

Wow!! I`m going to look for some this fall...how interesting!

8:10 PM  
Blogger Coleen said...

Elizabeth, thank you for this reminder of nature's bounty. How easily we forget about what is all around us. I press flowers all summer long, but never thought to look for skeleton leaves. Duhhh!
BTW, I grew up not far from you northwest of Chicago in Deerfield.

11:28 AM  
Anonymous Bonnie said...

while walking on the golf course, I found myself, after reading this blog entry,looking down while walking and noticing all of the "skeleton leaves" on the ground.
They are so interesting......its just too bad they were made so beautiful by a nasty bug

11:57 AM  
Blogger Elizabeth said...

Hi Bon,

I'm glad you saw some! I think it's cool that despite their nastiness those bugs are still good for something.

2:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have a grape vine way up a tree the beetles cover it and I in turn get some of these wonderful leaves too. I love how nature does it better myself!

7:20 AM  
Blogger Elizabeth said...

I agree Terica, nature does better that we do!

8:02 AM  
Anonymous Rabbit Hutches said...

I used to find good looking leaves and press and dry them so that I can use them in making a scrapbook or something. It's always nice giving something to a loved one where you made an effort in making it.

12:20 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home