Fun with Jane: Leafy lanterns

At this time of year, there are leaves everywhere. Next time you're out and about pick up some freshly dropped leaves and press them between the pages of a hardbound book for a week or two. We love how they keep their beautiful autumnal colours. Follow a few simple steps and you'll have lovely winter lanterns for the table. On reflection, the only cost for this project was the PVA (which we had anyway) so this represents a near free project!

What you'll need

Dried leaves

Jars

PVA and a paintbrush

Where you'll get it

Keep an eye on jars you are using at home and recycle them, and check out your neighbours' recycling bins for cool jar shapes. We have about a bazillion leaves falling every day in our neighbourhood so they are as plentiful as can be. A walk to your local park will most certainly fill the leaf quota for this project.

You will find PVA at the hardware store.

How to make it

It's as simple as painting a jar with PVA and placing your leaf where you want it, and continuing to paint smoothly over the leaf - the glue will dry completely clear. Leave the jars to dry.

Voila! Add a tealight candle and you have a lovely leaf lantern for the long winter nights.

About Jane

Crafting ought to be my middle name. Happily (for me), I seem to have passed my craft-mad genes on to my children Charlie, 7, and Ella, 5. We all love making things, so we do loads of crafting together. It's our happy place.

For me, nothing beats crafting for an easy, relaxing, calm and sociable means of entertaining my kids.

Please post photos of any projects that this column inspires.

For more clever ideas, see Jane's website funwithjane.co.nz.