Fall Leaf Zentangle Art

We have been collecting leaves for a few weeks now and setting them in our Fall Nature Tray (on our kitchen table). We call them Nature Treasures and it’s ONE place we gladly add to our collection (so I don’t keep finding crunched up leaf debris at the bottom of my purse or pocket…) 

I saw a project idea from Jean at the Artful Parent about drawing on leaves and was inspired! After having an abundance of leaf treasure, I decided to press and save a few for this project. 

(You can find her project post here:

http://artfulparent.com/2011/11/leaf-doodles-and-mandalas.html)

We have been super into Zentangles lately and I find it great therapy to sit and zen doodle with my 7-year old before bedtime on particularly emotionally charged days. So I decided to try to Zentangle on our pressed leaves.

It was so much fun working on a surface that wasn’t paper – a surface that was once part of our Natural Treasures tray.

First we found just the right paint markers. Sharpie makes both an oil based marker and acrylic. We went with acrylic for it’s wash-ability and shorter drying time! They make a metallic batch that’s perfect for this project. I was most excited to try the white and the gold.

Easy and fun! We like following the veins of the leaves with the markers, too. What natural beauty all around! It definitely made us appreciate the intricacies of the fallen leaves around us.