Autumn Lights

As the evenings darken, we show you how you can light up your home with a few easy crafts that can transform it into a cosy nest for the winter ahead

DIY Autumn Garland

You’ll need to preserve your autumn leaves before you do anything with them. The quickest way to do this is to place each leaf between two pieces of wax paper and iron them until the leaves have been coated in wax. Leave them to harden before using them.

Once your leaves have dried, take a set of standard string lights and with some strong glue, attach the individual leaves to the light. Your aim is to have each bulb directly behind each leaf. Leave to dry.

Once dried, you can hang your autumn garland almost anywhere in the house. They look great against windows in the daytime and even better at night when they are turned on.

Twig Candle Holders

These rustic candle holders are easy to make and so lovely to look at once they are finished.

You’ll need a glass candle holder or a small tumbler. You will also need plenty of twigs of similar appearance – a great excuse to get out and about on an autumn day!

Cut the twigs to size. You’ll want them to be taller than the height of the glass holder. It doesn’t matter if they are slightly different sizes as it adds to the rustic charm.

Simply glue the twigs around the outside of the jar and tie with some natural twine string. Place a lit candle in the holder, ensuring that nothing that can catch fire is hanging over into it.

Log Lights

Here’s a quick and easy way to brighten up any room in the house.

Head out into the woods and find yourself a log about 1-2ft long. Ideally, it should be roughly halved lengthways and have a natural hollow running down the centre.

While you are out, collect some pine cones and small twigs. Once home, arrange everything inside the hollow of the log, adding some tealights or some battery-powered lights. Remember to be careful with naked flames if you do intend to use tealights.

Autumn Lamps

Empty glass jars are the perfect base for these cosy autumn lamps. You should be able to buy these new from hobby stores. While you are there, stock up on Mod Podge and some coloured tissues.

One area at a time, glue the coloured tissue to the outside of the jar (not the inside!). Cut out trees from brown paper and attach in the same way as the other bits of tissue. Place a candle in the jar and light to create a cosy autumn lamp.

Window Collage

Coloured tissue paper will form the leaves on this wonderful window collage.

Pick a window that gets the most autumn sunshine and with a washable gluestick, arrange the leaves around the window frame. Make sure to use autumn colours and when you want to take it down, peel off the leaves and wash the glue off the window with a sponge.

Stained Glass

These stained glass windows really do look stunning up against a sunny window. They are also really easy to make.
You’ll need two sheets of contact paper for each window that you want to make.

Lay out your autumn leaves and foliage on the sticky side of the contact paper. When you are happy with your layout, lay the second piece of contact paper on top to trap the contents. Next, you can create a frame. You can make this from twigs. Fold the sticky side of the paper along the twigs, or staple the frame together.

Alternatively, you can glue the frame together with strong glue, or place everything in a pre-made frame.