Make A Valentine From A Leaf

Here’s a way you can share your love of the earth with the people you love: make a secret message Valentine pouch - out of leaves! With Valentine's Day approaching, we had fun trying out this 100% earth friendly Valentine card inspired by @mothernatured. Made of naturally dyed wool yarn, leaves, and paper shopping bags, this fully compostable valentine can either be saved as a keepsake or tossed gently in the leaf pile after you’ve enjoyed it.

Here’s what you need:

  • 2 feet of wool yarn

  • 2 leaves, semi-green

  • a hole puncher

  • scissors

  • an old wax candle or bit of beeswax

  • a piece of compostable paper- such as a brown paper grocery bag- and a pencil

Directions:

  1. Press your leaves to flatten in a book overnight

  2. Fold your leaves in half together and cut them out so your have two heart shapes

  3. Hold your leaves together and punch an even number of holes around the edges. Try not to punch holes too close to the edges, or they might rip. We found that 8 to 10 holes total was plenty.

  4. Handy trick: pass the end of your wool yarn across a nub of beeswax over and over to create a hard “needle” shape for easy sewing.

  5. Sew your pouch. You can leave the end long for a necklace pouch like we made, or just cut and tie at the edges.

  6. Write a little love note on a scrap of compostable paper, fold, and slip it in.

  7. Give to someone you love!

Meg HandlerComment