The Best DIY Projects for Fall (FREE PRINTABLES!)

The Best DIY (Do It Yourself) Projects for Fall

As the weather starts getting cooler and more people are spending more time indoors, you might start thinking about decorating the house a little bit for the seasons. We’ve pulled out a few projects that are fun, festive and most of all totally doable.

Leafy Mason Jar Candle Holder:

What you’ll need:

• Mason jars, as many as you want of any size
• Leaves, real or fake, whatever your preference
• Mod Podge, I recommend the 8 ounce container. I got the orange container which has a glossy finish but the yellow mat finish looks good too
• Brushes, or you can use your fingers like we did
• Twine, raffia or ribbon for decoration

My mom and I just made these this week and had a blast! We collected real leaves, collect more than you think you need so you can pick out your favorites to use. We went to Goodwill and found three mason jars for $2.00.

Before we started gluing the leaves on, we got them a little damp. This really helped the leaves adhere to the glue and jar. Then we simply brushed the Mod Podge over the leaves and placed it on the outside of the jar where we wanted. I let the first layer dry for a little bit before adding a touch up layer to parts of the leaves that might have been sticking up. We did four jars and it only took us one night to start and finish them. We’re looking forward to using them especially on Thanksgiving.

Painted Pumpkins:

What you’ll need:

• Pumpkins, as many as you want, any size that you want. Look for white pumpkins, more colors work with an already white background
• Decorating materials (paint, glitter, jewels, ribbon, stencils, tissue paper, thumbtacks, chalkboard paint, lace, puffy paint… you get the point)

Let your creativity be free! There are 100s, yes that many, of ways to decorate a pumpkin without having to stick your hand inside to scoop out the seeds and everything, unless you’re into that sort of thing. Here are some of our favorite designs that looked simple enough for anyone to make and will stand out when company comes over:

The Argyle Pumpkin: paint on diamonds of any color and then add the dotted diamonds over them once they dry. Feel free to get more or less adventurous with colors.

Bling It out: You can do no wrong by adding rhinestones in any pattern or design on a pumpkin. Some create an image and some are just dots all over the pumpkin. No matter what these look fabulous!

Chalkboard Paint: Spray chalkboard paint all over the pumpkin and write or draw whatever you want all over it. The best part is you can simply erase and try again if you make a mistake!

With all of these pumpkin designs, you can always wash it off and start over or just go get a new pumpkin.

Festive Acorns:

What you’ll need:

• As many intact acorns as you can find
• Festive paint colors
• Brushes
• Glue to reattach any acorn caps that fall off

The hardest part of this project was finding enough good acorns. Maybe while taking the dog for a walk or on the way home from school everyone can look and collect them for a few days.

Once you’re ready, place the acorns on a tin foil lined cookie sheet in the oven at 170° for just a couple of hours to make sure that everything is hardened. Allow them to cool and then paint! This is an easy and fun activity to keep kids busy during Thanksgiving Break.

Coloring Book:

The best decorations are the ones that your kids made when they were really little and you can keep using year after year. We’ve created some Halloween themed coloring sheets to get them started. Please feel free to download and print these coloring sheets! We’d love to see what crafty designs everyone comes up with!