How To Stamp With Real Leaves And Markers

One of my favorite things about fall is watching the leaves turn colors; the trees are all so gorgeous this time of year! I have tried to bring some of that beauty indoors by using paint to stamp with fallen leaves, but it’s always really messy. This year I tried using markers instead, and it works great; there’s less mess, plus you can see a lot more detail in the leaf itself! If you want to make stamped leaves using real leaves this year, try using markers instead of paint!

Stamp with real leaves using markers instead of paint! Way less messy and you can see a lot more detail in the leaves!

How To Stamp With Real Leaves And Markers

  • 5 minutes (time spent doing stuff)
  • 0 minutes (time spent waiting around)
  • 5 minutes (total project time)

Tools

  • markers (any non-toxic marker with a fat tip will work)

Materials

  • fallen leaves
  • paper, cards, fabric (whatever you want to stamp leaves onto!)
NOTE: When you’re looking for leaves for this project, try to find whole leaves that are pretty fresh. If they are too old they will be crunchy and won’t work. And try to find smaller leaves; if you use large leaves the marker will dry on the leaf before you have time to fully color it for stamping.

Stamp with real leaves and markers

Instructions

It’s really simple to stamp with real leaves and markers! Start by picking out a leaf and the marker you want to use. Turn the leaf over onto a paper towel or piece of scrap paper, then color in the back of the leaf with the marker. You want to color on the back of the leaf because that’s where all of the veins are, and that will get you the most detail in your stamped leaf.

Color the back of a real leaf using a marker to make a stamp

Make sure to color the whole leaf, all the way to the edges, but don’t worry too much if you see bare areas around the veins where the marker didn’t reach; that’s what will make the details in your stamped leaf.

Once the leaf is colored, turn it over onto a piece of paper or fabric, or whatever you want to stamp, and press down firmly with your fingers all over the leaf.

TIP: Work quickly while coloring; you want the color from the marker to still be wet on the leaf before you turn it over to stamp with it. If the marker dries on the leaf it won’t leave a good stamped impression.

Press the colored leaf down onto paper to leave a stamp

Gently peel the leaf away from the paper, and you’re done!

Use markers to stamp with real leaves

If you’re careful, you can use the same leaf a few more times! Just color the back of the leaf again, and stamp a second time. If you want to get fancy, you can color the leaf with a different color and stamp directly on top of your previous stamp to make the leaf multi-colored.

I found that I could only get about four stamps out of one leaf before it was just too delicate to work anymore; the leaf started to crack and break apart after four stamps. But luckily, fallen leaves are pretty plentiful around here this time of year, so I can always go collect more and keep stamping!

You can do more than one stamp per leaf if you use markers

I really love how much detail you can see in the stamped leaves. I’ve done something similar before using paint, and I feel like you get way more detail using markers! But you do have to work quickly, because markers dry faster than paint.

Use markers to stamp with real leaves, way less messy than using paint and you can see a lot more detail!

Use markers to stamp with real leaves this fall!

Make stamps out of real leaves using markers; you can see so much detail in the leaf!

Have you ever stamped with real leaves? Did you use markers, paint, or something else entirely?

Shop this project:

Use markers instead of paint to stamp with real leaves! Way less messy and you can see a lot more detail in the leaves!

Make stamps out of real leaves by using markers! So easy, and you can see so much detail in the leaves!

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Jessi Wohlwend

I believe that anyone can do crafts and DIY projects, regardless of skill or experience. I love sharing simple craft ideas, step by step DIY project tutorials, cleaning hacks, and other tips and tricks all with one goal in mind: giving you the tools you need to “do it yourself”, complete fun projects, and make awesome things!

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