Festive DIY: Preserving Magnolia Leaves for Seasonal Decor

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Here is the simple process of preserving magnolia leaves for stunning holiday decor. Learn the easy technique to create long-lasting decor.

I’m thrilled to be sharing this gorgeous magnolia leaf wall hanging.

I’ve been crafting for way longer than I care to admit and this may totally be one of my favorite crafts ever!

I’ll not only show you a step-by-step tutorial on how to dry the magnolia leaves, but also how to make a stunning DIY magnolia wreath. 

Last week was the start of the Deck the Home DIY Challenges and it was all about Door Decor. 

You can see the little red truck wreath I made here.

This week the challenge is 2-Hour Holiday Decor Projects. 

Be sure to read all the way to the end of this post and click the link so you can check out the rest of the amazing holiday projects. 

This page contains affiliate links at no extra cost to you. Please see my full disclosure here.

The funny thing is, this project totally happened by accident. Don’t you love when that happens?

I was at Trader Joe’s checking out the flowers for my Thanksgiving Tablescape when I spotted these gorgeous fresh magnolia leaves:

Aren’t they beautiful? They are huge and a large bunch was only $4.99.

I scooped up two bunches without even knowing what I was going to do with them.

My mind was scrambling with ideas, but I knew I wanted to preserve them so they could be enjoyed for more than one Holiday season.

Let me show you the easy way to preserve magnolia leaves.

How To Preserve Magnolia Leaves

• Mod Podge Satin
• Foam Brushes
• Gardening Shears

Instructions:

Step 1.

Use the gardening shears to snip all the leaves off the stems.

Step 2.

Use the foam brush to apply mod podge to each magnolia leaf. 

You do need to add the Mod Podge to both the front and back of the leaves.

This is time consuming, but so worth it for the end result!

Step 3.

Allow the leaves to dry overnight.

Step 4.

Spray the entire wreath, front and back with 2 coats of Mod Podge Clear Acrylic Sealer.

Allow to dry and you are ready to use them in your holiday decorating.

Now I will show you how to make an oversized holiday wall hanging.

How To Make A Holiday Wall Hanging With Magnolia Leaves

Supplies

• Thrift Store Open Frame
• DecoArt Silver Metallic Paint
• Foam Brushes
• Surebonder Cordless Hot Glue Gun – this is my absolute favorite glue gun!
• Sugared Fruit – You can find it at the craft store, but I lucked out and found this box at Goodwill for $3:
• Magnolia Leaves
• Fresh Pine Stems

You can usually find open frames at the thrift store for just a few dollars.

This is the frame I started with:

Step 1.

If you have pine trees available, snip some stems and hot glue them to the frame.

If not, you can leave them out. I just felt it gave extra texture and more of that holiday feel.

These are not preserved, but can be removed after the holidays.

Step 2.

Begin hot gluing the magnolia leaves to the frame. I started in each corner with 4-5 leaves.

Continue adding leaves until the wreath is full. I used two full bunches which is about 60 leaves.

Step 4.

Hot glue three sugared fruits to each corner of the wreath.

I opted to paint the red fruits with silver metallic paint, as it goes with my holiday color scheme.

I love to use sugared fruit in holiday decorating.

You may also want to check out the sugared fruit wreath I made last year.

This is such an inexpensive project, especially if you are lucky enough to have a magnolia leaf tree.

Another option for preserving the leaves is to use glycerin.

This wall hanging is such a statement piece and can be used in so many different ways.

Here I show it on an old window:

I hope you enjoyed this post. If so, please PIN the below image:

Below is the link to this month’s 2-Hour Decor Challenge projects.

See More Holiday 2-Hour Decor Projects

Google Web Story: How to Preserve Magnolia Leaves

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