DIY Leaves Snailmail

Did you know that you can preserve leaves? I didn’t until it started taking over my Pinterest feed! (Are we Pin-buddies? We should be- you can find me here) When I saw this I immediately thought what a fun little snail mail note these would make- and perfect timing for my #thankfulmail challenge! After a little bit of experimentation… it can be done! But there’s a few things to consider.

I started by spraying my leaves with a clear coat to seal them in. This kind worked really well, but I would suggest giving them a couple coats. A few of the leaves must have had uneven coverage, because I can see brown spots starting to form (3 days later) where they’re not as shiny. There’s others that are coated really well and are holding up excellent!

The next step is to write on them. Let me tell you… easier said than done. It took me a lot of testing to find a paint pen that worked on these guys! You need to get a paint pen that basically spills out as you write. I tried Sharpie brand (and a few others) and they just scraped up the clear coat without leaving much paint behind. The pen I used is this one right here (in the picture) and it worked SO well. The paint flowed so easily, I didn’t have to press down on the leaf (and bruise it).

Once they’ve been painted and dried… you can send them! I found that they needed to be pretty protected- if you just send them in an envelope, they’ll show up a bruised mess! If you send them in a sturdy card, they’ll show up just as pretty as when you dropped them in the mail box. Gotta love snailmail!

So let’s talk! Is this ‘leaf mail’ something you’d try out? What would you write on your leaf? And what about the #thankfulmail challenge… are you IN? I’ve loved seeing #thankfulmail pop up on my Twitter and Instagram feeds!