Stenciling Fall Leaves in the Colors of Autumn

Like most people, I adore the colors of fall leaves. But even more specifically, I love leaves that are “mid-change”. The ones that showcase a gradient of colors in green, yellow, orange, and red. So, I decided that I really wanted to try to capture those colors of autumn by stenciling some fall leaves on a cabinet door in my stash.

I found this cabinet door at Habitat ReStore a year ago – it was this gorgeous natural wood that was swimming in a sea of plain white doors

And I knew that the warm, Earthy hue of this cupboard door would be ideal for a Fall sign. AND I could try my hand at stenciling fall foliage, too!

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Fall Sayings and Fall Leaves

First, there was some prep work that needed to be done on the cabinet door. Removing the existing hardware was at the top of my prep list, even though I’ve left it on some of my previous cabinet door projects.

Next, it needed a good cleaning. Like many salvaged cabinet doors, there was a lot of grime and splatters to deal with.

I scrubbed off what I could with a cleaning wipe first. Then, I wiped on some Murphy oil soap which left it gorgeous and gleaming.

NOW I could break out my stencils and start transforming it!

Using Fall Stencils on a Cabinet Door

I perused several fall stencils with fall sayings on them and settled on one that suited me perfectly. Bright white paint seemed too harsh against the warm wood, so I used the leftover cream paint from this project.

Using a large stenciling brush, I stippled on the paint over the autumn quote. I had to tape it in the center over the largest letters as there was no room on the sides.

I stippled paint around the taped parts before carefully removing the tape and stenciling the remainder of the fall saying. When all was said and done, it looked perfect!

Now came the fun/scary part – trying to stencil fall leaves in a gradient of colors!

I assembled nearly 10 bottles of craft paint – a couple of greens, as many hues of oranges and yellows that I had, and a dark red.

Lastly, I also grabbed a leaf stencil I had used once before with metallic paint.

To capture the colors of autumn in my fall leaves, I taped the stencil on and started in the center of the leaf with a darker green.

I switched stencil brushes and stippled orange paint at the outer edges of the leaf, working my way in towards the green. I overlapped the orange over the green a bit and that was it!

And the moment of truth – did my first attempt look relatively authentic?

You know what – I LOVED IT!

An Autumn Sign with Fall Leaves

I went all the way around the cabinet door, varying between leaf shapes and using different autumn colors of paint.

Even though I always started the same way (in the very center), I sometimes finished the entire leaf and went back with the center color for more overlapping.

Finally, I was done stenciling on the fall leaves and y’all…I am so in love with my cabinet door sign. It’s like a love letter to autumn…

Now, to be fully transparent, I should tell you that it took 2 or 3 days to finish the leaves. I have a limited number of brushes and I worried about constantly layering paint onto the stencil. So, I’d do 3 or 4 leaves at a time, wash everything, and start back up the next day after the brushes had thoroughly dried.

But, I’d do it all again if I had to because it was worth it! I thought about adding some salvaged hinges to the sign for a little visual interest, but I decided the fall leaves shouldn’t be covered up!

What do you think? I know a stenciled sign on a cupboard door isn’t exactly ground-breaking in its cleverness, but project was as much about a craft technique to try than the end result.

And if you’re interested in another easy painting technique for fall decor, you’ll love these decorative gourds I made from glass bottles!

Craft on!

S

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