DIY EASY TROPICAL PAPER LEAFS ON A BUDGET

Ever wondered where to get those cool jungle / safari party decoration? 

Stop going to the mall, browsing online, asking around (like me) and just DIY! 

You probably already got everything you need laying around in your home!

For my daughter's 1st birthday I decided to host a small tropical jungle themed party. At home and keeping it COVID-19  proof off course!! But I wasnt able to buy all of the party decoration items I needed..  So I ended up easily creating them myself at home! Making pictures along the way, so I could document & share it. As i'm sure there are other moms out there looking forward to having their own homemade party decorations! 

Or just to get inspired, eighter way lets get into it!

You'll need:

• Scissors
• Green or white paper
• Cardboard
• a small paintbrush
• Paint: Green, Yellow, Black & White
• Marker
• Cup of water
• Paper tissues
• A workspace that is allowed to get messy :) 

So gather all of the above, tie your hair in a bun and lets get into the first step!

 1. THE LEAF STENCIL

1.1 DRAW LEAF

Use a little bit of paint or a marker to draw your desired shape of leaf on a piece of cardboard. Just tweak it untill you feel satisfied about this shape.

1.2 CUT LEAF

Now simply cut out the inner piece of the shape you've just drawn. Remember you need the negative so cut that part more neatly then you usually would! I found it easier to cut the leafs from ''the stem'' (where normally the stem would be) up. If that makes sense to you!

1.3 PLACE STENCIL

Place your awesome stencil on a piece of paper and start mixing your desired green colour!

 

2. MAKE PRINTS WITH YOUR STENCIL!

2.1 DAB THE TIP

Lightly dab the tip of the stencil to get a nice crisp transfer. You can do this with a paintbrush but I used a old but clean make up sponge wich maybe works even better!

2.2 SMUDGE EDGE

Now your going to dab/smudge paint on the edges with your sponge or paintbrush untill you have a proper outline.

2.3 FILL IN LEAF

Fill in your leaf with a layer of paint, just a thin layer as it will be our base coat.

3. DETAILS, DETAILS & MORE DETAILS! 

For this step you will need to mix up a pretty colour green, so go ahead and mix a green you fancy! Then come back with your paintbrushes, black pain, white paint & custom green colour so we can get into the details of things!

3.1 BLACK VEINS

We start by drawing thin stripes with the black paint. You want to fake the veins and natural cuts in the leafs. Dont blend the thick parts, his will give us dept if you work fast enough! 

3.2 WHITE VEINS

For the white veins were going to the same as with the black paint but just a little more!

3.3 GREEN VEINS

Then we quickly give it another layer of veins but now in our green colour before moving to the last layer!

4. THE FINISHING TOUCHE

For the finishing touche we need to be quick so go ahead and jump right in!

4.1 DARKER VEINS

Mix some darker green colour your going to darken up the main veins. The ones you want to stay somehow visible.

4.2 FILL IT IN

Lastly you'll need to fill in the rest of the leaf with your lighter green and just make quick strokes untill you see the desired results as in my end result shot at 4.3.

4.3 END RESULT

Happy with your leaf? Just repeat all of the steps untill you have the amount of banana leafs you need!

DIY EASY PAPER MONSTERA LEAF TUTORIAL 

For the monstera tutorial I traced one of my monstera plant leafs and made a stencil out of that as seen in the tutorial below. BUT since not everyone has this green beauty in their home, I made a free Monstera leaf printable. As seen above, so enjoy! 

1.1 PRINT STENCIL

Make sure to work ahead and paint your papers cause they need to dry before you can trace your leafs on them. Or you can save time & go for some coloured paper, whatever floats your boat! I gave mine a nice coat then let them dry overnight. Im sure it doesnt take 8+ hours for acrylic paint to dry.. but I was prepping this at night when my daughter was sleeping. At least this way I could be sure there wont be any wet spots left when I'm going to work with them! 

1.2 Trace 

Once your papers are all dried up. Carefully trace your printed or drawn image and repeat untill you have as much leafs as you wish.

1.3 Cut copies

Last but not least, cut out all your leafs and lightly curve them. This is optional but I like to do it because it makes them look more realistic! 

PALM LEAFS

I find it really easy to draw the palm leafs by hand and cant explain how I do it. So for those who cannot free hand paint and cut them like I did.. I searched up a very easy tutorial so you only have to make one stencil to make the leafs! Just see the monstera tutorial and use your palm drawing instead of the monstera and voila!

Source:  HOW TO DRAW A PALM LEAF TUTORIAL BY: https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-draw-a-palm-tree--cms-30927  

Once you've done all of that you should have loads of tropical realistic paper leafs! Ready to be used as decoration at your next party. 

A nice way to use these babies is in a pretty backdrop or on a cake table. Stay tuned to see how to decorate a backdrop and caketable, and use these leafs in it! 

Well that was it for today! 

Stay safe, keep creating and see you in the next one!

X Muma Kaya