Making confetti with autumn leaves

I might be a spring person at heart, but even I have to admit that walking through the park on a perfectly sunny, crisply cold autumn afternoon while colourful leaves blow about your head is one of the most cheerful things you can do. Add some cosy socks and a good pair of boots to the mix and you've got yourself an excellent lunchtime excursion.

My sister Jane sent a photo to me of a person making confetti out of leaves and I thought it was a fantastic idea. Cheap - I like cheap. Eco-friendly - I like that too. What's not to love?

So, I bought a single hole punch from eBay for around 99p with free delivery and in around a week it arrived and I was ready to start collecting leaves for my project.

Reasons to make leaf confetti

• It's the most biodegradeable material you could use
• Making it is repetitive and soothing
• Collecting the leaves is a great outdoor activity - wrap up warm and get out of the house!
• It looks lovely, really natural and full of autumnal tones

I found that it's much easier to make leaf confetti from your collected leaves if you leaf (sorry) them to dry first. THat way their texture is much more like paper and the hole punch will have an easier time cutting through the material. Leaves that are still leathery or damp are harder to cut through and end up not cutting all the way through and it's just a pain.

There are tons of ideas of how to hand out your confetti out there. You can buy little paper cones, or envelopes, or even put them loose in a basket and have people take handfuls. I think I'm going to make little cones from greaseproof paper to continue the DIY feel.

Will you be making your own confetti?