Over the past few months I have seen Ruler of Twilight’s avatar challenges popping up in my Reader, and even though I’ve wanted to participate, I have always been apprehensive- I never feel like I am creative enough! There have been some awesome entries for previous avatar challenges, so if you are interested I encourage you to check them out!

I figured this would be a good excuse to have fun and make an avatar that goes with my Autumn theme over on my website (if you have been reading my blog in the Reader, check out the theme on desktop!). If you want to participate, you can enter your submission until October 28. The rules are listed below with more details on RoT’s post:

• Use featured image
• Thank who tagged you (if tagged).
• Share the registration form (found here) and register if not already. (not optional)
• Tag Ruler the Twilight and link back to her post so she can see yours.
• Share the rules, theme, categories, factors and closing date.
• Share your profile picture (don’t forget to pick a category!)
• Tag (max of five) people (if you want)

The Process

There are a lot of categories to choose from for this challenge, and I was trying to think of ideas that would work for each. That was until I found a video online on people making crowns out of the colorful leaves that have started falling from the trees. I was immediately sold, into the photography category we go!

After the rain finally stopped on Wednesday, I went out into the yard to collect some leaves.

Peak foliage here isn’t until the very end of the month, but with the lack of rain this summer many trees have started turning.

I put the leaves in a bowl lined with a paper towel since they were damp with rainwater. Tori and Whiskey were interested!

I couldn’t find the video that I saw, so I went off memory. I’m pretty sure I messed up somewhere, but the general idea was that you poke a hole in the middle of the leaf, and then poke the stem of another leaf through it and fold. You continue that until you have the right length for the crown.

Mine didn’t stay folded though, so I wonder if I should have just weaved the stems through the folded leaves. That would make the stem weave through two layers of leaves and keep everything folded. I just set some heavy things on top of the leaves and left them to fully dry.

They never stayed folded, though, and even started to come apart so I used packing tape on the inside to keep it all together. I mean, it worked! It was dark out by the time I was able to finish the crown, so the photos would have to wait until the next day.

And here we are, trying to take some pictures. Here were some fails… the leaves were wet and gross haha! You can see that my crown is not folded at all, but oh well.

Final Submission

I enhanced the colors in VSCO to make it more warm-toned and Autumnal, and I like it! It will be my blog avatar until my next theme.

I highly encourage you to participate if you would like to, submissions end October 28th! Categories include photography, traditional and digital art, traditional and digital collaging, and AI. Check out Beyond the Twilight for the full challenge details and to see the previous challenges!

If you decide to participate, don’t forget to fill out the registration form.

Have you ever made a leaf crown? I had no idea it was a thing until a few days ago! Thanks for reading, and I will see you all tomorrow!