Tutorial: DIY Gold Leaf Frame

Welcome the the gals at Handmade Mood back for a fabulously festive DIY gold leaf frame!

Fall weather is illusive in South Texas, where we live and every year we’re lucky to get a handful of leaves from the trees that aren’t Cedar or Live Oak. Big, fabulous, fall colored leaves just aren’t all that common – so I’m always thankful for the few that make their way into my yard. As my two year old, Vivi and I laid in the grass enjoying the not-too-dang-hot weather the other day, I was inspired to make a frame “cap” – or a faux frame – for my entry table frame. I change out the art in the frame by season and it needed some dressing up – so why not use some leaves from the yard?

Vivi collected leaves for me – and you’d be surprised how long it took us to amass this little pile! Not only because of her toddler sized attention span, but also because of the lack of leaves!

First, the leaves were dabbed with some gold paint (tell me I’m not the only one who uses paper plates as paint palettes…) and a few got a little dusting of some patina-ed silver glitter.

While those dried, I cut a frame of cardboard that would fit over my already made frame. My goal was to create a rectangle that would sit on top of the existing frame because I didn’t want to hot glue right on the frame. It overlaps the frame just enough to allow me to tape the two together.

As I started placing the leaves, I realized that we’d have to leaf-hunt for days to get enough to cover it all – so instead of solid leaves, I used the hot glue gun to make pleats with some silver satin ribbon along two sides.

Then the leaves covered the other two sides with no rhyme or reason for their placement.

When the cardboard is covered and the glue is cool, I used some heavy-duty masking tape to tape the new frame onto the old frame and voila! It was all dressed up and ready for fall!

 Visit Handmade Mood for more seasonal ideas!