Summertime DIY: Faux Gold Leaf

School is thisclose to starting, and my mind has been on overdrive this week. Teacher inservice began on Monday (accompanied by meetings ad nauseum, of course!), and the kids come back in two days. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that! My classroom is organized, my lessons are planned, and my copies are ready. All that's left are the students. Eek! Since my summer's coming to a close, I thought I'd post one last Summertime DIY project. I hope it gets your creative juices flowing!

 The before

After I framed the agate coasters from my last post, I was inspired to rim the edges with gold leaf for a pop of metallic, to tie them in with the other tones in my living room. However, the prospect and time commitment of applying real gold leaf was pretty intimidating to this non-crafter; there's no room for error. A more artsy person could have pulled it off, but I took the easy way out with this bad boy: a faux gold leaf paint pen. Bonus: it's cheaper than a gold leaf set. Best idea ever!

Coloring inside the lines

The project as a whole was fairly simple and only took about 30 minutes to complete. First, I bought the paint pen at Michael's and detached the coasters from their frames. (Thank goodness for painter's tape!) The paint pen was exceedingly easy to use, and I practiced a few times on scrap paper to get the feel of it. Then I methodically filled in the edges, piece by piece. The coasters were about a quarter-inch thick, so there was enough area for me to paint without worrying about leaving stray marks on its face. The hardest part, though, was ensuring full coverage on the more craggy areas, where I had to wiggle the paint into the tiny crevices. The overall process was kind of enjoyable, in a quiet, zen-like way.

 

The big reveal: ta da!

I'm thrilled with the final product. It makes me so happy to see the smidgen of gold peeking out from the edge of the frame. I highly recommend the paint pen. It provided full coverage, was easy to wield, and dried almost instantly to a glossy, gold sheen. Now I want to gold leaf everything! (Hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife, 'cause I'm gold leafing everything out there!) Thinking ahead to Christmas, I'm dying to make some DIY presents with agate slices and my trusty paint pen.

Now I'm off to finish some last-minute planning for Monday. I'm excited for the year ahead and ready to meet my little baby students, but I always get the back-to-school butterflies the weekend before.  Wish me luck, and hug a teacher in your life as he or she heads back to school!