This Is Halloween!

It's almost here! The most wonderful time of the year! Halloween!!! Well in the wee world of Brittany it is anyway. I almost start to mourn the putting away of the Halloween decor the week of Halloween because I know it's coming to an end! The tears are welling up now. I'd like to take you on a mini tour of some of my Halloween decor for 2014. I hope you will be inspired. Enjoy!!

This is Winston playing the piano. My girls think he plays while we sleep!

I cut this wall mural out of black contact paper, you know the stuff you line drawers and shelves with? The crazy part is that I cut it out 4 years ago! At the end of each Halloween season I pull it off the wall and stick it to wax paper and roll it up to store until next year. It still sticks! You can see it's beginning to lift in some spots but what a cheap way to customize a blank wall for any time of year. 

Well there it is! Wave goodbye to Burton! I will shed some tears sending him to storage until next Halloween. He wouldn't look so bad dressed in a Santa suit...

Brittany

Temple Gold Leaf Print DIY

Hi! It's Steffanie! I have been working on this project for Super Saturday coming up at my church and I thought I would share it with you! 

I am so excited to show you today how to make your own gold leaf prints! Let me just start by saying that there are several different techniques to do this but this is one I came up with after trying a couple I found. I will list the others I've seen on the bottom of this post. Also, I'd like to apologize for the poor quality pics. I was in a pinch and used my phone! I'm pretty sure the point comes across well ;-)

Supplies needed:

Electronic die cut machine with design software for the Temple silhouette (if you don't have one maybe borrow that friend or family members or sometimes pre-cut temple silhouettes are available at your local scrapbook or LDS book store. You can also find them here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/157092833/lds-temple-silhouette and you would just paint the cut out itself insted of layering like this tutorial)

Liquid gold leaf

Paint brush (foam brushes are not recommended) 

Pencil

Spray adhesive

Extra cardstock

Okay folks, let me tell you about a product that changed my life! Alright, I'm exaggerating. But not by a lot!! This beautiful bottle is something called liquid gold leaf! I feel like King Midas! I want everything GOLD! And I can make it all happen with this product!

I tried this tutorial and apparently I have no idea how to handle gold leaf sheets! So, I came up with this technique with the liquid gold leaf and it makes it is so easy! 

One thing I have learned putting together this tutorial, make sure you clean your lid THOROUGHLY after use. I had to use a large mouth wrench to pry it open! Don't let yours get crusty golden boogers like mine...  

Here's how you do it:

Line up an extra piece of card stock behind your cut out.

You may want to place another piece of paper behind that because the gold leaf turns red and can seep through to your work surface.

Take a pencil and mark the highest point

The sides

And the lowest point.

Paint on the liquid gold leaf and make sure you get all the area that would be seen. If you don't like how your brush strokes look you can buffer it a little by going over it a few more times. Be careful not to press too hard or it will pile up.

Here's what it will look like.

Place the cut out over the gold leaf

Oops! Looks like I missed a couple of spots

Next, turn over the cut out and spray lightly with adhesive. MAKE SURE YOU DON'T SPRAY THE GOLD LEAF. 

Line up the cut out carefully onto your gold leaf and voila! You have a gorgeous gold leaf temple to display!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. I absolutely love how this looks hanging on my wall! And the possibilities are endless on what you can do!

Here are a couple other tutorials you could try!

Gold Lettering Print with sarah m. dorsey designs 

Gold Leaf Print with Sugar and Chic

Gold Foil Prints at The House of Wood