Why Don't You... Gold Leaf All The Things.

I am as crazy as ever over gold leaf! I know it can feel like an intimidating project, but metallic leaf is actually a breeze to use! I've got a good little stockpile of different colors and kinds put aside and I'm itching to tackle a couple of the projects I've seen floating around the web (elaborate list below!).

There area some pretty cool gift ideas in the mix here. Or if you're like me and you get a little bored/stir crazy during the week between Christmas and New Years, there are some fun home project ideas here too. Most of these use leaf (which I think always ends up giving the best result), but there's also a little spray paint, leaf pen and Rub N Buff thrown in the mix here.

1) These gilded gift boxes from You Are My Fave are beautiful! She bought the wooden boxes at Michaels for only a dollar! Cheap and chic.

2) Dying over how expensive and legit this abstract gold stripey faux wallpaper looks from Patchwork and Co.

3) Jordan and her team always share the coolest project ideas, including this iPhone case DIY (from Oh Happy Day).

4) I love this twist on the painted-out vintage globe idea! From Love and Renovations.

5) This one's not a tutorial, but I think it would be easy to DIY something inspired by this Natural Curiosities art piece!

6) What's the surest way to make me love something lucite even more? Add a little gold leaf edging! From A Bubbly Life.

7) I want to make a whole wall of these leafed clipboards to help us stay organized. From My Fabuless Life.

8) Continuing on with the office supply theme, I'm LOVING this mouse pad tutorial from Lovely Indeed! Another great gift idea.

9) This one is FOR SURE happening at my house. I mean, wow!! Again, no tutorial, just pure inspiration here. I can't wait to find a beat up Eames shell chair on Craigslist and go to town!

10) This Hicks knock-off wall is an oldie, but such a goodie. I would love to recreate this in my girls bathroom. From Almost 40 year old Intern.

11) This little plate DIY would make an awesome present add-on. Who wouldn't want a pretty piece of jewelry and a really cool catch-all to hold it? From Homey Oh My.

12) Again, no tutorial, but this image from designer Stephen Knollenberg is a favorite. It seems like the beautiful art could be recreated on a big piece of watercolor paper? I love all the white space.

13) I love these high gloss gold terra-cotta pots! It seems like a little gold spray paint and a lot of spray lacquer could recreate the look?

14) I've seen a couple tutorial for gold leaf laurel crowns where you just spray paint real leaves and it looked really great! This door wreath is a similar idea and I wish I would have seen it before decorating for Christmas this year! Next year, I guess.

15) This gold leaf table lamp is completely amazing. I know IKEA used to sell a floor lamp (maybe a table version too?) in a really similar shape. I'd love to try and recreate this look!

16) How cool are these planters? I'm definitely wanting a version of the one on the right especially. I love the pink color too. From Hunt and Bow.

17) I'm crazy over the unexpected, artistic finish on this console! What a cool statement piece for an entry!

18) This pretty brushstroke balloon DIY was this inspiration for tomorrow's project that I'm excited to share! 

Alright friends, what great gold projects am I leaving out? Have you tackled anything you're extra proud of? I'd love to see it!

DIY Yarn-Wrapped Hangers

Christmas is just around the corner. I love (LOVE) giving handmade gifts to my friends and family, but I just haven't had the bandwidth this year to go all-out. So, rather than making everything, I'm cheating the system a bit by adding just a little handmade twist to each of my gifts. Really just enough effort to get handmade credit. :)

I got my sister, Heather, who knows not to read today's post (!), a Golden Tote for her Christmas present this year. It's a service that surprises you with fun clothes and accessories. It's $49 for 2-3 pieces and $149 for 5-7.  I have friends that use Golden Tote because they care about looking cute, but don't really love to shop. They're too busy or just don't really want to deal with it. It's super easy to give as gifts too - I made a style profile for Heather (which was basically just choosing her size and favorite stores - easy) and then picked two of the six or seven items I wanted to see come in her tote. The other items were surprises.

It was fun to see what they sent for her - they totally nailed her style. And of course everything came in an adorable golden tote.  :)

My favorites were this bomber jacket with the brass zippers and a pretty blouse with black lace trim around the neck. I know she'll look so great in these! And when I am not rocking a giant baby belly, I'll for sure be borrowing that cute gray sweater. It has sweet little buttons that run up the back. Love it.

So to make her gift a little more special, I picked up enough wooden hangers at IKEA to hang all her new Golden Tote clothes on and stopped by Michaels to get a few different colors of yarn, whatever colors were pretty and on sale! :)

I am not a glue gun fanatic (I usually prefer Fabritac), but for projects like this, where it's helpful for the glue to dry really quickly, I love a glue gun. You only need a little bit of glue on the hanger anyway, so likely your fingers will escape this project unburned! :) I used just enough glue to hold the start of the yarn at the middle of the hanger, and then a little bit more every 5 or 6 wrap-arounds to keep everything in place.

You can do any pattern you'd like, obviously, (black and white uniform stripes would be so cute!) but I did random colors in random sized stripes.

I love how the hangers turned out! And I think they help make this fun gift more personal and extra special!

A big thanks to Golden Tote for sponsoring this DIY. Every first Monday of the month they launch a new tote - check out December's here! The last day to order in time for Christmas is December 17, so get on that! :)

DIY: Blush Pink Flokati Throw

What kind of blogger would I be if I didn't regularly sing my praises of Jenna Lyons and her chic office? There's a reason everyone loves this space. She is the coolest.

I realized I was subconsciously channeling her office style while doing some updates to our studio space this month when I had the thought to dye this little faux flokati throw pink.

It was a super easy project and here's the how-to:

I picked up my throw at HomeGoods (it was made by Safavieh) for about $15. IKEA sells a very similar version in both acrylic (which is what this one is made out of) and the real deal wool sheepskin (which I used in this and this upholstery project).

 Before dying the throw, I rinsed it really well and made sure every fiber was all the way wet.

Then I mixed a small dye bath in a tupperware tub in the hottest water my tap would give me. I use about 3 parts Petal Pink colored liquid RIT and 1 part Lemon Yellow.

I let the throw sit in the hot dye bath for about an hour before rinsing it in cold water.

 I let the throw drip dry over night and then I gave it a brush and blow dry to make it nice and soft and fluffy before throwing it over one of our white S chairs.

Because my throw was acrylic, the dye only barely tinted the fibers. The natural wool version would have been much darker, but I don't really mind the subtlety here. A little pink can go a long way. :)

Sparkly Holiday Buffet with a Starry Backdrop

It's party season!! I love having a few easy-to-pull off party decorating tricks up my sleeve and this new chalkboard paper + garland idea is one of my favorites yet! (Here's another, more summery idea)

I've loved partnering with Target this year for their holiday campaign, so of course I went there first to buy some supplies for my buffet table and the backdrop.

Some of our law school friends used to have a Christmas wassail party each year when we lived in Boston and I love keeping the tradition alive! Wassail is delicious and easy to make. I use a version of this recipe when we serve it hot, but the general idea is apple cider, cranberries, oranges, cinnamon and clove. Yum!

The pretty drink dispenser can be found here (and it actually works well, unlike so many drink dispensers I've had in the past!). The snowflake tumblers and the copper mugs are also from Target. The blush goblets are vintage.

The metallic linen table cloth has just the right amount of shimmer! It's on sale right now too.

Swedish saffron buns (or St. Lucia buns) are a holiday staple in our house and they pair so well with a cup of hot wassail or hot chocolate. I served them on this pretty mercury glass tumbling block platter, and coconut cupcakes on the round gold platter.

I threw some candies and cookies (peppermint chocolate-covered Joe Joe's!) on a few serving trays and little gold bowls too, and that was it! Easy and pretty! I love how Target is mixing metals in their holiday line - gold, silver and copper all mix together so well.

This hammered gold tray is a new favorite and the pewter bowl is the perfect size for holiday nuts. My girls think that it can't be Christmas time without a big bowl of nuts out on the coffee table. :)

I'll have another post about our holiday decor this year I'm sure, but we did lots of white and cream and just a hint of barely there blush. And then a punch-in-the-face dose of neon pink every now and then, just to keep things exciting. :)

The pink and cream poinsettias are really helping with my color scheme.

I always like to have a food table in a common room, or at least out of the kitchen, so that the kitchen can be a place for prep (read: messy). This is the first time we've used the bookshelves as a backdrop for our food table and I'm LOVING the look! It's so nice to have a pretty place to put the food that is also convenient to both seating areas.

I picked up two $6 fresh cedar garlands at Trader Joe's and a cream and a pink poinsettia plant. I used a bit of floral wire and a few small pieces of duct tape to secure the garland to the shelves first.

And then I added a bit more floral wire to attach the three poinsettia blooms to the garland.

We hung the garland on top of three strips of this chalkboard paper runner. Can I just say that I am OBSESSED with this paper?! The finish is so matte and deep - it's gorgeous and it really works like a chalkboard. I think there are a million ways to use this genius product!

I drew a star pattern on our paper with white chalk. It's a super quick, very easy, and just the right amount of festive, I think.

I'm so happy with how this party buffet turned out! It was super inexpensive, but it looked really nice I think and felt special for our guests. I'm excited to play with variations on this theme! :)

This post is sponsored by Target. Shop Home Décor for modern luxury made easy.