DIY Gold Leaf Poster

I have loved gold, even when gold was not cool to love. I have now expanded my love to really anything that shines or sparkles. I have been doing a ton of work around the house, since Delilah's party is less than two weeks away, ahhhh! I am in the process of making a photo wall, even though it will not be complete, I think will be a good start. I can totally see myself going overboard and covering the entire wall with pictures. Nothing wrong with that, right?

I have wanted to try and use gold leaf for a while, but honestly I was a little intimidated. I also thought is would break the bank, but this entire project cost under $25. Watch out everyone, there is nothing safe from gold leafing. Just a warning.

I was thinking about what phrase I wanted, since this was going with special pictures I wanted it to be semi-meaningful. "All you Ever Wanted" was out first dance at our wedding and it seemed perfect. So here you go, how to gold leaf letters.

I picked out what frame I wanted and decided to use poster board for the backdrop. I just measured and cut it out. 

Print whatever phrase or picture you would like and tape it on top of the poster. I used a paintbrush with the glue, I know they make adhesive pens but I couldn't find one and was in no mood to drive around looking for one, it is freaking hot outside. So a paintbrush it is!

Use a pen to outline the letters, I used a regular pen and made sure to push hard so it imprinted the poster.

Get your glue and paintbrush and paint the glue, ever so carefully into the imprint.

Let it dry for 30 minutes or so, until it is tacky. It is hard to see exactly where the glue went, I tried my best to stay in the lines :)

Get the gold leaf ready, try not to touch it. I came out of this project with a gold thumb. Lay down the sheets, it took two to cover everything.

Using a hard brush, I started to brush the gold leaf where the adhesive was. I used the brush to wipe away the extra gold leaf.

As you can see, I went outside the lines a bit. I am also thinking that using a sharpie might work a little better next time. But, all in all, I think it turned out pretty good!

I will be playing around with the process for sure. Once I get a fail proof method, I will do an update. Otherwise, let's paint the roses gold. 

On a side note, I am thinking about adding some polka dots. We will see!

You can do it!