Fall Leaf Beaded Garland

Fall is my favorite time for crafting. And, because there's never enough time to do all the projects I want to do, there's no better time to start Fall crafting than Summer!

Beaded garlands are all the rage right now. I see them in every home decor store I go in. So, why not stay on trend, but with an Autumn twist? So, I asked my friends at Signopoly to cut me some 5" leaves with a hole in the top to string them.

Leaves are never just one solid color & I wanted my leaf to have several colors along with some texture. To create the texture, I mixed the color Colonel Mustard from the Dixie Belle Paint Company with Dixie Belle's Sea Spray texture additive.

Once the paint & Sea Spray were mixed well, I spread the mixture over one side of the leaf using a hotel key card.

Once the leaf was covered, I pressed the key card flat onto the mixture & then lifted it to create peaks.

After I set the leaf aside to dry, I placed 25mm wooden beads onto a skewer & began painting them with 3 colors, Colonel Mustard, Terracotta, & Florida Orange. I painted a total of 24 beads.

Once my leaf was dry, I painted over it with the Terracotta & Florida Orange, making sure not to blend them to create just one color.

Once the paint was dry, I sanded the leaf to expose some of the Colonel Mustard.

To create the garland, I threaded twine through the hole in the leaf, tied a knot, & left a 3" tail.

I began stringing the beads onto the twine & the tail.

Leaving a tail keeps you from having to cut close to the knot, which could make it fray. 

I continued threading beads onto the twine until there were 24 beads. Once the beads were threaded, I left a long tail of twine.

No beaded garland is complete without a tassel! 

 I used an orange & a yellow ribbon to add some color to my tassel. To measure, I wrapped the ribbon around a hotel key card twice, then cut it in half so I would have 2 equal lengths of both ribbons.

I began wrapping the key card with twine.

Every few wraps, I added ribbon.

I continued until I had the size tassel that I wanted.

I slipped the twine & ribbon off of the key card, & tied a knot at the top with the tail of twine.

I cut a piece of the orange ribbon & tied it about an inch from the top of the tassel.

I cut the twine at the bottom of the tassel, then trimmed the twine & ribbon to be even.

It's a little early to put out Fall decor, especially when it's still so hot out. But, when the temperature cools down & leaves begin to turn colors, I'll be ready!

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Dedicated House,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love,  Domestically Speaking,  The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster, The Foley Fam,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Dabbling And Decorating, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home

Greek Glam Makeover

 I was recently shopping for a new sofa at a local furniture store. Have you been to a furniture store lately? All those pretty wood pieces! Until you get close and they aren't really wood! If I'm going to pay a lot of money for a piece I want it to be real wood.

Thankfully, there are plenty of old, solid wood pieces to be found at yard sales, thrift stores, & estate sales. They might not be in the best shape, but with a little effort, they can be beautiful.

I recently acquired this piece.. solid wood & heavy!

I gave it a good cleaning with Dixie Belle's White Lightening. After using the White Lightening, I came back and wiped it down with just water to make sure no White Lightening residue was left behind.

I typically paint furniture, but for this piece I decided I wanted to stain it with No Pain Gel Stain. This stain is the consistency of pudding & goes on easily with no drips or mess.

It is oil based, so I wore gloves. I applied it with a lint free rag that I just dipped into the stain, and wiped on.

I chose the stain color, Espresso, not only because I love the dark, rich color, but also to help hide this dark stain on the top of the table.

There were a lot of water marks & other stains on the top of the table, but no need to sand... the dark color easily covered them.

I wanted more than just a stained piece of furniture, so I used the Greek Key stencil from Dixie Belle to add a fun touch to the front of the drawers.

Rather than use paint with the stencil, I used Dixie Belle's Gilding Wax. The metallic copper gave the table the perfect amount of glam that I wanted.

I applied the gilding wax over the stencil with a makeup sponge & then applied more of the wax to the detail around the drawers.

I added new knobs that have a touch of copper.

From grungy to glamorous...

Hmmm... where di that dark stain on top go?

This piece will live on much longer than those non wood pieces at the furniture store!

Linking To:

Ginger Snap Crafts, Chic On a Shoestring,  Simply Sweet Home, The Cottage Market,  Funky Junk Interiors, The Dedicated House,  Sugar Bee Crafts, Flour Me With Love,  Domestically Speaking,  The Answer Is Chocolate, Skip To My Lou, The Thrifty Home, Flutter Buster, The Foley Fam,  Finding Silver Pennies, Our Hopeful Home, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Painted Hinge, Yesterday On Tuesday, Confessions Of A Plate Addict, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Dabbling And Decorating, Creatively Beth, My Hubbard Home