Hi, I’m Marlene from Idle Hands Awake, and I’m addicted to gold foil.
It’s a new affliction passion and it’s all Amber’s fault. I mean, look at all this shiny foil goodness on Damask Love. HOOKED, I’m telling you.
This Christmas I’m trying to get as much gold foil into my house as is humanly possible, starting with these simple DIY leather gemstone ornaments.
These little guys are wicked easy to make. There’s a template for you so you don’t even have to draw anything. AND I’ll show you a super easy method for applying gold foil that’s going to get you foiling everything in sight. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.
DIY Leather Gemstone Ornaments
Materials:
- leather gemstone template
- thick leather
TIP: upcycle! Use a thrifted leather belt or bag to save money and give an old item new purpose.
- sharp scissors or fabric scissors
- pencil or marker
- leather punch tool (you could get away with a thick nail and hammer if you don’t have one)
- gold foil sheets for decorating (you could also use gold leaf, gold glitter, gold craft paint, or something not gold—but that’s crazy talk, why would you ever NOT use gold?)
- Zig Memory System 2-Way Glue Pen OR foil transfer adhesive (but I’d go with the pen—it’s magical. For reals.)
- jump rings and metallic embroidery thread or other cord/string for hanging
Directions:
+ Trace the template onto the back side of leather. I’ve made 3 different sized templates to fit different belt widths if you are going the upcycled route.
+ Cut out the gemstones using sharp scissors.
+ Punch a small hole in the top of the ornament.
+ Now comes the easy gold foil trick. Use the glue pen to paint glue onto the area of the leather you want to foil. The glue will be blue when wet and dry clear. It will still be tacky when it’s dry, which is what we want for foiling.
It’s hard to tell in this photo but the ornament on the left is still wet and the one on the right is dry. This glue only takes a couple minutes to dry so you don’t have to wait around forever.
*If you’re using any other foil adhesives, be sure to follow the directions for that product.
+ When the glue is completely clear, and tacky rather than wet to the touch, lay a piece of gold foil over the glue—SHINY SIDE UP, my friends—and rub it all over with your finger. You will see the foil start to separate from the sheet.
+ Peel off the foil and you have a beautiful foiled ornament. MAGIC.
If you missed any spots you can just put the foil back on, rub rub rub, and peel again.
+ Attach a jump ring and a bit of metallic embroidery thread for hanging.
And that’s it! Cover your home in handmade Christmas ornaments.
Now we’d LOVE to hear from you! What DIYs are you working on for the holidays? Are you enjoying The Holiday Collective?
Marlene
Paper-pusher by day and paper-and-everything-else-crafter by night, Marlene believes creativity is what life was made for. Her blog Idle Hands Awake (formerly Jade and Fern) is a DIY blog for creatives in the making—because creativity is a skill that you can practice like any other. When not harassing the poor folks at her local craft store, you can find Marlene curled up with her cats, a chai tea, and a library book. She also sometimes still has time for her husband, if he’s holding up props during photoshoots.
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