DIY Gold Leaf Coasters

Gold Leaf Coasters... I think these would make a lovely gift for Christmas. They are reasonably easy to do and except for the stitching on the top of the leaf they are constructed by ironing gold fabric onto a base. Of course, since I've been on a tassel making kick I added a tassel to the coasters. I love making tassels and came up with a fast way to make them HERE.

This is what Connecticut looks like right now. This is an exceptional year for Autumn colors, yellow, bright orange, and red. It's amazing to just drive around right now.

This time of year always inspires me to do something with leaves. Sometimes I just draw and color them. Sometimes I press them between waxed paper. I've also dipped them in glycerin soap and used them as personal hand soaps. It's just fun. It's like having unlimited amounts of free flowers to play with.

It started with an idea. Oh, and by the way I used this same fabric to make this trash can makeover. I had enough fabric left over from the trash can makeover to make these leaf coasters.

For the coasters I used Pellon Peltex double sided fusible stiff lining for the base onto which I ironed the gold fabric. Since it is fusible on both sides I ironed the gold fabric on the front and back at the same time. So now I had 1/4 yard of very stiff gold fabric.

The pattern for the leaf? GO OUTSIDE!! Get some leaves, trace around them and then enlarge them to the size that you want. Now lay the final pattern onto the stiffened fabric and cut them out. I stitched around the edge of each "leaf" and also stitched some veins in the leaves to make them more believable.

Since we have a piece of fabric that is on the back and the front of the stiffened lining, you can find other patterns on the net - hearts, dogs, cats, or anything you choose and cut those out of the fabric.

When I was done stitching around the leaves, I was really happy with the coasters but felt they needed something MORE. Since I'm working with tassels, that was my first thought. I've seen beads linked up with tassels, too, so I searched for a suitable bead but couldn't find anything right and guess what?! I had these cute little spring beads in my own stash!! YAY! That was fortuitous. I used embroidery floss and threaded the tassel and the bead onto the "stem" of the leaf. I added a tiny bit of hot glue to seal that up also on the back of the coaster.

On the edges I used a small brush to paint on some glitter glue to make the whole project look more finished.