Welcome! You are in for a treat today! You’ve either stumbled here because of one of the other fabulous bloggers sharing handmade gifts today, or not. Which means you’re either enjoying loads of great handmade gift tutorials, or you’re about to be! My handmade gift idea is these darling little cutomizable gold leaf embellished trinket plates.

What You’ll Need:

Square white plates, Painter’s Tape, Vinyl Letters and Numbers, Permanenet Marker, Adhesive, Gold Leaf, and Sealer

The Process:

A lot of this process involves playing around with your options until you like how it’s turning out. I had a lot of fun creating my plates’ designs, but I changed my mind a lot to get to what they’re at now.

The Numbers Plate is actually the house number for one of my giftees. Use vinyl numbers and dots (the period stickers) and stick them straight to the plate. Following the direction for the adhesive, paint on a thin layer and wait until the adhesive is clear and tacky. Then, just lie the gold leaf onto the adhesive and use a brush to press it all down. Then use a stiff dry brush to flake off all the excess. Coat the plate with the sealer and set aside to dry.

The Marker Marks and Gold Triangle plate was the only success out of my permanent marker attempts. I tried out metallic permanent markers and just wasn’t wowed enough with the effect. For the record: I used a generic permanent marker from the dollar store and it didn’t specify whether or not it was oil based. Just make little tick marks in pairs in alternating directions over half the plate. Place the plate in a cold oven, then set the temperature to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Bake for 30 minutes.

Once the plate is cooled (I let mine cool in the oven overnight), you can take it to your work surface and tape out a triangle. Follow the same directions for using the gold leaf keeping within the triangle. It helps to really run the brush along the edges of the tape to ensure a clean line when pulling the tape back.

The Gold Square plate is easy. Tape out a square shape and follow the directions for the gold leaf adhesive and sealer process.

The Gold Stripes plate is almost just as easy. Tape out a square and then tape across the square twice. Follow the directions for the gold leaf and sealer process and BAM!

The plates make adorable additions to a watch or bracelet gift. Or on their own. Trinket trays are perfect for placing keys, accessories, and wallets into. Although the sealer holds everything down pretty good, it is not food safe. If you’d like to replicate the process for food items, you would need to pick up a sealant that is food safe.

I wrapped a few atop some christmas gifts I’d already picked up. I get pretty stoked for Christmas and start my shopping in the summer. I wrapped the gifts in fun red glitter wrapping paper and tied everything together with the natural cotton twine. The trinket trays look adorbs as gift toppers!

Now, here’s the great part! 14 more Handmade gift tutorials! Before you go, please leave a comment, follow For My Love Of on social media, and share! There are too many good ideas here to keep them to ourselves! (links below are in the order they’re pictured 😀 )

I am the worst at keeping plants alive. I mean, I’ve underwatered several cacti. But, I just love the way greenery in my home makes me feel. So the past few years I’ve been making an effort to refine my process and plant choices. Today, I share with you-

Houseplants Even I Can’t Kill.

Mass Cane, Moon Cacti, Boston Fern, and Red-Edged Dracaena.

I’ve had my Mass Cane for more than 2 years now. It’s such a forgiving plant as I’ve both under and over watered it. I’ve never noticed it’s leaves droop outside it’s normal shape. There were orginally two in the pot when it was purchased and the smaller one died. I still consider this a win though! She gets plenty of late day bright sunlight.

I’m really on the fence in terms of cacti and their resiliency. Like I mentioned, I’ve under watered a few before. These moon cacti have lived in a few rooms in my home, one of which didn’t even have a natural source of light. And they’re perfectly fine. I give them maybe a half shot glass full of water each twice a month.

Indoors, my Boston Ferns do fabulously. Outdoors? The soil dried out and they would be dried and wilty by the end of the day with morning waterings. So for me, they’re the perfect houseplant. For the smaller one that hangs on my backdoor (for now), I lightly water weekly.

There are loads of varieties of dracaena, but mine is the red edged one. The plant is quite big, but I do enjoy sitting beside it as I enjoy sitting beside greenery. So far I only do a thorough watering once the soil has dried out. Filtered bright light and loads of appreciation and this plant is doing beautifully.  

Fiddle Leaf Fig, Mother In Law’s Tongue, and Wandering Jew.

I’m probably going to get a few funny looks for this one, but I have had the easiest time with my fiddle leaf fig. The plant is so good at voicing when it needs to be watered. Which, for me, runs about every 6 days. The leaves will shoot straight up when watered and will droop slowly the longer it needs water. Mine receives direct afternoon light and indirect evening light.

Mother-In-Law’s tongue is almost identical to the snake plant. They’re both incredibly easy and forgiving plants to care for. I bought a baby last spring that had just 3 leaves and almost immediately started growing a fourth. They thrive in whatever sized planter I put them in and don’t seem phased when I forget to water them. Both the smaller and larger ones receive indirect light.

Probably the funniest plant name I’ve ever seen: Wandering Jew. Has anyone seen my wandering jew? Ha! My plant grew from just a leaf that had been clipped off of a larger plant. The leaves on my plant start to lose their color when it needs to be watered, but overall doesn’t seem phased if I forget. I do give about a shot glass of water once a week and it lives in a pot with no drainage holes. With filtered late day light, my wandering jew seems quite happy!

Jade, Peace Lilly, Philodendron.

Jades are the closest thing to a succulent that I will touch. I have had the worst luck with succulents and will not buy anymore. But, my mom put together this jade for me and the jade is quite happy! She gets indirect filtered light and a light weekly watering if the soil is dry.

Easily one of my favorite plants is the peace lilly. I picked one up after reading the NASA clean air study. It mentioned they were effective against mold spores, so I bought her to put in the bathroom. She gets low to medium indirect and direct light here. The peace lilly is also very vocal when it needs water. The stems will curve over and the plant just looks overall very unhappy when it’s thirsty. She gets a full glass of water every week atop being in a wet room:bathroom.

The one plant I’ve never killed. The philodendron. These plants are SO easy. They’re the perfect beginner plant and will make you feel like a huge success! You can clip one of the leaves and a bit of stem to grow a whole new plant (which I leave in water until it’s grown established roots). They’re happy clustered into the mix with the jade. They receive filtered light and light weekly water if the soil is dry.

I’m also having pretty good success with what I’m thinking is a Chinese Evergreen, A Palm I haven’t identified (even after killing 3 large ones), and air plants (though I did already kill one of them).

So there you have it! From a black thumb gardener herself, the plants I haven’t killed! And, to be honest, it’s been a really enjoyable and easy experience! I only buy plants I know I’ll love, because I know their care will be forgotten if I don’t love them. Do you have houspelants that you find especially easy to care for? Please leave them in the comments below for myself and other houspelant challnged gardeners!

I love fringe bordered curtains but one thing I’ve noticed is that the trim is nearly always along the side of the curtain instead of along the bottom. The side fringed curtains are awesome, don’t get me wrong. But to solve the issue of length that most of us run into with big box store curtain panels, I thought a fringe border would be a fantastic solution! That paired with my obsession with moroccan wedding blankets let me to create these sheer panels with sequin and natural cotton fringe border. Solving the issue of too short curtains and adding a small nod to the global flair I lean towards.

Sequin & Fringe Trimmed Curtain Panels

What You’ll Need

Sheer curtain panels, Washable fabric glue (meaning it can be washed and will still hold), Sequin ribbon, Cotton rope, Scissors

How to DIY sequin fringed curtain panels

The most inexpensive option I could come up with in terms of fringe borders is DIY. This totally brings the price point on this project way down, so if you’re not strapped for time, I would go this route.

Take the cotton rope and cut a length that is the same length as the bottom of the curtain panel. Then, cut about 700 (yes, seven hundred) pieces that are 10 inch long. This length could vary based on how far you’re hanging the panel from your floor, so that’s something to consider if you’re hanging the panels pretty high up on the wall.

Fold one of the 10 inch pieces of rope in half and tie it onto the long piece using a larks head knot. It’s tedious, but I find it didn’t take nearly as long as I expected. Once you find your groove, you could even catch up on shows while knotting. When nearing the end of the rope, start sliding them toward the end and work inward. It’ll be easier than trying to force knots onto a little sliver of rope.

Once you’ve finished creating the fringe, put down a ribbon of glue along the bottom of the curtain panel.

And press the fringe into it. The glue doesn’t dry very fast. In fact, my particular brand takes 24 hours to cure.

Make sure the panels are in a place they can sit for awhile so that the glue can fully dry. I chose to do mine in stages, first the fringe, then when I had more time without the little one, I pulled them out into the living room and did the sequins.

Put down more glue along the fringe and up the side of the panel. Press the sequin ribbon into the glue.

Once the dry time is complete, though, they’re ready to hang! I’ll go ahead and be the first to point out that they are extra gypsy with the lack of curtain rings. I assumed I had more rings on hand than I really did, and am awaiting for more to arrive.

But, they’re still very pretty and add a touch of femininity that my living room was lacking.

The sequins along the side are subtle, but catch the light and cast little rainbows on the walls throughout the day.

I hope you’ve found this tutorial helpful and inspiring! If you’re eyeing that cool leather pendant light fixture, it’s a DIY that I’ve already shared and you’re welcome to come and check it out.

Are you diggin’ the retro feel of an arched floor lamp? I’m not sure where I first saw and fell in love with one. The details aren’t really all that important. What is important is that I found one, and I want to share what I think about it with you today!

I bought mine with my own moolah off Amazon. My lamp was $84.50 shipped, but the price fluctuates constantly. Whenever I shop on Amazon I always add an item I’m interested in, from a few different sellers, and watch the prices increase and decrease over the course of a few days and/or weeks. Whenever one hits the lowest, that’s normally the one I go with. That was this lamp: Floor Arc Lamp with Marble Base in Nickel Finish.

First of all, and I found this mentioned a lot in the online reviews: my lamp did not come with instructions. It may seem silly to want instructions for a floor lamp, but it comes pretty dang unassembled. I figured it out, but if you’re not apt to figuring out how to assemble things, this may be a major issue for you. (Although, one reviewer said theirs was printed on the side of one of the boxes included in the delivery, just for reference).

The on/off switch is a very handy and perfectly functioning foot activated switch. There’s a great deal of cord on either end of the switch too, so  you can maneuver it to where it’s convenient. (omg my floors are so dusty!)

The base of the lamp is a very heavy circular slab of marble. I don’t doubt that it is in fact a heavy stone material. There is an alcove on the underside. This space makes it fairly easy to screw the pole into the base. I was missing no parts necessary to attach the two pieces.

I’m making the assumption that these slabs are made to fit with a variety of lamps/products as there’s a smaller hole beside the larger hole (that the pole of the arch attaches to the base with) that serves no purpose. I want to also point out that the threaded piece that attaches the pole to the base screws out to be long enough to accommodate the pole, base, and nuts and washers (I saw this complaint mentioned a few times in reviews).

The finish is a very definite brushed nickel. And the poles appear to be heavy-duty enough to hold up to the weight of the metal shade and arch over time. I’m not sure how much the lamp could take if you’ve got a small child who likes to shake things, though. I think it’s definitely worth mentioning that I think rambunctious children could eventually loosen the nuts holding the base intact. (the lamp is heavy which could be a safety concern).

The pole that’s attached into the marble base attaches to the other two “sections” of the arch by simply sliding into place, and screwing a small screw (included) into the predrilled holes. While it’s undoubtedly in place, the construction overall leads me to believe that constant moving of the lamp, or jostling caused by small children, could loosen some of the important joints (as aforementioned).

The middle segment is slightly skinnier than the first. Still the same brushed nickel finish, though. What I’m finding a lot of the reviewers mention, is that the third segment is missing. In fact, it’s actually inside of this second segment. Most people aren’t finding this and are bummed because the lamp doesn’t arch enough and the shade doesn’t point straight down.

In the picture below, I added a rectangular overlay to demonstrate just how crooked the adjoining pieces of the arch are. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem caused by over tightening of the screw or misassembly. So I’m left to believe this is a quality issue.

The third section is a bit tough to pull out, but it’s there and pulls out to fully extend the arch. I don’t have much upper body strength, so I couldn’t figure out if the piece pictured below was meant to be turned to tighten the other piece in place (but, a reviewer said that is indeed what it does). If it is, mine could very well be broken and that’s why I can’t turn it. I’m having no problems with it slipping out of place, though.

Probably the flimsiest part of the whole lamp is the shade. It’s not a single piece, but rather two, as you can probably see by the line below the holes (for the release of heat, if you’re wondering). It’s disappointing, as that’s not obvious in the picture. And the mechanism for attaching the shade to the rest of the lamp isn’t very sturdy. You may be able to see where it didn’t screw properly in place and a sliver of light is showing between the shade and the light socket portion of the lamp.

The rim between the two pieces that made up the shade can be seen below. The lower portion just rests atop the upper piece.

We have 8 foot ceilings in our home. Many reviewers on Amazon mentioned that they thought you’d need at least 9 foot ceilings because the lamp is too overpowering otherwise. I think if you’re looking for this type of lamp, you’re probably looking for a statement piece anyways. So I pulled it out and snapped a photo so you could see it in comparison with my 8 foot ceilings and Broyhill China Cabinet.

We’re in the process of buying pieces and arranging them in our home, so don’t mind the mess, will ya’? Here’s a picture of the lamp in the corner over my fabulous Vintage Swivel Egg Chair. Hopefully this gives you an overall view of it’s size and construction.

Overall, I love the look of the lamp. And for the price, it’s on par with what I expected it to be. It’s functioning, but the quality could be better. But, I could also spend a whole lot more money for one that is better quality. I wanted to point out a lot of what reviewers were complaining about, as the reviews are largely weighed negatively against this lamp because of misinformation. If proper instructions were included, a lot of these negative points would be void. Alas, I’m happy. And if you’re wanting this style of lamp, you may be happy, too!