Gold and Glitter Gourds

My first semester of graduate school is already coming to a close. I can't believe how fast it's gone by! Unfortunately, though, that means that it's time for lots of final projects. Final projects means less time for crafting. I've had to choose between crafting, cross-stitching, and NaNoWriMo-ing in my spare time. Luckily for all of you, I chose crafting this weekend. I decided to make some pretty, glittery gourds.

I nabbed these uglies at Michaels during their fall clearance sale right after Halloween. I'm pretty sure I got each package for $.59 or something so I got 2. They're made of Styrofoam and I should note that I started with 12. I put them in a bowl on my dining room table on a Friday and came back on Saturday morning to 5...I crawled on my hands and knees and managed to find 11. There were a couple under the couch. One under the stove. Where Violet put the last one, I think we'll never know. They are also now adorned with kitty bite marks.

See? Twelve. Aren't they hideous?

I was initially going to paint them off-white, gold, and light gold. However, after four coats, the light gold wasn't covering anything so I coated those in Martha Stewart Decoupage and glittered them up. For the others, I simply painted them the color of my choice and then sealed them with Martha Stewart Glitter Decoupage. To allow them to dry, I stuck the gourds on a toothpick and stuck that into a Styrofoam wreath.

I also took the stems and painted them a darker brown (the brown I had with a drop of black).

Here is a picture of one of each of them.

Now I have a nice, pretty centerpiece for my coffee table. I used a tin that came from the Edible Arrangement I got for my birthday last month.

We'll see how long they last being out in the open and vulnerable.

Violet is waiting for them.