Mixing Metallics- Foliage Fun!

Have you ever wanted to preserve a bouquet of flowers forever, without having to see dead brown flowers in your perfect vase????

I found the perfect solution this past weekend. I received a very special bouquet from a friend who was leaving the country for an entire year- I wanted to be able to keep the bouquet forever so that I could keep her close while she is away.

I've been really into metallics lately. If I could paint every single accent piece in my apartment metallic I probably would, but my roommate may just start seeing stars so I'll save it for my extra special pieces.

This is definitely a project you will want to do outside, as it gets pretty messy and the fumes from the paint can be really toxic, especially if sprayed within a small space. I took this project out to my balcony at my apartment and covered the tiles with a plastic bag.

I started my laying out my favorite pieces from the bouquet, in this case it happened to be more of the tall foliage rather than the actual flowers. You want to make sure to do this process before the bouquet starts to wilt too much, so that they are 'frozen' in an upright position.

Once I had selected the desired pieces and I covered them in a spray mount. This is an intense spray-glue that will keep the leaves/petals in the upright position and keep the petals in their natural form.

Let the foliage/flowers dry completely before turning them over and spray the other side the same way. Once completely dry, you can now spray paint with whichever color you prefer. (Let dry completely before flipping over to avoid access dripping) I used a metallic spray paint that was in between gold and silver. Remember mismatching golds and silvers around in your decor is totally okay!

I paired my new and improved foliage with a fun and funky vase I got from Ross. The vase also started out white! (I spray painted it with a gold paint---took about 3 coats, allowing dry time in between each coat)

I'm in LOVE with this new accent piece, it's something I can keep forever and cherish the memory behind it. Feel free to share your favorite DIY! <3