I made this gold magnolia leaf garland from a very rare breed of magnolia tree which grows the most incredible solid gold leaves!

Or, I just spray-painted regular magnolia leaves with gold spray paint. One of those things.

There’s just nothing a can of gold spray paint can’t accomplish in this world. Send me to a deserted island and I’ll bring a can of gold spray paint.

I’d also like to bring chocolate, my Bible and some sunscreen. And a volleyball I’ll name Wilson which I’ll become strangely attached to, and probably lose in some heart-wrenching scene that makes people cry even though it’s JUST a volleyball, guys. I’d also like to bring a satellite phone and a helicopter. But that’d probably be cheating. What kind of weird hypothetical situation did we get ourselves in already?! Things get out of hand so quickly around here.

(As a huge fan of survival shows, Andy read this post and had to stop at this point and talk about what I should REALLY bring on a deserted island. He was distressed to hear I hadn’t even considered a multi-tool OR duct tape.)

Let’s talk about how to make a gold magnolia garland.

Materials you’ll need

• A few magnolia branches
• Can of gold spray paint (I used this kind because I had it on hand.) (Affiliate links)
• Wired twine, like this. (I got mine from Michaels. You might be able to use regular twine, but your garland shape wouldn’t be as sturdy.)
• Floral wire

Take your branches out in the yard and just spray the green side with spray paint.

While it dries, hang your wired twine where you want the garland to go. I stuck mine in the bottom of the mantel with a thumbtack.

Now grab three magnolia leaves of roughly the same size and wrap the ends together with floral wire. You can see I missed some spots with my spray painting, but I actually like the hints of green. I’m cool with it.

Now attach that fan of leaves to the twine with more floral wire. We also put a little hot glue on the wire just to keep the leaves in place, but you may not need it if you’re working with a shorter garland length.

Now add another fan of leaves, overlapping the first by a bit, and continue until your entire length of twine is covered.

I think we used about 20 little fans of three magnolia leaves each.

I think this would look amazing and dramatic going down a staircase, all the way to the floor and pooling at the floor. We have two children who would FIND AND ATTACK any garland they could reach, so I couldn’t do that. I just put a little bit swagged on my staircase.

I also think this would be amazing if you turned some of the leaves over, so you can see the pretty leathery brown backs. I meant to do that and forgot. Ah well.

Are you making anything with live greenery this year? What would you bring to a deserted island?