DIY gold distressed frame

I did a fun project for a client this past week and I wanted to share. She has this amazing painting and it had an existing wood frame that we wanted to add some gold leaf too while still allowing some of the wood to show through. 

 I used Jenny from Little Green Notebook's tutorial to gold leaf a frame but distressed it up a lot. I used the materials she used , found at Hobby Lobby and they were great. This was a time consuming (it was a giant piece of art and all the hand distressing) but easy project. 

 So worth it.

I just folded and played with each piece so it wasn't perfect and then used a paint brush to brush it down onto the adhesive.

Then use your fingers to brush off the excess. 

Voila. Hand distressed frame. (PS I know this is not the picture frame its a firescreen I did the same treatment to.)
Is it ever a bad idea to gold leaf anything?
xoxo