DIY Lamp Shades

Whew!! That was a whirlwind of a Christmas holiday! It came as fast as it went. Yesterday I battled our semi-dried out tree and took down all the decorations. After hubby hauled the shedding beast out the front door, I got the honors of vacuuming up the precious needles. There were so many, my vacuum cleaner staged a protest! It took me 20 minutes to unclog the vacuum head and wand attachment. I never knew a vacuum cleaner could have three separate clogs! If you look at it logically, the first clog should have pretty much stop the flow of air...so how did it get three clog??? Oh well, next year I plan on avoiding this sort of debacle by starting my decorating the beginning of November. That way it will take me until February to take the stuff down...Heehee

Now that I have my living room and dining room back to normal, I had the overwhelming urge to decorate something. Being that I have a gazillion (is that even a word?) projects around the house that need to be completed or started for that matter, I thought it best to choose something rather easy. I grabbed some fabric, left over wrapping paper, spray adhesive, hot glue gun and a lamp shade from my dining room Chandy.

First things first, I used a piece of red wrapping paper to draw a pattern for my little shade. I added 1/2" inch to all sides of the pattern. This was to accommodate lapping of edges and folding of the top and bottom.

I used my pattern to cut three wedges of my decorative fabric. Typically when I recover an "A" shaped lamp shade, I lay the shade down on the fabric as a guide and cut out what looks like a giant donut shape. But this time I had to do something different because the fabric I choose just wouldn't work that way.

I took each piece and folded one edge down...about 1/2". I made sure to only spray adhesive on one piece at a time. To insure permanent contact, I had to spray the shade as well. Now...here's the most important part! WEAR RUBBER GLOVES AND TAPE OFF THE PARTS YOU DON'T WANT EXPOSED TO ADHESIVE OVER-SPRAY!! I ended up looking like one of the Sticky Bandits from Home Alone 2.

I used the hot glue gun to glue the edges around the top and bottom of the shade. Now that its complete, I think I will go to the fabric store and pick out some vintage looking trim for the bottom of the shade.

Back to work...one down five to go!!

I'm linking up to Met Mondays


Talk to ya soon