I Love Lamp

I don't know about everyone else, but I am finding more and more nowadays that my frugality has sparked my creativity. Whenever I see something...usually anything...I think "Wow - I could SOOO make that!" so instead of spending $26 for a throw pillow, $45 for a wreath, $35 for a new lamp shade, etc. etc I am just doing it on my own. It's a win all around because #1 - I save tons of money #2 - I am reducing by re-using or 'up-cycling' #3 - I am creating truly one-of-a-kind treasures to help our home to be unique, colorful and all around wonderful!

Here is how my latest project started. I saw a pillow similar to this:

I fell in LOVE with the texture and the pretty, feminine ruffles. I wanted to find a way to incorporate these into my room that I am still SO excited about! (...will post more pictures when I finish my best and final projects in there!) Coincidentally enough, I had a lamp shade that didn't match my new room. "Ding!" The light bulb went off.   

This lamp shade was pefectly fine on it's own...just not green enough!

I had seen a couple different techniques on some of the DIY blogs that I follow on how to make ruffles, but was scared of using fabric for it being too heavy and keep the light from shining through. Paint wouldn't work (plus I'm pretty sure it's flammable) and finally settled on.....are you ready for this?....coffee filters. True story.

I started by taking the coffe filters then folding them into eights. I folded back a corner and put hot glue on the point then started at the top, and staggered the coffee-filter-ruffle-triangle-thingies all the way down the lamp shade. (like so:)

Don't worry...this only took like 90 hours of my life and 40 gallons of hot glue. 

Halfway down the lamp I realized that I was turning my lamp shade from one neutral color to another. Boooorrriiing! This bad boy needed some color. Solution? Tule. I had some extra from Joanne's that I had bought for another project that matched (almost) perfectly. I cut it into 3" by 3" squares and then folded and applied them in the same fashion as the coffee filters. Color = check.

I then had to hide the ugly edges of where the lamp shade ended and the ruffles started. All I did for that was hot glue them to the inside of the lamp shade instead of the outside. After all was said and done, I used 2 packages (160 ct. each) of round coffee filters, and about 20 mini sticks of hot glue. (Make sure that if you try something similar to this you use HIGH HEAT hot glue, so that the lamp head doesn't melt the glue - and ultimately all your hard work)

I wish the lighting were better so that you could see all the ruffley-detail. It's been raining a lot so it's gray and crappy outside. I will post a better picture later. In the meantime? Use your imagination.

TADA!



:)