I've occasionally popped into Goodwill to browse throughout this summer, but didn't find the right one until last week (granted I didn't look too often or hard). I realized this morning that I don't have painter's tape, so my reveal of the base will have to wait until later. What I did pick up and finish in the past 24 hours however was the shade. I originally found this idea in the spring, when I was redecorating my living room. While I went with lampshades from Target for the living room, the idea stuck with me ever since...
I found a $5 small shade at Walmart, as well as a can of Primer + Paint Krylon Spray Paint (got to love still having gift cards!). The spray paint is for the base, but I could have also used it on the lampshade (I got lazy and used acrylic instead). The shade was an ivory color, so a quick coat of white guaranteed that it would match my spray painted base. I picked up from Michaels last night 3 skeins of Sugar 'n Cream yarn (hot blue, hot green, and hot orange). I used some Martha Stewart glittering glue (any liquid craft glue would work, I just happen to have a few bottles of this lying around).
I began by deciding the order I wanted my colors, and then painted some glue periodically on the shade (I did four strips up and down across the shade) and wrapped. I didn't plan out ahead of time, and just guessed how many times around would work. It turned out to be approximately 20 times around before I switched colors. To switch colors, I alternated the new and old color twice, then did two layers of new color, before one last layer of old color. If I was working with a bigger shade, I may have done a third alternated layer, and maybe even a triple new before one last old as well! Just go with what looks best to you. I continued this through the shade and finished with glue all around the top. That's it!
After about an hour and enough Eat, Pray, Love to get me wanting to finish the movie, I had a new lampshade. Now I can't wait to pick up some painter's tape after my matinee movie with friends so that I can finish up the base. I can't wait to see this on my desk in my office! Such a fun way to add some brightness and color to my office!
