Lamp Shade Re-do

Over the years I have purchased a few antique cast iron bridge lamps at estate sales. They are nice lamps - very heavy cast iron, decorative and vintage for my style. The only draw back to buying these lamps is finding shades for them. The hardware that attaches the shade to the lamp is different than the lamp shades sold on the market today at main stream stores like Target. So essentially if you want a nice new shade for your old lamp you have to find someone who specializes in lamp shades {i.e. - pricey} or find a vintage one. Luckily, two of the lamps that I bought already had shades on them. I thought the shades were ugly but they fit the lamp. Eventually I decided to make them over on the cheap so that they would better fit my home decor. Following is a tutorial on how I jazzed up one of the shades. You could do this technique on any plain shade. I see lots of boring & dated {i.e. ugly} shades/lamps for sale at yard sales. They are usually sold for a fraction of the cost of a new lamp/shade. So if you are looking for something custom without spending a lot of money try this...

Here is the finished shade on the lamp.

My theme for this shade was "Faith, Hope, Love". You could pick any words/phrases you like. I even thought of doing an initial or a number.
This is the shade before.

For this re-do you will need:

* ugly lamp shade
*foam alphabet stamps {mine are several years old made by Making Memories brand for scrapbooking}
*paint
*paint brush
*ribbon
*hot glue & gun

To begin I removed the old trim from the lamp. It just pulled off.

Next I decided what words I was going to stamp on the lamp and then got the letters ready. I happened to have 2 different font sets of the foam letters so I decided to do the words Faith & Love in one font and the word Hope using another font/color.

I decided to use black & white paint for my letters. I just used basic acrylic paint found at Michaels or JoAnn. You will also need a paint brush to apply the paint to the letters.

 

Apply a thin coat of paint to your letter and then position it where you want on the shade. Press firmly so that the entire letter is stamped. If you look closely at my finished shade you will see that it is not perfect. It is pretty difficult to get a perfect imprint every time. Just know this from the outset so that you know what to expect. You will also notice some random paint marks here and there. This can also happen when stamping when paint gets on the stamp {not the letter} and then makes a mark when you imprint.

I continued stamping the words around the shade in the following order: Faith, Hope, Love. Between each word I also stamped a flower. At the end of some rows I didn't have enough space for the flower. Each row is slightly different and imperfect. I was able to get 4 complete rows around the lamp.As I mentioned earlier I decided to do Hope in a different font and color for more variety.

 

Once the shade was finished being stamped I let it dry overnight. The next morning I added black grosgrain ribbon to the top and bottom of the shade using hot glue. I also added some vintage lace trim to the bottom of the lamp over the black ribbon. I just used what I had on hand.

I also added some white vintage buttons over the stamped flowers. I attached these with hot glue. They don't all match. I picked what I had in my button stash.

That is all. It took me about 2 hours from start to finish to complete.
I also wanted to show the other shade that I transformed. I did this one a few years ago and don't have any pictures of the process. The shade looked about the same as the other one before I started. I had a vintage doily that I wasn't using. I cut it so that it would fit around the shade without any excess overlap - just enough that I could fold it over the top and bottom. Once I had it to size I glued it to the shade using fabric glue. Done! This has held up well for several years. The kids have even dropped this lamp a few times on the floor and warped/cracked the shade. I guess the doily has helped to keep it together because it is still being used right now.

 

I hope you will give this a try sometime!

KayteeJane

Strawberries

Seeing that it is strawberry picking season I thought I would share some of my favorite vintage strawberry collectibles. I have always been drawn to strawberry prints and red and white.

Hazel Atlas Milk Glass Strawberry Jam Jar - This was also made in an apple. (Of course I own that too!)  My mom had one of these when I was growing up and she actually served jelly out of it on the table.

Strawberry motif vintage table cloth.

Strawberry apron. Not sure how functional this one is :) - but it is super cute. Sheer material with embroidered strawberries.

 

Tin bread box. It is a little banged up and rusty but I love it anyway. We use this on our kitchen counter for loaves of bread.

I am including these too. Wouldn't these be great to serve sliced strawberries? Top pic is a Pyrex hostess set, bottom pic is a pink plastic melamine/melmac set.

I love vintage berries!
KayteeJane

Chalkboard Plant Markers

I planted a garden this year for the first time in many years. I'm a little late in getting it done, but no matter. I am hoping that come August I will have a bounty of homegrown veggies. I made some garden markers using paint sticks and chalkboard paint. It is super simple to do and inexpensive too. Here are the steps.

You will need some paint stirring sticks, chalkboard paint & chalk. I got my sticks from our local Ace Hardware for free.

I used a quart of Chalkboard Paint made by Rustoleum and applied it with a paint spraying gun. If you don't want to do that just brush it or buy chalkboard spray paint.


To write on the painted sticks I used a chalk marker that I bought at Michaels. They are available in white and also colors. I figured that the lettering would hold up better in the rain with a marker than with traditional dust chalk. Use whatever you have on hand.

Here are the sticks after painting and lettering.

Here they are in the garden.

I like how they turned out.



KayteeJane

Pillow Talk

"It's summertime and the livin' is easy". Fall back on a comfy pillow and chair, put up your feet and rest awhile. Cover up with a quilt and close your eyes. Go ahead and be lazy. You're allowed when you are here.

Sweet Dreams...
All pillows handmade from quilts, seed sacks, embroidered linens, chenille bedspreads and other vintage materials.

KayteeJane

Walking Saved My Life

Even though this blog is mostly about collecting and my home, I wanted to post today about a big change I have made in my life that has helped me tremendously. It is walking - plain and simple.

Over the past year I have struggled with depression. I would frequently find myself sitting on the couch watching reality shows or HGTV a little more often than is probably healthy. In one hand I would have a to-do list a mile long and in the other hand the TV remote. Fear, and doubt would cloud my resolve to tackle some of the things on my list. I was pretty much just getting by. One day I happened to call a friend on the phone and she asked me to come with her on a walk. I immediately said "no" - too much to get done today! She persisted - telling me that she herself had started walking regularly and that as a result of this small investment of time each morning she was now able to do so much more during the day than she normally had before committing to walk. I agreed and went with her. We walked 2+ miles that day. When I got home I felt SO MUCH BETTER! I decided to commit to walking 2 miles every day for 5 or 6 days a week - without fail.

I'm using a free app on my iphone Map My Walk. I bring my phone and just start walking. The app notifies me when I reach a mile, my pace, etc. After 2 miles I head home. I don't really have a plan or anything. I just walk. I look around. I pray in my head. I listen to the quiet. I listen to praise music on Pandora too if I feel like it. When I get home I am tired and out of breath but I feel great. It has cleared the cobwebs out. I feel better - like I can be creative again and make stuff. That life is good. That I can take each day at a time and get by. I am also leaning on My Heavenly Father right now. Instead of feeling guilty each day that I'm not reading my bible I am using my walking time to pray. Sometimes I just say "Lord, use me today, teach me your ways, may your strength be made perfect in my weakness". It is enough.

Today I spotted these things and paused briefly to snap a pic.

And Honeysuckle - lots of yellow honeysuckle - summer's perfume! It smells so good. It reminds me of my childhood.

I wish I could bottle that stuff. The only perfume I have smelled that comes close is Le Chèvrefeuille by Annick Goutal.

Of course the French would get it right :) Annik Goutal makes some amazing perfumes! If you have never heard of them before search them out on Google.

I'm not a doctor or health professional. I'm just telling you about something that makes me happy and is helping my well being. I'm thankful for friends who step in and care about you - that show up at just the right time, just when you need it. Sometimes you listen to what they are saying and other times you don't. I'm glad that this time I actually listened and then did something.

God Bless,
KayteeJane