DIY #1 of a zillion

Alrighty. I promised far too long ago a long list of DIYs and home re-arranging. Welllllll, let's just say I am my mother's daughter. Let me explain. My entire life (and probably hers too), my mom has consistently had at least two projects going at once. When I began my first project, (re-habbing a dresser) my dad came home from errands and said, 

"OH NO! There are TWO of you!!!"

This is because he knew that as he watched me put the first coat of primer on said dresser, I had already begun re-doing my grandmother's worn brass bed (that was sitting in their basement waiting to be finished).Our antics drive him crazy. Good thing we're loveable and make pretty things.

So, because I am my mother's daughter, those other two projects are still in holding at my parents' house. Oops. Here is another fun little DIY to tide everyone over (well, Lorri, since she's the only one that reads this). Most of this crazy spurt of project-ing has been brought on by www.pinterest.com. I found a lovely shade tutorial while clicking around about a month ago and instantly knew it was the solution to a lamp that had been causing me trouble. Waaaay last December, I ransacked my Grammie's basement and scored two sweet lamps, but ever since, I've had a terrible time finding a shade to go with either. 

The entire tutorial for my lamp-saving solution can be found here. This is how hers turned out: 

thenewlywife.com

See how I was so inspired? Genius, this girl is. She gives awesome instructions (and even made her own shade structure!), but basically, this is how it went:

-I adjusted for making a table shade, rather than for a chandelier (sorry I didn't take a picture of the before-naked shade or the hot-gluing process). I started with a basic "small" sized dome shade, easily found at places like Lowe's or Target. 
-Brown "pleater" fabric came from JoAnn's. I bought two yards to be safe, but only used about one.
-I used a white colored pencil and the top of a large spice jar for tracing (trace the circles on the reverse side - it's easier to draw on and you don't have to worry about lines on your circles - #2). 
-Once you cut out the circles, paint only a few at a time (like 5-7) and then fold/unfold them (see #4) so you can get some texture. 
-Also, the major problem I had in finding a shade to begin with was that I couldn't find the right shape. I could find dome shades the right width, but not long enough. Shades with the right length were too wide and dwarfed my base. This is the beauty of creating your own! Since you are overlapping your painted circles as you hot glue them around your shade, it's super easy to add a couple of extra rows to extend the bottom (#5).
-You'll noticed I trimmed the top and bottom so that I have a straight edge, but you could certainly leave it alone for a scalloped edge instead.

 BAM. Problem solved.