Tu-Tu Much

All I am going to say is,

"Not my idea...."

 "Well, how does such a thing happen, Kim?" You may be asking right about now. Let me share.

We had a fun weekend getaway planned with a bunch of other families. We were going to an awesome cabin to relax and enjoy my husband's birthday. I shopped, cooked, packed and we all loaded up the car. We were 2.4 minutes away from our house when a disturbing whine came from the backseat. "MAAAAAMEEEEE, I don't feel so good." "WAHHHHHHHHH!" 

I reached back and my daughter was burning up. So, we turned around and went home. Saturday morning after a big birthday breakfast, my husband and son went off to the mountains, while I stayed home with Little Miss Sick.  

While she was too sick to be around other people and running around with other kids, she was not too sick to demand buckets full of excitement and entertainment. After making peach jam and smiley face cookies from her kids cookbook she decided it would be a fine day to make a tutu lamp. 

We had seen such lamps at Hobby Lobby and she about had a heart attack the first time she spotted one. Lucky for her, I had all of the supplies on hand and her little brother wasn't here to muck it up!

There are bunches of tutu tutorials out there, so I am  not going to bother you with one right now.  Here is a good one if you are in need.

 We ended our day with a pizza picnic on the family room floor and our "sick" day just turned into a relaxing girl's day at home. Kinda nice actually!

My New Fave Lamp

A poor lamp has been hanging out in my family room feeling so blah. 

But not anymore!

She didn't seem blah with our bright red sofas. But those poor microfiber sofas went from bright red

to deep chocolate brown slipcovers, and the lamp looked....blah. 

(That d*** salesman should have warned me that drooling toddlers would ruin microfiber-
but that is a story for another day.)

I missed the red, so blah lamp, I'd like to introduce you to ra-ra-red!

I spray painted some super bright red that was in the garage. Then I toned it down and dry brushed some black onto it. 

I wrapped the gigantic drum shade in left over drop cloth and finished it with some jute cord.

Much better. 

My 4 year old daughter walked in and said, "Wow, I sure do  like that red!" She also likes to wear winter boots with her swimsuit, so her sense of style is questionable, but I think I agree with her in this case.

 

 Now, if I could only figure out that tutu lamp I am working on for my daughter!

P.S. Did you enter the giveaway to win a Shabby Apple dress? You only have till Sept 1!

Sisal Hanging Lamp

  I wanted, so badly, a hanging lamp in my office. However, we have no ceiling fixture, and my redo is for under $100 and I had almost given up when I saw this...

and this...

Um, I can make papier mach paste, I have yarn, hemp, sisal, I have a bouncy ball from Dollar Tree , and I found a hanging lamp kit at World Market for $9.99.

Hanging lamp here I come!

I whipped together some water, cornstarch, glue, and salt (no measuring-I live on the edge).

I put that whole (half used up) roll of sisal in my gloppy  paste.

 I rolled it around and made sure all the goop got inside the roll and soaked in well. Then, I wound the sisal around my ball.

This was so easy, the sisal just unwound from the middle of the roll so nicely!
(Things seldom work out so easily for me and my hair brained schemes)

I ended up wasting a lot of sisal, I needed much less than I had anticipated.

Then, I let it dry (took about 2 days to get REALLY dry and hard)

Finally, I got to cut the hole, pull out the ball,

and get my fixture (with light bulb attached) in there nice and snug.

I wove some jute around the opening of the shade and tied it to the fixture.

I wound a bunch more around the whole top of the fixture to give it a more finished look.

I hung her up in the corner next to my book page wall art and book page lamp!

So terribly cute and natural.

The texture is great.

It looks super cool at night!

I am pretty impressed with how nicely it turned it out considering there wasn't much of a plan to start with.

Lamp Rescue

I found this crazy ugly, falling apart, brass lamp at goodwill for $2.95

I don't think a new hanging fixture will happen in my office/ loft/ craft room since we have no electrical in the ceiling, so I decided a few lamps would help the lighting issue.

This one had such potential and it works! However, the shade was crumbling and stained. But I really wanted to use it if I could, so I wrapped it in strips of cream colored burlap!

I hot glued to adhere it to the withering shade and it seems ok, hopefully it will hold up. I sprayed the entire thing with Krylon primer for metal. And then painted it a mix of blue I had laying around.

Next, I mixed faux glaze with some wood stain and blotched that all over it and went at it again with the blue.

I actually like it. It looks super cute with the other items in my redo and I am extra excited that it still works!

One day this loft will be done, but summer fun keeps getting in the way of my projects! Hee Hee So, for now the pool, the park, and picnics will take precedence and maybe I will be finished by fall!

Book Page Lamp

  It kinda reminds of a really kinky 80's perm.

This lamp was up in the loft looking so boring and feeling so left out of all the fun revamping everything else in the room is getting. 

Just a simple whit lampshade calling out for FUN. Since this lamp is part of my

1 Room for $100

Loft/office/craft room redo, I had to get creative.

I started by punching out 1 million scalloped circles. I am serious, this used so many more than I ever dreamed possible and it really did take forever.

These pics pretty much show exactly what I did 987 times...no really....well, maybe more.

I did it over like 7 different nights/ nap times while watching Khloe and Lamar, Modern Family, and Baby Story. It looks really cute next to my "Little Junk Holder."

It's pretty cool in a dark room when it is on too.

One Unique Lamp

  As I am putting together an (hopefully) amazing vintage airplane themed bedroom for my son, I am avoiding the inevitable...choosing the wall color. 

I know I want a soft gray with blue undertones, but I am scared. I ALWAYS choose the wrong color. I think it will be perfect, I look at millions of samples, but it never fails that after I get it on the walls, I am not quite pleased with the results.

I keep finishing other projects to go in the room , but they would all be easier if the paint was up and I knew for sure the backdrop I was working with. So I MUST choose this week. If any of you have recommendations of a color you have used and REALLY LOVE, I would love to hear about it!

On to my accomplishments!

THE LAMP

Yippee! It worked. I used all those colorful, vintage looking luggage tags to cover the shade and it is so fun, original, and no doubt airplane themed!

Awesome deal and a perfect color combo for the room!

I printed a ton of the luggage tags and cut them all out

I protected the top half of my shade and sprayed adhesive on the lower half of the shade and the backs of all of the tags.

I arranged the first layer and then went around to fill in holes and add color where it was needed.

Originally I was going to keep the blue fabric on top, but it didn't look right.

So, I decided I had to do the top too.

I was really torn here, should I leave it as is, or Mod Podge it to protect it from dirty and rough little fingers? I also noticed some spots where the labels weren't sticking perfectly to the shade. I knew the Mod Podge would get everything adhered really well, so I went with it.

Just one thin layer looked perfect!

I finished it with a cutie little pewter airplane knob from Hobby Lobby where the star had originally been.

I have the bed, pillows, quilt, lamp, wreath....if I could just get the paint on the walls.....
AND, I am creating the BEST headboard in the history of the universe (well, my universe anyway), which I will share the minute it is finished!

Click Here to get the luggage tags I printed and used