I've been getting crafty lately. I needed some lamp shades for the boys rooms. I wanted something cute, cheap, and something that matched the rooms. It's pretty hard to find all of that rolled into 1 lamp shade, so I set out to make them instead. It was really not that hard.
First of all, I found these great shades at Hancocks for $12.
It's an adhesive lamp shade! I also bought a half yard of fabric that matched each of the boys' rooms. I used a round shade and a lighter weight gingham for the nursery and a square shade and heavier weight upholstery fabric for Carter's room. I would highly recommend using the square shade and heavier weight fabric - they are both WAY easier to work with and the heavier fabric hides more of the imperfections!
I used the template that came with the shade to cut my fabric. I left extra all the way around so that I would have some to tuck under.
Then I folded under a small portion all the way around the edge of the fabric and straight stitched it to keep the edges looking nice.
Next, I measured the center and embroidered the monogram onto the fabric.
Then I stuck the fabric to the shade. This seems like a simple step, but there's a lot of positioning, sticking, smoothing, undoing, and repeating involved in this step! Again, the heavier weight fabric and the square shade were much easier to work with here.
Finally, I took my hot glue gun and tucked and glued the extra fabric around the top and bottom edges. It's not perfect, but it works!
The finished products?
Cute - check
Cheap - check
Matches Rooms - Check
I'm a happy girl!
POST BONUS:
Here's a picture of the guest room valence that I made while my mom was here. That room desperately needed something to frame the bed, and this valence did just the trick!
