Felt Lampshade DIY

I bought this beautiful wrought iron lamp from a coworker several weeks ago because I loved the design of the base. At $10 it was a steal, and after reading this blog post from BossyColorBlog (If you see a table lamp you like, BUY IT), I didn't really hesitate. In fact, I think it only took me less than 2 minutes to reply to her email once it hit my inbox. 

Though the base was beautiful, the lamp shade was um....underwhelming. First of all, I prefer barrel shades to conical ones. Second, it was crudely painted and you could see the paint streaks when the light was on. Makeover time!

Young House Love posted a call-to-action asking their readers to complete a project they had found online (and specifically had pinned on Pinterest). Not too long ago, I had found these great lamp DIYs on Design Sponge that covered a lamp shade with circles of felt to create a very cool textured pattern.

A reader's successful attempt

I also found this lamp shade originally sold at Anthropologie that I loved even more (the colors in particular).

So with these two in mind, I went shopping to see what I could find. I searched Target and the interwebs for a barrel lampshade with the proper frame attachment (it's the kind that doesn't sit below the light bulb, but rather above it). I couldn't find ANYTHING that was plain and cheap enough with the right frame and barrel shape.

When we were out apartment hunting, I saw a sign for a yard sale and on a whim asked Boyfriend to stop. Wouldn't you believe it, they had the perfect lampshade for $1? What are the chances?? Okay, it wasn't completely perfect, but for $1 you can't really care too much. The shade was a bit too long, so all I did was trim it and glue the lower ring back on with some hot glue.

The ring was slightly too large for the trimmed edge, so I simply put a thick bead of hot glue around the edge and let it dry to add thickness. 

On to the decorating! I originally wanted to use ribbon and make the Anthropologie version, but I failed to find the right kind. So instead I went for a mashup between the felt and the ribbon. I bought felt in three different gray colors and used a jar as a stencil to create circles. Then I cut them out. Lots and lots of cutting. Hours actually. I even splurged for some really sharp fabric scissors to make it easier on my sore hands. So much cutting.....

I ended up needing about five times this amount of circles

And then came the gluing. Let's just say that I SEVERELY underestimated the amount of time it would take to glue hundreds of little felt circles onto a lamp shade.

This probably took 1-2 hours. I lost track.

Many episodes of The Office were watched.

Over the course of the week, my lampshade slowly took shape. There was much TV watching (Battlestar Galactica, Camelot, The Office, random comedians). With the circle-cutting and gluing together, this project probably took me over 10 hours to complete.

BUT without further ado:

Here it is in a room! (I'm still working on that painting. Don't look)

Project budget breakdown: 

Lamp base: $10

Shade: $1

Felt: $15 (I bought 3 yards total and used about 1.5)

Glue and gun: already owned

TOTAL: $26, score!

There you have it! I love how it turned out and I think it compliments the base very nicely. However, I will most certainly NOT be doing this again. I think my OCD made this project take WAY longer than it should. Thank goodness the lamp base is one-of-a-kind!

My Summer in Pictures

Went to my first ever wrap party! Celebrating the completion of Cars 2

Joined the Monsters University crew as a shader

Conjured up some steak with blackberry sauce and baked potatoes

Attended the annual Big Wheels race on Easter in SF

Escaped to Wine country for some tasty treats

Stayed at the cutest little B&B

Used Aurelia's Chorizo in a Triple Sherry Cream Reduction
(tip: wear lose-fitting pants while eating)

Saw my dream car at Pixar's Motorama event

Met Finn McMissile in person

Escaped to Tahoe

Shared a junior banana split at Fenton's Creamery (the one featured in Up)

Got a crew gift for my time on Cars 2 Promotional
Check out the State Farm commercial!

Made some damn tasty skewers on the grill

Cracked open some Ying-Yang eggs

Did some laundry

Went to the SF Farmers Market

Attended the Kite Festival in Berkeley (and also learned some tricks on a stunt kite)

Made some AMAZING Blueberry zucchini bread and
zucchini hash (Tracy, if you're reading this, thank you for
sharing your brilliant cooking!)

Bought myself a bike, which I promised I would if Pixar offered me a
full-time job after my residency. It's beautiful and FUN!

I think summer is my new favorite season. Hope you all had a fun one as well!

Sheepskin Throw

I used to think sheepskin carpets were tacky, but lately I've been seeing them everywhere, mostly as drapes on furniture, and I have to say my mind has changed. If small enough, they add a lot of nice texture and luxury to a piece without making it look gaudy.

I picked one up at IKEA the other day for the tub chair we nabbed on Craigslist, which has been looking a little naked to me lately.

I find it both adorable and slightly disturbing that it matches Teako's fur so closely. Oh well, she almost never sits on it (this photo was SO posed), which is odd, because it seems like something she would like to make a nest out of. She's never really liked that chair though, so basically the whole point of it's existence (other than an extra chair when guests visit) is to sit there and look pretty. 

Balcony Update

It's been about 2.5 months since my balcony rose from the ashes with some brand new, hardy plants. I thought I'd give an update on how it's been doing so far.

Here's a little then-now:

Shockingly, I haven't killed anything, hooray! The tomato plants are growing fast and tall and were starting to crowd the other planters, so I took a couple of them and decided to give the upside-down technique a try. Instead of buying one of those ugly cylindrical things you see on TV, I opted to make one myself out of a simple hanging planter.

I cut a 2" hole in the fiber liner and gently pushed the roots up through the hole. Using a scrap of tough cloth (a reusable grocery bag in this case) I cut a smaller hole with a slit about the diameter of the stem and wrapped that around the stem on the inside of the planter, letting it rest on the floor to prevent soil from pouring out.

With the help of Boyfriend (he held the heavy thing to keep from crushing the tomato) I filled the rest of the planter with soil and added some oregano, rosemary and nasturtium at the top. Hopefully the tomato plant will survive. I'm already not expecting a great yield since my plants never see direct sunlight, so at the very least it will give us a smidge more privacy from the neighbors across the way.

Speaking of nasturtium, this plant is taking over my entire balcony! The only way this thing could be more resilient was if it were made of plastic. My poor phormium and dracaena are practically being evicted from their home. 

I've propogated the nasturtium out to other planters, which is as simple as pinching a clump and shoving it into some dirt. And to think, I was SO excited when those first two orange flowers appeared, now I'm throwing away clumps of the thing every day!

DIY Painted Hair Flower

This is the teaser :)

Pixar held it's wrap party for Cars 2 on Saturday, which was really, really fun! We got to see the film in its completed state for the first time (it comes to theaters June 24th so go see it!) and I got to see my very first feature film credit! The party afterwards had tons of amazing food, drinks and dancing. My feet hurt pretty badly by the end of the night from gettin' funky on the dance floor...worth it! I really regret not eating more of that food though....

So I originally had this idea to wear a hair flower to the party since I love them so much (and when I wear flowers in my hair, people tell me it looks very "me", which I assume is a good thing).  Unfortunately when I had finished the flower and tried it on with the outfit and jewelry, it totally did NOT work. It just looked too organic when the rest of my outfit was super clean and modern. Having spent the better part of three evenings working on the flower, I was super sad. But being able to give yourself honest criticism is important (difficult, but important), and I knew I couldn't wear it. *tears* That doesn't mean I didn't document it for my blog though! And who knows, maybe at another party with another outfit it could make its debut. Okay, so on to the crafting.

Boyfriend and I had decided on a lavender theme for our outfits when we found that he looked quite smashing in this shirt from Express. Unfortunately I couldn't quite find a high-quality, clean-looking lavender flower to match so I decided to paint one. I added some bling to the middle as well to make it more formal-looking. Here's how it went down:

Supplies:
Fake flower
Fabric paint + brush
Thread and needle
Hot glue
Beads
Flat-head pins
Pliers

I bought an off-white magnolia flower since it had the cleanest lines and wasn't the size of my head. I took it apart by popping it off the stem and taking out the middle pieces that held it together. I took out two petal pieces so it wouldn't be as voluminous and used those for testing.

I put some paint on a paper place and used a wet brush to water it down as needed. Before painting, I completely wet the petals and dabbed the excess with a paper towel. This allows the paint to bleed more smoothly to get those nice gradients. Then I applied my paint, starting with opaque in the center and using more watered down paint as I moved outward.

NOTE: Do not paint on an absorbent surface such as a paper towel. Where the petal makes contact with this surface will dry the paint faster leaving you with uneven spots. I tied my petals to a wire and painted them in the air after making the paper towel mistake. If you're impatient like me, you can use a hair-dryer to dry the paint.

Notice the spots? Those were the little raised dots on the paper towel that made contact with the petals. I tried to bleach the paint out, but it took 3 full days of soaking to get it all out, and by then the cloth had practically dissolved.

ANYWAY, when you're done they should look kinda like this:

My flower had these plastic pieces in between the petals to give them more volume and prevent them from going flat. I decided to use a couple and sewed them into place to keep them from slipping out and being seen.

Now for the beads: I added the large center bead by sewing it into place. Around the base of this bead I put a small amount of hot glue and let it dry. I secured each small bead on a pin by pushing the pin into the hot glue and through the base of the flower.

I bent each pin and trimmed it (it's important to use jewelry pins as they are flexible enough for this).

Here, the first set of pearl beads are in place. I continued to add more crystal beads for some sparkle.

Once all the beads were in place, I arranged my petals exactly how I wanted them, then used a generous amount of hot glue to layer them together. Then I flipped the flower over and secured a hair clip using thread and some hot glue (to keep it from slipping around)

Boyfriend wanted me to point out that he was diligently
washing the dishes while I took this photo

Here's the final product being modelled in some pretty unremarkable hair (mine, I was lazy that day).

In other news, here's the cost breakdown:

Flower: $4

Beads: $2 + 5

Pins: $4

Fabric Paint: $2

Hot glue, sewing supplies, hair clip: already had.

Total: $17

Not bad considering a lot of these things go for $30-60 on Etsy. It turned out really nicely and I was totally sad it didn't go with my outfit (read: really, incredibly heartbroken). I guess now I'll have to specifically hunt for a lavender dress to match it for next year's party.