Gettin' Crafty

In my 20's I was a pretty crafty person in the I-wanna-be-the-next-Martha-Stewart sense. As I entered my 30's life got busy with running my own business and a lot of that went by the wayside until we got engaged and then I flew right back into my DIY ways. I've never met a paper project or glue gun I didn't like!

So, this weekend, I flexed my DIY muscles and made a pretty little lampshade to go with my antique lamp for our nursery. I bought the self-adhesive lampshade and fabric at JoAnn's. The lampshade comes with a paper wrapper that you peel off to reveal a sticky surface to which the fabric is adhered. You use the paper wrapper as a template to cut the fabric to size. I trimmed the inside (covered the selvage edge) with cream colored bias tape glued in place with fabric glue. All in all, the project took about an hour and here's how it came out:

I just adore this lamp. It was in my room as a toddler and I remember being so fascinated with the fact that the mommy's dress was a nightlight. The baby rocks back and forth too, if the music box mechanism is wound. I have kept in a box for about 30 years, lugging it to and fro on my many moves (one every year from 1994 to 2008!) waiting for the day that I could use it again. It's definitely shabby in a shabby chic kind of a way and I've debated sanding it and repainting it, but ya know what? I love it, just the way it is!

We have velvet curtains in the same shade of blue already hanging in the room, so the shade coordinates nicely with the blue painted accents on the baby in the cradle as well as the mother's book and seat and plays down all of the pink! It looks super cute next to our awesome new swivel rocker recliner.

Oh, and here's my weekly bump photo...not too different than last week's!

And silly J getting in on the action too! He's such a joker!