How are ya today? This 4th day of a 31 day blog challenge. It is now 3:37 pm PST, which means it’s 6:37 for those of you on the east coast. But, hey, it’s still Tuesday so I’m still not ‘technically’ late for the 4th day. Right?
(It is a challenge, after all. If it was supposed to be easy, the Nester would’ve called it a party!)
Today I made a tealight lampshade to share with you – and I do mean made it today. It’s that simple. And fast. It combines these tutorials:
So if you have the paint from those projects, you only need a couple more things:
- a wine goblet
- a tealight
- glue (I used Elmer’s)
- two clothespins
- a fine tip Black Sharpie (optional)
- ribbon or raffia (optional)
I got my goblet and tealight from the Dollar Store and the rest I had on hand.
The first thing you’ll need to do is draw the pattern for your tealight shade.
I cut mine out of a manila folder.
You could also just print off this template then flip it and transfer it onto your watercolor paper. The entire pattern won’t fit on 8-1/2” x 11” so I made half of it for you to use.
Now, before we go any further, it’s just possible this template will need a little, um, manipulating. In fact, it’s not just possible, it’s probable.
Here’s the thing – your wine goblet might not be the same size as mine. If it’s tall and skinny, you might need to cut some of the pattern off the ends (not the center part). If it’s wider, you might need to add a little to the ends.
And because I was in a hurry because I’m late today, I didn’t make the bottom curve perfect.
Yeah, sorry ‘bout that.
Plus, I don’t have any of those cutie-patootie scalloped scissors to edge the top and bottom. I’ll get some of those before I make this for Christmas. . . and I always make this for Christmas gifts. People love getting these as gifts {hint, hint}.
Anyhoo, I’d recommend fine-tuning your pattern for the wine glass you’re using.
So for this first step, make sure you paint an ample stripe on each edge. I hadn’t cut the pattern first because I thought I was all crafty-like and had this circular pattern thing down. Which, of course, I didn’t.
And guess what! This isn’t the first step – it’s the 2nd one. Gah! Who’s idea was it to do a 31 day paint project challenge, anyway?
Oh yeah, that’d be me.
Ok, ok – FIRST, you want to transfer your designs – moon, bats, haunted house & tree. THEN paint Raw Sienna on the top and bottom – just for a colorful border.
Next paint the Harvest Moon.
Then paint the bats – I added a few more – house and tree.
Although I’m not too good in the crafty department, I do alright with the artsy stuff – so I knew we needed some sort of ‘ground’ to go all around the shade.
This is just a light wavy edge of grey. No biggie.
And, finally, an old fence. No tutorial or pattern, folks. Just take your liner brush, dip it in black, then dip it in light grey and make a few fence posts. When they’re all dry, take a finetip Sharpie and squiggle some barbed wire.
Unless you’re a masochist and want to try to paint teeny-tiny lines with a brush.
Not that I’d know anything about that.
No, not me.
You can also use the Sharpie for the bats and the tree limbs. And the house detailing, while you’re at it.
Bam! Done with the painting.
On to the crafty part. Gah! No, it’s not that bad, really. Just cut out your shade, gently roll it a few times to give it a cylindrical shape, then glue the edge and secure with a clothespin on top and one on the bottom.
However, you might want to check and make sure the bottom curve is right by setting it on a flat surface. Just a reminder between friends, ok?
You really don’t have to do anything to your goblet if you don’t want to. But I wanted to so I mixed some Martha Stewart Frost Etching with a little black and got this perfectly creepy look that I just love for Halloween.
I almost painted some black spiderwebs too but that’d be overkill a bit. And I was totally outta time.
If you don’t have any craft paint that will work on glass (Martha’s does, btw) you can get some Folk Art glass medium to mix with acrylic paint. (Another hint – we’ll be doing some more glass painting for Christmas.)
I should’ve taken a ‘before’ picture of the plain goblet. But I didn’t so there ya go. Without the tealight lit. . .
. . . and with it lit.
Super simple!
Have I been saying that a lot lately? Well, yeah! This is supposed to be 31 EASY Holiday Paint Projects, right?
Ok – I’m off to finish tomorrow’s project. Another Halloween treat! It’ll be up later tonite. Much, much later, ha!
Have you had a chance to drop by and say hi to Kelli, my other 31 Dayer? If you do, tell her you came from here, ok?
Have a great evening! Take a couple minutes and visit some of these great parties for awesome project ideas!
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