Are you sick of store-bought candles and boring, generic lampshades? Are your ready to get down and dirty (well, not too dirty)? Then here are some fun, easy craft ideas that let you have a say in how you want your house to be lit!
Ice Candles
Candles add such a warm, soothing glow to your home, but the pleasure intensifies when you get to make them yourself!
What you need
Your choice of wax
A milk carton, wax covered on the inside (this will be your candle mold)
A large saucepan
A bowl that fits into the saucepan
A wick
Dye chips, if you want to color your candle
Ice cubes
What you need to do
- wash your milk carton and dry it
- break your wax into big chunks and use enough to fill about half the milk carton
- fill the saucepan with about an inch of water
- submerge the bowl into the water in the saucepan
- heat up the saucepan and then put the wax inside the bowl. This creates a double boiler effect to melt the wax without burning it.
- add dye chips to the melted wax if you want more color
- fill your milk carton with ice cubes
- pour the hot melted wax into the carton
- let cool
- the ice would have melted, forming a pool of water above the cooled wax. Pour out this water.
- tear the carton away – the wax should have a solid shape by now
- let the candle dry thoroughly for a couple of days before burning it!
- ENJOY!
Smooth Shady
Don’t fret if you have an old lampshade which is ugly, yet still in perfect condition (the irony!). Because giving that aesthetically challenged lampshade a makeover is as easy as following the instructions below.
What you need
A pair of scissors
A piece of beautiful new fabric, at least 4 feet wide and long enough to cover the surface area of your lampshade
Chalk for marking the fabric
Fusible webbing
A hot iron
What’s fusible webbing?
These are like giant sheets of sticky paper, either sticky one side, or both. These glue or plastic based materials are used to bond fabrics to other fabrics. They can be bought from craft stores in one-yard packages or rolls.
What you need to do
Use the pair of scissors to cut the old, ugly fabric away from the lampshade. Lay the naked lamp shade on its side on the new fabric; the new fabric should be laid pattern-side down.
Beginning an inch from the bottom corner, roll the lampshade along the new fabric, tracing the circumference with the chalk. This will be the fabric pattern for your new lamp shade cover.
Add an inch all over to the pattern, then cut it out carefully. Use the fusible webbing and a hot iron to glue the cut-out pattern to the lampshade. Start from the sides, then proceed to do the bottom.
To finish, trim away extraneous webbing and fabric.
Voila! You’re all done!
With some creativity and just an ounce of elbow grease, the possibilities for your lighting decorations could be endless. Not to mention that these make great personalized gifts or can help you save loads of money on designer knick-knacks.