Candle Shade Knock-off

While I still may buy these candle shades from Chiasso since they are so pretty, I nevertheless decided to give it a go and make some for myself.  They turned out pretty well and I think I may spend more time with better paper next time.

Anyhow, my proof-of-concept worked pretty well though you can see I did not take enough time to make sure I was cutting straight.  :-/  Also, if I were making these for a dinner party or something in particular, I would have taken my time and chosen different paper.

I was thinking that those edge punches would make for a pretty border on the top and bottom of these shades..

First, I started with the biggest bowl I could find to make a nice circle.  That bowl turned out to be a pasta serving bowl in case you'd like to use yours.  Then I used some fancy folding (er, I just folded it in half to find the middle) and then found another circle shaped object, a cup, to trace in the center.  Once I was done tracing, I cut out my pattern.  Then I trimmed it down until I found a shape that would work for my wide wine glasses and fit 12x12 scrapbook paper.

With my pattern, I cut out two shades at once.  This paper is not my first choice for decorating, but it was sufficient for my test.

Finally, I rolled it into a shade-shape and glued it.  Voila!  It was and easy project.

For safety sake, I would warn anyone trying this to use LED tea lights and not real ones.  I tried to do a nice picture with real tea lights (I do not have the battery-operated ones on hand) and I think I'd be worried about the paper catching fire.

Let me know what you think and certainly post pictures if you try this project.

Happy Met Monday!

Play Mailbox

For months I've been asking (ahem... yes, that would be nagging) my sweet husband to build our son a mailbox.  Our son outgrew his awesome Little Tikes Garden with the little mailbox that he loved so much and I knew he'd love a bigger one.

Well this one is probably more than I meant, but it was easy and inexpensive to do.  It's just a regular, plastic mailbox on a post with a base nailed on and then painted white.

Our son LOVES it.  He's already stuffed his favorite bear and cars in it and, of course, played mailman.

Now I intend to make him a mail carrier bag and maybe a mailbox (drop box) and he can really get in to his pretending.  Sometimes it's a lot of fun being a parent!

Please drop me a quick comment and let me know what you think!

Cabin Fever

Like so many others, it's this time of year that gets me restless.  I start looking for travel deals, especially ones to Walt Disney World.  While we could do it very cheaply by staying off-site or at a value resort, I end up always want to stay at my favorite moderate resort, Port Orleans Riverside.  I love the feel of the place and that we can take a boat ride to Downtown Disney.  I don't want to wait until this fall to take a trip.  I want to take one in May.

But then the cost prevents me from making any plans ... and then I'm back to my winter blues.  Oh, but I can look at pictures from our last trip and smile.  How can you not when my boy is so darned cute?  We had such a nice time, but it's never long enough.  I could happily spend two weeks or more there.  I envy those who do!

Well, I guess I can't complain too much given that I live in the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes region.  Typically our winters are full of snow and we have a contest with neighboring cities (Buffalo & Syracuse).  However, we don't have as much as those of you south of us.  I'd go play out in the snow with my son, but the temp is only 17 degrees.  Brrrr!  Not much fun for snow frolicking.  Guess I'll go shopping instead.
:-)