finish what you started – lampshade edition

Now that I’ve kicked off Finish What You Started, I better put my money where my mouth is. So here’s the first project…Finish What You Started – Lampshade Edition!

(It’s like you can hear all of the clean freaks of the world breathing a sigh of relief and saying “Finally!”)

This is the half-complete project – a hand-beaded lampshade…

Of course there’s a story behind it.

It used to be this lamp…

…about 5 years ago, when we first moved into our current house. My nephew, who is now in kindergarten, was a toddler, toddling around my family room, when he stumbled and fell, creating a chain reaction that ended with this lamp falling to the ground, and the adorable striped paper shade tearing in several places, unable to be repaired.

After banishing my nephew from my family room and yelling at my sister (HA! JUST KIDDING! I was mature and acted like everything was OK), I rushed out to Pier 1 Imports, where I purchased the original lamp and they had only one left.  Score!  Plus it was clearance priced at $14.99! (While I may not be able to remember what I ate for breakfast this morning, I can remember sale prices from decades ago!)

In the meantime, since the original lamp was still in working order, I decided to rework the lampshade by hand stringing it with glass beads. I got about this far when I lost interest…

Stringing the beads was labor intensive and time consuming. But not exactly 5 years time consuming!  It sat on my craft table curing for a good long time, staring at my procrastinating self every time I passed, daring me to finish.

Well finally I’ve finished what I started…

Doesn’t it look great?!

I used jewelry wire and several packs of bulk glass beads, which you can find at your craft store if you’re interested in trying this yourself. However, I would choose a small lampshade, because if this one took 5 years to complete, imagine how long it would take to complete a larger one!

The best part is that not only is it an adorable lamp, but it feels so good to finish what I started so long ago!

Now I just need to finish the desk where I plan to use the lamp!

Showing off at Funky Junk Interiors and Tater Tots & Jello link parties.