Repurposed Glass Lamp Shades

It's that time again for our "Do It Over Designers" Blog Hop - the last one for this year! The "Do It Over Designers" is a group of creative bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/ DIY, hosted by  Anne @The Apple Street Cottage.               It happens the 4th Saturday of every other month and it's all about taking something old and/or unused and 'doing it over' into something new. Thanks Anne for hosting this wonderful blog hop!

Have you ever looked at an item and said to yourself, "that looks like a . . . . . ."  Well that happened to me at the thrift store. A few weeks ago I stopped by the Goodwill to look for something to repurpose. The place was busy! Lots of people looking and buying! I had never seen it that crowded. Anyway, I was going down each aisle trying to find something - but nothing was jumping out at me. I was about to leave and looked at the very last shelf in the area and saw a box with plastic wrap sticking up. I thought it unusual for items to be in a box so I pushed the wrapping aside and lo and behold there were four glass lamp shades inside. I picked one up and said to myself, "this looks like a bell!" Ding, ding, ding! I found my repurpose item. Two dollars each or four for eight dollars. I bought all four. I know that seems expensive but everything is expensive these days - even at the thrift store! Once home, I went online to see what Goodwill's online store carried. They had two glass lampshades for $14.99! So I felt pretty good about shelling out eight dollars for mine! 

Now on to my project - how to repurpose glass lamp shades into hanging bells!

Materials:

• Glass Lamp Shades (3)
• Plastic Candleholders (6 small)
• Hot Knife (for cutting plastic)
• Quick Hold  Glue
• Decorative glass crystals (3)
• Clear decorative cording
• Parchment paper
• Clamps
• Ribbon
• Greenery

How To:

Begin by placing clean glass lamp shades on your work surface!

I needed something to close up the openings of the lamp shades! Looking around in my stash, I found plastic candleholders from another 'Do It Over' project that fit perfectly upside down in the opening! 

So I added Quick Hold glue around the top opening of the lamp shade and .  .  .

placed the upside down candleholder down in the opening to dry in place.

Next, I also found in my stash glass crystals with a hole in the top, similar to the one pictured, to make the bell clappers! If you didn't know - the clapper is the part of the bell that hangs down to "bang" against the sides. 

I thought I would use clear stretchy cording to tie the clapper on and run it up through the opening of the shade but found it very difficult to secure the tied knots together. So I pulled out a roll of decorative cording that had small clear balls attached which was much easier to use and also looked prettier, too!

To attach the crystals - first, determine how long you want the length of the cords hanging through the shade. Double the amount and cut off the excess. Twist the folded cording together lengthwise and insert the end of one cord through the opening of the crystal, meeting the end of the other cord. Tie the ends together in two to three knots as tight as you can. Holding the knots together, grab a small piece of parchment paper and place under the knots. Apply Quick Hold glue to the knots and wrap the parchment paper over the glued knots. Clamp together the parchment paper with the knots, holding in place until dry.

Once the cording knots around the crystal clapper is dry, run the cords through the opening of the lamp up through the body of the bell to the dome and crown - from the bottom to the top, adjusting how low or high to hang the crystal clappers.

To make the crown (the top portion), using a hot iron, cut the bottom flair off of a plastic candleholder.

Add Quick Hold glue around the brim and .  .  .

attach to the top opening of the bell.

Add books on top to secure until dry.

I'm loving how this lamp shade bell looks! And if you shake it sideways, it will truly ring loud!

Arrange the bells in a staggered look grouped together on greenery or hang separately as a focal point in your decor! So many options!

And finally, add a decorative bow and tails for a gorgeous holiday look!

Be sure to visit all of this month's creative projects by the  "Do It Over Designers"  listed below:

Little Vintage Cottage

Modern on Monticello

Purple Hues & Me

Sum of Their Stories

Tea and Forget-Me-Nots

Color Me Thrifty

Vintage Style Gal

The Apple Street Cottage

Birdz of a Feather

Exquisitely Unremarkable

Restyle and Repurpose Pirouline Tin

 

Restyle and repurpose a Pirouline (wafer) tin to make an adorable decorative storage container! I love repurposing and restyling things that may have otherwise been thrown away! A Pirouline tin is perfect for holding crafting tools, supplies and so much more! Restyling a wafer tin also makes the perfect gift box or decorative container!

Welcome to this month's Sustainable Craft Challenge Blog Hop hosted by Julie @Sum of their Stories! This month's theme is Repurpose! The challenge is all about sustainable crafting with a different theme each month!  The projects must have some sort of a sustainable element to them. This could be an upcycling or recycling element, or something that reduces waste, uses leftovers, etc. 

Materials:

• Pirouline (wafer) Tin
• Craft Mat
• Faux leather
• Measuring tape/Yard Stick
• Parchment paper
• Daisy Templates
• RapidFuse all purpose adhesive
• FabriTac fabric glue
• Styrofoam ball 2"/knife
• Pumpkin Orange acrylic paint/brush
• Seed Beads
• Gallery Glass orange paint/brush/plastic spoon 
• Ruler/scissors/clamps
• Mod Podge matte
• Transparent film sheets
• Microfiber cloth
• Tealight open flame candle
• Foam sponge/embossing tools/round baster

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

How to:

Begin by making sure the Pirouline tin can is thoroughly washed, clean and dry.  

Measure how tall (5 3/4") the can is and the circumference (19.5" around) of the tin can and using those measurements, cut out a strip of faux leather to fit the can. I found this daisy pattern faux leather on clearance at Hobby Lobby. HL use to sell a variety of rolls of faux leather in the ribbon section but discontinued all of it. Disappointing!

Place adhesive along the metal to attach the fabric. Starting where the seam on the can is and .  .  .

                  

clamping the fabric down on the can as you add glue until .  .  .

reaching the area where you began.

Clamping the fabric down until dry.

For the top, place it down on the wrong side of the faux fabric, using a pencil to draw around the circumference of the top to cut out. Sorry, I didn't take a picture of this. Add glue to the top and place the cut out fabric circle down to smooth out and seal.

Next, I found a free image of a daisy online which I copied to Word in three sizes: 8", 7" and 6" and printed them out.

I then cut around the daisies to make it easier to cut out the individual rays.

Next, place a sheet of parchment paper on your work surface and lay a sheet of clear plastic film on top. Then paint on an even layer of Matte Mod Podge to the clear plastic film.  

                              

Lay the flower designs face down onto the Mod Podge. This will create a glossy, porcelain-type effect on the flowers when dry.

use a microfiber towel to smooth out the film on the flower design. Let dry.

Once dry, add an additional layer of Mod Podge on each flower to seal and let dry.

It's always amazing to see the flowers dry clear.

.Once the daisies are dry, it's time to cut out the individual rays.

I'm loving how they look!

Time to warm the individual rays with the flame of a candle - 

being careful not to get them too close. 

When the daisy rays are heated, the ends will magically curl and .  .  .

shaped into an dimensional flower using a round baster instead of embossing tools since the center disc is rather large.

          

To enhance the disc, I cut the end of a 2" styrofoam ball off (not shown) and painted it pumpkin orange. Then I added orange glass paint to yellow seed beads from my stash to make them close to the color of the disc image and let it dry. 

Once dry .  .  .

sealed the beads with a coat of Mod Podge and .  .  .

let dry.

 Once the beaded disc was dry, I placed it on top of all three of the daisies which I had placed on the center of the tin can top.                                 
And did not like how it looked, so I .  .  .

removed the top two daisies and glued the beaded disc down on the eight inch daisy.                                               I like this look much better! What do you think?

Perfect as a repurposed decorative container or .  .  .

a repurposed storage container to hold one of my favorite snacks!

I hope you enjoyed how I made this Restyle and Repurpose Pirouline Tin - 

A Trash to Treasure Repurpose Sustainable Craft!

Be sure to check out all the creative Repurpose Sustainable Craft projects from my fellow crafters listed below:

Julie @Sum of Their Stories - Repurpose an Old Book Into a Paper Garland

Mel @Decor Craft Design - Repurpose Plastic Bottle Into Marble Vase

Terri @Our Good Life - The Art of Repurposing: Cups and Mugs

Gail @Purple Hues and Me - Restyle and Repurpose Pirouline Tin

Christine @Christine’s Crafts - Upcycle Old Crockery into Fabulous DIY Garden Stepping Stones