Tutorial: Decoupage a Lamp shade (and put old books to use!)

Have an old lamp that needs to be spiced up? Have some old books that have gotten to the point of being unreadable (if you're anything like me, you have several :/ )?

Than today is your lucky day! I had been gifted a lamp that, at first glance, was frankly hideous. It was a very shiny gold plate, oddly shaped and falling apart, but I saw the promise of a really neat, different reading lamp for my still-to-be-made reading corner in our bedroom.

Frankly, I am too darn cheap and picky to just go buy a new lamp shade. I almost never find one that I like and works with our "decor" (or lack thereof). So I decided with this little lamp shade to bust out my Mod Podge and go crazy.

I had visualized it early on as being covered by pages from a book, but seriously couldn't bring myself to tear apart a book that I had or to waste paper by printing out aged-looking text.

My saving grace came in the form of a much loved, much read book that I was re-re-re-re-re-re (get the point?) reading. The covers had fallen off. I was starting to lose pages. The spine was bent and broken and it looked like it'd been through a hurricane. When my wonderful fiance saw me desperately trying to read it, he stated that it may be time to replace it. After deflecting my "what are you NUTS?" look, he said that it wouldn't be worth giving to goodwill, they'd probably just trash it anyway.

Than a light bulb went off in the dark recesses of my brain!

I would use my much loved book as decoupage for my awesome new (to me) lamp!! And heres how I did it!



Please excuse all of the crap on my little table

Start with an old lampshade. As you can see, this one was on its last legs (well, not literally as lamp shades don't have legs, but you get the idea). I wiped it down with a damp-ish rag and took the metal center part out as it was falling out anyway (hot glue to the rescue! I re-attached it later) 



Honestly, it broke my heart to do this to a book. For the greater crafty good...

Next, take an old book and tear out some random pages. This book has a bit of bloodshed so I

made sure to glance over what I was sticking on there beforehand.

Now for the tools. I used glossy Mod Podge and a cheap paintbrush from Home Depot.

Liberally apply your Mod Podge and slap on a couple of pages. I worked section by section because Mod Podge tends to dry very quickly. I wanted mine to look a little random so I turned the pages in different directions. This is all personal preference. You are more than welcome to line them up very nice and neat if you'd like.

After I'd stuck all my pages on the way I wanted, I trimmed the excess of the top and bottom and gave them one more coat with the Mod Podge. Than I hot-glued on some fabric on the

top and bottom edges just to make it look a little more uniform and neat.

The green fabric was actually an old pair of corduroy pants that didn't fit me anymore. Hows that for upcycling!

And here is the finished product! The lamp my honey fixed and then spray painted an off-white/almost tan color that matches perfectly with our bedroom.

I love the little scrolled looking thingy on the top...

The fabric on the top of the lampshade came out a little wonky, but I really didnt feel like taking the whole thing apart (again) to fix it. Besides it gives it character.

I hope you all enjoy Canada day for those up north and the Fourth of July for those in America. Everyone else, come back monday for Manic Mondays Music and have a great weekend!



~~Love~~

~~GG~~