How to Decorate a Lamp Shade

If you were reading earlier this week you saw my post about spray painting a lamp coral. Once that was finished it looked so damn good that it made it hard to find a shade that could live up to such a high standard. Some dollar store daisies inspired me to try to transform the shade and I have to say, it may have even have become the star of this dynamic duo.

WHAT YOU NEED

Any kind of dollar store flower will work. I used 10 bunches with 5 flowers per bunch. I ended up with only 1 flower left over in the end.

 Cut the stem off each flower as close to the base as you can get. I tried wire cutters first but ended up using scissors. I was able to get much closer to the base with scissors.

Add a generous glob of hot glue to the base of the flower.

And stick 'em on.

There was no rhyme or reason to the order I used. I just tried to make sure they covered the shade but could each stretch out their petals.

And that's it! Easy or what, huh?

Coral Lamps DO Exist!

So I had this awesome idea that a coral lamp would be the best thing ever for my daughter's bedroom.  Okay, let's do it.  Yeah, about that. Apparently they don't sell coral lamps, or at least not where I live. You know where this is going, right? It's DIY time!!

I really don't dislike this lamp but the colour just wasn't working in her bedroom. If you love, love, love this lamp then please look away 'cause you're not going to like what I did.

It doesn't get any easier than this.  Tape for protecting the parts you don't want to be coral and the paint. It's my first time using Design Master but I am in love. If you like flat or matte paint in the most amazing spectrum of colours then you'll love this.

Use your tape to protect all the bits and pieces you don't want to paint.

And then fire away. After acquiring the most beautiful colour for a base the next question is what kind of shade deserves to be seen with this baby. I tried out a few and nothing worked for me. A trip to the dollar store and these cute little daisies convinced me to go for another DIY project.

Come back on Wednesday for the lampshade reveal.

This is a sponsored post brought to you by FrogTape. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

The Best Veggie Burger...Ever!

There is a serious diy drought going on over here but that's no reason not to share, right? So instead of design I'm sharing the BEST veggie burger I've ever made. The recipe comes from my all-time favourite food blog Oh She Glows.

You don't have to be vegetarian to love this as witnessed by the fact that the resident meat eaters devour these.  I eat mine on Ezekiel bread with hummus and tomato but I also use avocado in place of the hummus.  Of course you can use a bun if you're a normal person.

Click here for recipe

In case the burgers didn't satisfy you I'm including a recipe for a sweet treat that's 100% vegan, 100% healthy and 110% delicious.

It has no name, poor little guy.  What do you think would be a good name?

INGREDIENTS

1 cup hazelnuts

1 cup dates, pitted

1/4 cup cocoa 

1/4 cup agave syrup (could use maple syrup but maybe want to reduce portion)

TO MAKE

In a food processor, chop the nuts until they're very fine.  Add the cocoa and blend.  Add the dates and agave syrup and continue to blend until a ball forms.  If you need to, you can add a touch of water to get the right consistency.  Form into small balls and they're ready to eat.  I keep ours in the freezer and they are still softish.  They don't seem to freeze all the way through so they're easy to eat.   

Bon appetit!

Emerald Green in The House

Happy Monday!  I'm giving you a Monday wakeup call with this big, bold colour.  I am thinking of adding some emerald green to my master bedroom redesign.  I don't think I'd be brave enough to do an entire room but a little pinch is awesome. 

MID TONED WOOD

via

ANIMAL PRINT

via

SINGLE PIECE

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GOLD ACCENTS

via

FRONT DOOR

via

So, what are your thoughts on emerald green?  Love it or is it way too much of a statement for you?

Create an Ombre Canvas

How much do you love ombre?  Hair, painted furniture, cakes.  It's everywhere and I love it all.  Well obviously if I love it then I must create it, right?

All you need are a few inexpensive bottles of acrylic paint, a canvas, brush and something flat to mix colours.  All 4 of these acrylics cost me a grand total of $4.

Start with a bit of the original colour in a small container.  Paint your first (or last, depending on whether you want to ombre from dark to light or light to dark) letter.  Add a bit of white to the container, mix and paint your next letter.  Take a bit of that colour and add it to your paint palette in case you need to touch up the letters.  Continue adding white and painting your letters.

Work quickly because acrylic dries fast.

Are you on the ombre bandwagon?

Patch Your Toms

We all love our Toms, right?  I actually have a love/hate relationship with these shoes.  I own a pair but rarely wear them because they make me feel like I'm out in public wearing my slippers.

My daughter, on the other hand, lives in hers. So much so that she popped a hole in the toe which I imagine in a common problem.  At $70/pair we aren't throwing them out until she outgrows them (which will be about 5 minutes).  I pulled out the old needle and thread and made a patch that should last until they are too small.

BEFORE - Believe me, the closeup shot makes them look much worse than they really are dirtwise.

Not much explaining required.  I used a denim fabric with stars and just cut the star.  If your fabric doesn't have a shape already embroidered like this just make sure it's a thick enough fabric that the ends won't fray.

An alternative to sewing would be fabric glue.  That's what I intended to do but mine had dried up so sewing is the next best thing.  Either option is perfect and will earn you a bit more time in the beloved slippers, um I mean shoes.

Filling Up my Brain with Useful Stuff

I love this saying.  It's so true, isn't it?  Don't just sit around complaining, gosh darnit.  Do something about it.

In one of my smartest moves of all time, I recently enrolled in Marie Forleo's B-school.  If you know Marie, you're gasping and saying, "OMG Carol, I LOVE Marie".  If you don't know her you can check out her website here and sign up for her weekly updates.  She's a true inspiration.  I cannot fathom how much new business information I have been cramming into this little brain.  I am overwhelmed and overjoyed by all my new business skills.

Since so many of you reading are also running online businesses I thought it would be useful to share the books I've been reading lately.  These aren't so much required reading as recommended reading but who am I to turn down an opportunity to read.  It always feels like I'm cheating to be reading a book and then calling it work.  "Honey, can you take the kids to school?" "Sorry I can't.  I'm reading".  You can't do that when you're reading the latest copy of Vanity Fair but you sure can when it's a business book.

1. Blue Ocean Strategy - W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne

It's all about reconstructing market boundaries.  What the heck does that mean?  It's about figuring out what the competition is doing and then creating a business doing something different that will make you unique.  Create an ocean of opportunity where there is no competition.

**I would suggest buying a paper copy of this book.  I downloaded a copy and found that I constantly wanted to flip back and forth between pages and chapters which is a bit more frustrating on an e-reader.

2. Now Find Your Strengths - Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton

Another unique perspective on both business and self.  It centres around the idea that you can crush it in business if you focus on your strengths.  Sounds logical, right?  There's an online StrengthFinder profile which helps you to pinpoint exactly what your strengths are.  Instead of trying to fix our weaknesses this book guides you to excel using only your strengths.  

3. The $100 Startup - Chris Guillebeau

A collection of stories about unexpected entrepreneurs.  These entrepreneurs all began with few resources, little money and often no experience.  All have grown into success stories earning a living doing what they want to do.  A great inspiration if you're thinking of doing it on your own.

So that's the stuff that I've been reading lately.  I'll share more of my good reads in a future post but that should keep you busy for a while.  If you've got a good business book, share it with me in the comments.  I need more excuses to get out of doing things I don't want to do, like cooking dinner or doing laundry or....