DIY Lampshade Chandelier!

Hello lovelies! Today I'm writing to you about this lamp chandelier that I have finally finished!!!

Here's what you'll need:
4 thrift store lamp shades
4 light bulb cords (the cord that is holding of the lampshades and holds the lightbulbs)
1 piece of wood
strong enough rope to hold at least 50 pounds
2 Hook screws that will go into your ceiling (weight average over 50 pounds as well)
Wire Strippers
Electrical box
Extension Cord
A box of doodads (I'll include a photo)
Exposed wire protectors
Electrical tape
Wire cutters
And a little bit of determination!

                                   these are doodads, I have no idea what their real name is.

Alright before we get down to all the details about this lamp project, I wanted to go over the basics for electrical wiring. I used to be really intimated by this but once you learn these two essential rules it will broaden your craft horizons!
1. Never ever ever ever wire different colored wires together. Ever. All you have to do is keep like colors with like colors. In this particular project my white wires were with white and black with black.
2. You never want exposed wire touching any sort of metal.

Those two rules will keep you from creating an electrical short...which is where the power goes out.

Now for the rest!
I had a left over piece of wood hanging around from when we built my dining table so I snatched that up and painted it with a couple different layers of colors we had laying around.

Then I drilled 4 holes thick enough to feed the cords through with some room.

I took off all the fabric on the 4 lamp shades I bought from a thrift store for about $10 total.

I fed the four corded light bulb strands (from ikea) through the lamp shades after cutting the male plug piece off. Then fed that through the holes in my 2x4.
I screwed the eye hooks into the ceiling where each end of my 2x4 would end up. Then put some sturdy rope through them. To get the height of the lampshades right, I put a temporary knot in the ropes and placed my piece of wood in them and started adjusting the cords with the lampshades attached. Once I got them to the heights I liked I tied knots in the cord on the topside of my piece of wood.

Then it came for wiring. I striped the black outer layer cord from light bulb strands to get to the white and black smaller cords.

Once I did this to all four cords, I fed them through my metal electrical box into each of the holes. Then when they met in the middle, I connected the exposed wire to their matching counterparts (white with white and black with black) and put an electrical guard on each group.

You can see the grey cord in the picture above. Thats my extension cord. I wired that together with all of my lamp cords and ran it down the 2x4 and down my wall to the electrical outlet. Thats how I will be getting power to my chandelier. Then I used my doodads to fasten each of the wires in place on my piece of wood. Once everything was set, I hung the whole thing in my temporary knots and fixed them into tight permanent knots. Which is how I got this lovely set up:

I really wish I had better pictures. You cant really see how awesome these edison bulbs are. I know I probably didnt describe  this very well so if anyone has any questions whatsoever I would love to answer them! Enjoy my pretties!!!

Xoxo
miss you always,
Shanna Elyse!

DIY Mannequin Post Board

Hey Guys!
  I'm writing to you about this little project I whipped up a couple weekends ago. My roommates and I went to a garage sale and picked up this mannequin for $25! After we brought it home I realized we were running out places to put things...So I decided to take all of our postcards and foreign money that I had posted up on our fridge and pin a makeshift dress on the mannequin.

All you need is:
 -sewing pins (I used white ones for a more cohesive look)
 -items you want to pin on your mannequin
 -a mannequin
 -and a decorative necklace!

I started pinning on one of the shoulders and just kind of played with the shape until I was happy with it. Sorry for the lack of instructions but sometimes its more fun to embrace your most creative side! Enjoy!


Miss you always,

Shanna

DIY Instax Mini Case

If you didn't know the instax camera is all the rage at the moment. I have never owned a Polaroid but was always fond of them. So when my lovely boyfriend got one for me for my 22nd birthday, I was ecstatic! I've had it for a month and have already taken 20 pictures. I love the way they turn out and I love that I can instantly have the picture (I mean that's the point, right?). Anyways, I'll stop ranting about how much I love the camera and get to the main point of this post.

I'm reckless and clumsy when it comes to items that shouldn't be dropped and even though this camera seems pretty indestructible, I still wanted to take precaution. Especially since I'm flying to Florida in less than two weeks (EEEEK I'm going to see Ms. Abby!!).

I sat there for a couple of days trying to think of what the case should look like and I mean who doesn't love owls!? I had all the fabric I needed in my treasure chest, so I didn't have to go out and buy things. Which is good because I'm on a tight budget.

Items you'll need:
Fabric (colors of your choice)
Felt
Sewing Machine or Sewing Needle
Thread
Buttons
Velcro

1. Draw up a case design.

2. Cut out the fabric pieces. Also here are the measurements:

3. Pick your needle and thread.














4. Put Fabric in place, pin, and sew inside out!




















5. Last, pick your eye buttons and sew those babies on!

Now you have this adorable case!

Miss you, always.
Clarissa