I’ve seen some really cute lampshades that looked fairly plain when turned off but when you turn them on, you see a neat design. I thought this would be a perfect solution for my boring white lampshade on the kitchen work desk. Now, I just had to figure out what design to do and how to do it.
The idea came to me when I was using my Cricut to make some scrapbook layouts the other day. By selecting an image and cutting it out of black paper, I could place the cut-outs on the inside of the shade so that the shadow would show up when you flipped on the lamp. I was so excited to try my technique!
First, I picked out my design. I chose the cityscape from the Going Places Cricut cartridge. Next, I measured the height of my lampshade so I could decide how tall to make my design. I went for a 3 inch cutout for my 5 inch lampshade. (Don’t have a Cricut but want to try this project? We sell the die-cuts in our store!)
I cut out the design multiple times and started to apply it to the inside of the shade. I quickly realized that I would have to cut the design into smaller pieces to account for the curve of the shade. I cut straight lines between the building sections and overlapped them slightly to make them lie flat against the shade. I used basic spray glue to to attach each building to the lamp.
I continued cutting out the cityscapes and gluing to the inside of the shade until I made it all the way around. At this point, you could still see a few white gaps along the bottom between the buildings. I fixed this by applying a decorative black ribbon around the outside of the shade that has a white stitch down the middle to make it look like a street.
Now, the lampshade is still fairly unobtrusive when the light is off but when you turn it on…wow! I love the look of the light coming through the tiny windows. I couldn’t be happier and I am already thinking of other designs I could do.
If you want to try this project but don’t have a Cricut, we sell cityscape die-cuts in our store. We can even adjust the height to match your lamp shade if needed. For reference, my lamp shade used eight 3″ tall die-cuts.
22 comments so far:
very cool!
Awesome! I loves it!!!
Oh I love that! Super creative! I’ll be linking.
What an nice inspiration.
I love your idea.
thanks for sharing.
marilyn
Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I have to admit, this is one of my favorite projects I have done recently.
What a great idea. Have some lamps I’m trying to bring new life too. I will definitely have to try this. Just one question; how do you adhere the paper to the lampshade?
Nancy, thanks. I used spray adhesive
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WOW! I *love* this idea! I have the Going Places cartridge and have been trying to think of something neat to do with that skyline cut. I am so going to do this!
Have fun, Heather! We’d love to see your finished lampshade when you’re done.
How so very cool!!!!!Love love love this. Gotta find some lamps to do this.TFS
WOW! That’s wicked cool.
I just realised I have no lampshades in my house. Dang!
Just wondering – do you use regular card stock and is it safe or is there a risk of fire?
Hi Laura. Jo did use regular card stock for her lamp. Since most lampshades are lined in a paper-like material anyway, we don’t feel there’s any more risk with the card stock than there is with a regular lampshade — as long as you don’t use a super-high wattage light bulb. Never exceed the maximum wattage listed on the lamp, and never let the bulb come in contact with the shade or paper.
I saw, on tv, today a very unique blackboard that is called a chalkboard decal. It is found on wallcandyarts.com. The one I particulary like is called Rocco. I’m sure those creative people here (ahem) Chica and Jo, can find a way to make these. I plan to try to make some of the other types on the website for the grandkids, cut a board into a shape and paint it with chalkboard paint. How easy is that?
Carol, I especially love the animal shaped ones they have on the site. How cute! I like your idea of just painting some thin cut-out shapes. You could use luan or it might even work to use foam core, they would be really light for hanging. I wouldn’t mind trying to use a normal stencil and painting the chalkboard paint directly onto the wall. The downside there is that it is a lot harder to get rid of! If you do this project, please take a picture and send it to us!
What a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
Wow…that lampshade is amazing! I just recently found your website—I think it’s going to become my new online home. Great stuff!!
Thanks, Janine! So glad you found us. Make sure you add us to your reader so you don’t miss a thing. Please feel free to send us any questions about our projects. We love to hear from our readers.
Wow i loooveee this idea
i want to do this for my art project, but i want a different sort of trim. i like the skyline idea, but the little windows will be hard to do. mabey a checkerd trimming the bottom and mabey top.
The windows would be really hard if you didn’t have a Cricut machine. Love the idea of the checkered pattern.
Use the winterwoodland cartridge and make the reindeer starting at 2 in going up to 6 (1-2″, 1-3″, 1-4″, 1-5″, 1-6″)
Cut some snowflakes – decoupage on inside of lamp shade – you will have reindeer flying through snowflakes
Sasha, what a cute idea! I will do that next year and change out my lamp shade for the Christmas season. A simple decorating idea.