Simply Homemade: Craft a Peacock Lamp Shade

Christmas does not have to break the bank. In fact, it shouldn’t. Going into debt or spending more than you should is no way to show people you care about them. That’s why I began this Simply Homemade series. I wanted to release you from the obligation to spend too much by coming up with some creative gift alternatives you can make yourself.

Every single idea I’ve shown you so far can be made in very little time and requires no special talent, fancy equipment, or complicated directions. They’re just simple.

Today’s idea is no exception.

How to Craft a Peacock Lamp Shade

This project is so simple, you really don’t need a tutorial for it.

I purchased a couple of accent lamps at a home store for under $10 each. They are pretty enough, but the lamp shades are kind of eh. Certainly, they wouldn’t make a very memorable gift, not with vanilla lamp shades that aren’t special at all.

Fortunately, it takes very little effort to transform a boring lampshade into something one-of-a-kind. All you need is a bit of ribbon, a peacock feather, and an interesting jewelry finding. If you don’t have peacocks running around your yard, you can order feathers here.

Pre-embellishment

A dear friend of our family gave me a bunch of peacock feathers a few years ago. She collected them from the peacocks that roam about her mother’s property on Whidbey Island, Washington. Every year, the birds molt, and she goes about picking up the long, jeweled plumes because they are too beautiful to leave out in the misty rain.

That’s one of her feathers in the picture above. You’d better believe I moved those babies all the way from Washington to Texas this summer, even when the packers looked at me funny and none of them could find a box the right size.

Using fabric glue, I wrapped the ribbon around the top of the shade, being sure to start and end on the seam that was already there (neatness counts). I tried to use as little glue as possible because my ribbon is sheer and I didn’t want globs of glue to show.

The ribbon was a bit too sheer for me, so I wound it around a couple times, secured it with the clip, and let the glue dry.

Then I created a bow, ran the shaft of feather through it, arranged it the way I wanted, and secured the whole thing with a jewelry finding and some hot glue. The jewelry finding is important because it hides and holds the feather in place, but you could use anything you like, from a button to an old key. I just happened to have a couple of those faceted gems leftover from another project (besides, I kinda liked the added bling).

That’s all there is to it.

I love how this lamp looks when it is off or on. When the lamp is off, the peacock feather adds a splash of sophisticated color.

Peacock lamp shade OFF

When the lamp is on, the peacock feather looks like a pencil sketch.

Peacock Lamp Shade ON

I made a pair of these with slightly different bases to give away.

But for now, they’re adding a little light around the corners of my rooms. I love having little pools of light in unexpected places around my home. Don’t you want to walk into a room where a cozy light is shining?

That’s what makes this gift so great. Most people like light, and in the winter, we never quite get enough of it. Give one or two hand-finished lamps and it’s sure to be appreciated.

Another project is coming right up! Stay tuned for another simply homemade idea tomorrow.

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Simply Homemade: Christmas Lights Bracelets

My mother is an avid creator. If she is sitting down, she has a project in her hands. There are projects in every room, in fact, and many more waiting in her mind.

Growing up, those projects always found a place under our Christmas tree. I do not remember a single year when I did not receive something she made for me. There were knitted sweaters, rag dolls with soft yarn hair, Barbie clothes, and always, always, a Christmas dress.

One year, she made a giant stuffed Panda bear. It should have been mine, but my mother accidentally packaged it up and sent it to Texas for my cousin.

Because of my mom, and my grandparents before her, I love homemade things. I love giving them and I love getting them. Sadly, I do not have the skill set my mother has. I do not knit or crochet and I’ve never quilted a thing in my life (except that one time when I thought I would, and didn’t).

Also, I am busy. I have nearly twice the children my mother had, and not all of them are as perfectly angelic as I was. Consequently, my homemade gifts have to be a little more simple. There are no giant Pandas coming out of my house and there never will be, unless the Chinese government finally recognizes that my house is, in fact, a zoo.

It’s a good thing I don’t think simplicity has to equate to boring or thoughtless. A simple gift can be lovely, especially when it is made by you for someone you love.

Today’s Simply Homemade project is about as simple as it gets. In fact, if you have children, they will love to make these for their teachers, grandmas, and favorite cousins.

(If there’s one thing I love, it’s outsourcing the homemade component of some of these projects to my children. That is, after all, why I had so many of them. Children, that is, not projects.)

Now, on to the gift-making!

Christmas Lights Bracelets

The colors in these bracelets remind me of Christmas lights. They sparkle and catch the light and look so cheerful on a winter day. l find I wear them all the time because they go with everything. You can wear them with a dress or with jeans, and with just about any color in your wardrobe.

Of course, these Christmas Lights bracelets couldn’t be easier to make (that’s why we’re making them for our Simply Homemade series, you know). All you need to do this project is elastic thread and silver-lined seed beads, the kind you can get at the craft store for next to nothing.

I also chose two accent beads: faceted, silver beads and larger, multi-colored seed beads–the exact same seed beads as the others, only larger. You can see them in the blurry picture below (no, it’s not your eyes).

I strung the beads in a simple pattern on the elastic thread using a beading needle. A beading needle makes life so much easier because those beads are tiny and my eyes aren’t what they used to be (note: blurry photo above).

As you can see from the photo, I began the pattern with one faceted metallic bead. These really catch the light and make the bracelets sparkle, so don’t skip that part! I followed the faceted bead with one of the larger seed beads (a different color each time), then sandwiched it with another metallic bead. Finally, I strung ten small seed beads in a row.

I repeated the pattern seven times per bracelet, but you might need to adjust the repetitions based on the wrist size of the recipient.

I made five bracelets for this tutorial, but I’ve given as many as eight at a time because the impact of this gift is in the quantity. The more bracelets you have, the more beautiful it becomes.

Tie all the bracelets up in a ribbon for gift-giving. This keeps them neat and pretty in the box, and that’s important if you have present-shakers in your house like I do.

Simple, right? Seed beads and elastic thread–that’s all it takes make someone’s season merry and bright.

Merry and Bright

Variations: Seed beads come in all the colors of the rainbow. You do not have to choose jewel tones. Pick the colors your loved one likes best. You can also try using crystals or pearls as accent beads. Have fun!

Tomorrow’s Simply Homemade project will require butter, sugar, and a candy thermometer. Yum!

Simply Homemade: The Making of a More Meaningful Holiday

“Laura sat thinking. She was making a little picture frame of cross-stitch in wools on thin, silver-colored cardboard. Up the sides and across the top she had made a pattern of blue flowers and green leaves. Now she was outlining the picture-opening in blue. While she put the tiny needle through the perforations in the cardboard and drew the fine, colored wool carefully after it, she was thinking how wistfully Carrie had looked at the beautiful thing. She decided to give it to Carrie for Christmas. Someday, perhaps, she could make another for herself.”

-Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter

Long ago, before I was born, Christmas was a simple season. Black Friday had not yet been conceived of, nor had shopping malls and toy catalogs and parking lots without enough spaces.

On Christmas morning, real gifts were opened because there was no such thing as a “gift card” back then, and no one would think of sticking money in a card and calling it a present because that was rude, plain and simple.

The gifts, if any, were crafted in the secret corners on dark winter nights, fashioned with no little creative thinking out of the leftover bits and pieces of everyday life: a length of ribbon, a piece of leftover wood, some fabric that was too little to be made into anything else.

The homemade presents were simple but delightful. How could it not be delightful to give something you had created especially for someone you loved? And how could it not feel like a very special honor to receive it?

“Pa and Uncle Peter had each a pair of new, warm mittens, knit in little squares of red and white. Ma and Aunt Eliza had made them.

Aunt Eliza had brought Ma a large red apple stuck full of cloves. How good it smelled! And it would not spoil, for so many cloves would keep it sound and sweet.

Ma gave Aunt Eliza a little needle-book she had made, with bits of silk for covers and soft white flannel leaves into which to stick the needles.”

-Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods

How far we have come from those days! Now, children concoct wish lists that sound like ransom notes and parents rush about, stressed within an inch of their lives, trying to give their children exactly what they want so the kids won’t be disappointed. Somehow, disappointing the children on Christmas is the worst thing ever, even if the children are behaving like greedy little monsters.

We feel guilty if we don’t “spend enough” on someone, or if we buy the “wrong thing” for someone we have allowed ourselves to feel obligated to purchase for in the first place. When did we begin to feel compelled to give gifts to anyone? Gift-giving should be an act of love, not a duty.

Even so, most of us would never dream of giving a handmade gift to someone on our Christmas list, even if we resent the fact that we have to give them a gift in the first place. Somehow, we’d rather purchase another scented candle to give to someone who doesn’t need it instead of making something simple but thoughtful. Why?

We are busy, to be sure, and many of us do not think we have the time to make anything for anyone. But I think something else is going on in our culture. I think we have come so far from the days of the past that we, as a society, now associate simple handmade gifts with poverty or stinginess, not creativity and thoughtful affection.

What a shame!

In each stocking, there was a pair of bright red mittens, and there was a long, flat stick of red-and-white striped peppermint candy, all beautifully notched along each side.

They were all so happy they could hardly speak at first. They just looked with shining eyes at those lovely Christmas presents. But Laura was happiest of all. Laura had a rag doll.

–Little House in the Big Woods

I wonder what would happen if, instead of rushing to join the crowds and feed the consumerism that has choked out Christmas, we attempted to make a more meaningful holiday by creating and giving thoughtful gifts to those we love?

They don’t have to be complicated.

They don’t have to be expensive.

They don’t even have to be time-consuming.

Homemade Christmas gifts can be thoughtful, meaningful, and simple. Starting tomorrow, November 15, I will be showing you some ways to make a simply homemade Christmas. These are projects that require no special skills. Many of them can be done quickly or while watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the millionth time.

My hope is that these projects will jump start your creativity and get you thinking about ways you can bless your loved ones with one-of-a-kind gifts you created just for them. Maybe you can even skip Black Friday altogether. Wouldn’t that make Christmas even more delightful?

For tomorrow’s project, you will need brightly-colored seed beads, elastic thread, and a bit of ribbon. Now that’s simple.

*The posts in this series may contain affiliate links for your convenience.

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