Stenciled Damask Lampshade {Tutorial}

I was recently contacted by Northridge Publishing, which hosts a really cool webshow, about being on their show in their Scrapbook Trends Magazine “Create” segment.

It was really fun! The show’s host, Kristine McKay sent me a picture of a beautiful scrapbook layout as inspiration. And she asked me to come up with my own project based on this layout:

There were many elements of the card that I loved: the bold black and white contrast, the polka dots (of course), the damask, the bird for Spring and the burlap.

I thought it would be exciting to take the card and transfer the concept into a home décor project. Plus, I wanted to change the color scheme up a little for Spring and for my home which is lighter and has more green/turquoise colors.

So I went out and found a very cheap drum lampshade at Target – $7. I also wanted to add a more modern element, with a larger damask element. I was chatting with my friend Lara from Less Cake {More Frosting} about what I wanted to do and she mentioned a really cool product that she had seen on Char’s blog from Crap I’ve Made. Char discovered this I Love to Create’s Velveteen craft paint. Which was PERFECT for what I wanted to create. You see, this craft paint actually puffs up when it comes in contact with heat, creating a fabric-like look!!

I was so excited!!

I headed over to Hobby Lobby to see this paint. I was a little disappointed to find out that it only comes in a few basic colors, but I bought the white paint and then a slightly darker turquoise than I wanted of regular paint and I thought I would try mixing the two to come up with the color that I wanted plus the fabric texture.

I love experiments!!!

Once I got home I fired up my Silhouette. I love that machine – truly. But you could do this with any craft cutter. I found a damask graphic in their company store and downloaded it (or is it uploading – I get so confused). Regardless – it was .99. Then I enlarged it and printed it out on Stencil transparency film, which you can pick up at your local craft store. I made sure to DOUBLE CUT the film so it went all the way through.

Then I mixed up my paint – 1/2 plain turquoise craft paint and 1/2 Velveteen white dimensional craft paint. I then put my stencil on the shade, securing it with blue painter’s tape. It worked perfectly. I applied the paint with a plain, cheap, foam brush and it worked out great.

The trick to stenciling (I think) is applying the paint at the same angle all the way across.

I had to wait a little bit between stencils to make sure the paint was dry before I rolled the lampshade to another area to stencil. But the paint dried really quickly. So I think the stenciling only took about an hour total.

When the paint was dry, I took my lampshade down to my ironing board and put my iron on the highest setting with steam and then held it about 4 inches away from the lampshade and let the magic happen. I was amazed at the texture that popped out once heat was applied.

Really cool stuff!!

Once I finished stenciling, I put my lampshade aside and made some polka dot ribbon to tie around the lampshade. I folded the fabric over and created a sleeve so that there were no unfinished seams anywhere. The wider fabric was 12 inches in width (so about 6 inches when sewed up) and the smaller ribbon was 6 inches in width (so about 3 inches wide when sewed up).

I made the “ribbons” very long and after the taping I decided they were a little too long, so I shortened them a little.

The last element, and I think the most distinguishing one of the card was the burlap bird. So I made a three-dimensional bird out of burlap with a black bead for the eye. I stuffed it with quilting foam and added a appliqued wing. I also found some polka dot ric rack which I thought echoed the ric rack on the card. The bird is removeable. So I experimented with hanging it from the light switch too.

I made the ribbons removable so that I can leave the lampshade bare if I ever want a more modern look, OR I can also make different colored ribbons and change it out for different seasons. Like it might be fun to make a red and white polka dot one for Valentine’s Day or even Christmas. OR it might be nice to make a plain, linen ribbon for a more sedate look at some point. I mean – I love color. But maybe I’ll change my mind at some point – LOL!

For now – I love how the lamp coordinates with my RUFFLED PILLOWS. And, it also matches my Sweater Refashion #4. hahaha.

Thank you to Northridge Publishing for such a fun challenge.

You are welcome to check out the video too. And, feel free to sign up to their newlsletter and have their creative videos sent to you in email. I also love their “Simply Handmade” books --- tons of great ideas. You can buy them at your local craft store or directly on the Northridge website.