Aunt Peaches

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Lighting

I was going to write a post about lamps.

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I was going to write a post about lamps but then I ran into this magnificent beast; an enormous ice cream cone light that comes in vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry. Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles!

My gut says get the strawberry, but my head says vanilla. It’s more tasteful. Then my gut says “Why be tasteful when you are a grownass woman hanging a giant ice cream cone in your house?” and my head is like “Whatever. Cast no pearls before swine!”

So I’m still deciding. Bottom line: it’s coming home with me. No idea where I’ll put it. Maybe as a porch light and then everyone will think I’m selling frozen custard, because that’s not creepy at all.

Holy crap I love summer.

   

  

Sparkle Me Elmo

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I’m prety sure my family thinks I’m trying to turn my 2-year-old niece Abigail into a drag queen.  First I tried to dress her as Priscilla Queen of the Dessert style flamingo , now I’m making disco balls out of her favorite Sesame Street character, Elmo.

Now, I should say, I’m normally too stuck up to make things with characters on them… but seeing as he is Abigail’s favorite, and he is sort of a Muppet, I’ll make an exception for Elmo. Plus, the little dude is starting to grow on me. Have you seen this?

After watching that video I can’t imagine anyone not wanting something fabulous and Elmo like in their house. But, if you are still on the fence, consider the faceless Elmo pendant — still pretty groovy.

Materials:

  • Paper lantern
  • Tinsel Garland
  • Hot Glue
  • Craft Foam (for face–optional)

Not much of a tutorial on this one. The complicated part is figuring out how much tinsel you will need to cover the lantern. That’s all math (read: that’s all you). I can tell you though, that my 9′ of tinsel stretched to cover a lantern with a 10″ diameter. An extra 2′ would have been nice, but I made it work. If you are going to order tinsel garland online, I would order a lot.

Behold! The perfect drag queen pendant lamp.

What? Too much?

Fine. Cut some simple face shapes out of craft foam and attach with hot glue.

Hard part is finding the tinsel in the off-season, but you can find it online. Had I thought ahead of time, I would have stocked up on tinsel after Xmas. How fun would it be to make a dozen of these for a party? I might have to order some gold and green and purple tinsel garland to wrap around lanterns for a Mardi Gras party. Fun!

PS: For all the parents of Elmo fanatics out there, did you know there is an indie film about the heart and soul of Elmo – Kevin Clash? Being Elmo is rolling through theaters right now–you should get a babysitter and take your butt to see it. So cool!

Candyland. Sorta.

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As I child, I told myself that if I ever lived in wooden house, come Christmastime, I would decorate it as a gingerbread house, bucket sized gumdrops and all. There would be a motorized train in the driveway and I would hire college students to dress as gingerbread men to dance on the lawn each night. Neighborhood children would come to affectionately refer to our home as “The Candy House” for years and years, long after the holidays were over.
Reality check: WTF was that all about?
Decorating the outside of a house is hard. Ladders are dangerous. Lights are expensive. And what parent is going to let their kids play with drunken college kids dressed as creepy gingerbread men?
Still. I couldn’t kill the dream. I had to try. This is my first attempt at Candyland:
Props to all y’all who go whole hog decorating the outside of your homes for Christmas. I had no idea how much effort was involved. Now I know! 
Well, seeing as this was my first time decorating the outside of a full sized home, I set myself some parameters to keep me on track:
  • It had to look good in the daytime, not just when the lights are on at night.
  • It had to be something that could grow a little ever year.
  • All materials had to be inexpensive/widely available/crap I already owned.
  • No scary ladder climbing.
The end result is a far cry from my childhood visions of grandeur, but as a first attempt, I am very happy! It was easy to do, and didn’t take a lot of time or money. 
The candy lights are my favorite. I may string those up in my studio after the holidays. And they were crazy easy to make too— you have got to see the original tutorial from Brittany Jepsen on featured on Oh Happy Day last week. It’s pretty much amazing!
Side Note 1: Per the original tutorial, I couldn’t find corsage boxes for less than $2.00 a piece, so I substituted by stapling together a pair of clear plastic bowls. Now I realize I also could have used plastic bottles with the ends removed, or clear plastic take-out containers. Oh well, next year!
Side Note 2: With bulbs this tiny, I’m not worried about overheating, however, some kinds of cellophane will degas toxic fumes when exposed to heat for extended periods of time. I used no-heat LED lights just to be safe, especially since these may be used indoors in the off-season.You decide for yourself 🙂
Merry Christmas!

Tutu Celing Light

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Wouldn’t this be fun in a little girl’s room? Or, AHEM, a not so little girl’s room. Did I ever tell you about my ballerina snowglobe? It was so cool! Okay, not as cool as my Liberace snow globe, but, you know, who doesn’t a love a ballerina? Especially since that Black Swan movie came out and they started looking all hungry and interesting, instead of skinny and stupid and perfect. I mean, even Angelina Ballerina (a cartoon mouse), is looking a little deranged after keeping company with Natalie Portman. I like unhinged people who wear lots of pink. They make me feel comfortable.

Wow that was random.

Back on track: I made this light before I had a blog (read: no tutorial) but it’s easy to make using a white wire basket from the dollar store and a bunch of tulle. Same exact process as the plastic bag lamp, only girlier.

Warning: This thing is simple and cheap and loads of fabulous but it attracts dust like a mo-fo. Be prepared to vacuum!

Spangled Flannel Lanterns

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 I can’t stop thinking about these flannel lanterns from Free People‘s series of store displays. I’m not going to make them because 1. I don’t have space 2. I’m moving 3. I already have to pack 23 homemade light fixtures and for someone who lives in a 5 room apartment, that’s pretty effing impressive.

So you have to make one and tell me how it turns out. K?

Bounce over to Building 25 (Free People’s blog) and watch the video. And pop around while you’re there: mucho nifty stuff.