Ribbon Shades

" To light up a room, try this. Customizing a plain white lampshade is so easy, and there're so many possibilities with colorful ribbon. Start off by picking out whatever size and shape of shade you like. These are all flared and angled, so vertical striping of the ribbon works best. If you had a drum shade, you could run the ribbons horizontally and it would look great. My daughter is really into pink right now, so I'm creating this layered look especially for her. I started out with a wide grosgrain ribbon on the bottom, and then layered a thinner striped ribbon on top, and just put them in place with hot glue, and they're all pre-cut to fit the size of the shade. When you're ready to go, just hot glue it, top and bottom, with a little dot of glue and hold it in place for a second. Then, as a finishing touch, I'm going to add this cute little ribbon rosettes that she will love. It's so easy to do these. You just take a length of grosgrain ribbon and put a running stitch along the edge, about a quarter of an inch from the outside edge. Just really simple. They don't have to be exactly evenly spaced, so they don't have to be perfect. Just run the stitches up the side. Then, when you get through to the end, turn it around and put your finger over the last spot where the thread came out and just pull. It's just like those packaged bows that you get at the holiday time. They're so quick as if bought. Stitch the finished edges together, then take a finished rosette and use this to decorate the shade, top and bottom, with a little bit of hot glue. You can place there and another one at the bottom. Put the shade on your lamp, and you have something that is fast, fabulous, and personal."