Ugly Lampshade Make Over!

I have a lamp that I truly love but the shade was looking pretty ratty.

The black is crackled looking and there are big scratches. I could not find a replacement lampshade that I liked so I knew I would have to attempt to make something.  I have a lot of canvas drop cloth fabric so I started tearing long strips to wrap around the shade.

Every time I got to the end of a strip I hot glued it to the inside of the lamp and attached another. The fraying strings were a pain and the I burned myself repeatedly with the hot glue but I love the end result!

I used a product called "Fray Check" to stop the strips from further fraying.

Now I am actually toying with the idea of using a graphic from Graphics Fairy to "French" it up a bit. There may be more to this project than I originally thought!

Linking to Home{work} Wednesday on The Everyday Home

I learned something new today!

Yes, this old dog learned a new trick! When I opened Chrome, a bunch of extra tabs kept appearing.  They were all weird search tabs. I had no idea where they came from (and, frankly, I still don't!) What I do know now is how to get rid of them!

If you have the same issue, right click on the three line icon on the top of the page (all the way to the right). Click on "Tools" and the "Extensions".  On the left side of the Extensions page is another little menu. Choose "Settings". Now, see the one that reads "On Startup"? I bet the bottom choice is selected which is NOT what you want. Choose instead "Open the new tab page". That's it. Go all the way out of Chrome and come back in. Ta da! Those extra tabs are no longer there - just a single New Tab that is not connected to any weird search engine.

I thought about adding screenshots so you could see what I am writing about but that exposed more of my personal info than I was comfortable sharing so I didn't. How I learned to fix irritating problem was by watching this You Tube video.

Bloglovin? Not so much...

Is anyone else having issues with Bloglovin?  I am having difficulty getting on to check the blogs I read as well as getting random deliveries of blogs that I haven't seen in weeks.  I have not seen anyone else complaining about it on any of the blogs that I read so I am asking you!  If you use Bloglovin as your reader, please leave a comment (or send me an email) and tell me what you are experiencing.  If it is just my computer (which is about 6 years old and an antique in the technology world) I would like to know and then I will ditch this old horse. If it is because I use Chrome, I can always switch to another search engine.

Thanks!!

Busy weekend

I have one too many irons in the fire this weekend!  I have been working in the basement, cleaning out and rearranging everything in my hutch and china closet, sewing and helping my sister a bit at her studio.  Oh, yeah - also painting.

Painting this very large spice cabinet.

Shown with all the accumulated dirt and crud as picked up at the Goodwill.

I have learned something really, really important.  It takes FOREVER to paint all the little shelves, dividers, edges, what have you. I should have spray painted the interior.  Next time I do something like this, I will definitely spray the interior and hand paint the outside.  I think I will finish it by using a wipe on poly in the interior which will allow for much easier clean up.  The exterior will be finished with regular and dark wax. Oh, the front panel is going to be a blackboard.

Back to basement...

Thrifting find

I don't know how old it is.  I only know that it is American ironstone, has the Red Cliff logo and is completely intact down to the perfect ladle.  It is about 13" high and the underplate is 13" wide from handle to handle.

There is some crazing on the underplate but other than that, it looks amazing.  I have seen these listed as high as $299.

I bought mine for $12 at a local thrift store.  It is the same one where I find most of the English ironstone I have been collecting for several years.  When I saw it on the shelf, I was stunned for just a second.  I quickly recovered, wrapped my arms around it and took it to the counter.

Giddy, I tell you.  Just giddy!!

Linking to these fabulous parties:  Open House Party and Home{work}Wednesday

Who needs cable?

Well, I guess technically I still need cable so that I get internet service.  However, I am cutting part of the cord.  I just bought this.



It is very tiny.  We hooked it up last night in just a couple of minutes and were watching Hulu Plus in no time flat.  The screen looks perfect and the remote is very easy to use.  I bought one that I can use with an HD television though I am using it on my huge glass flat screen television which refuses to die.  (There is a very nice Sony HD monitor waiting in the wings.)  If I feel like I need to use a second television, I can pick up the very bottom of the line, simple Roku unit for about $50 from Amazon.

In the fall I plan to purchase an antenna to pull in local news reports.  Until then I can keep up just using the internet and my cell phone alerts me if there is any National Weather Service updates I need to know.

Removing the television portion of my cable will reduce my bill by about $65.  The unit I just purchased was on sale at Best Buy for $80.  The Roku box nearly "pays" for itself with my first billing reduction. Comcast has jacked up my cable television bill for the last time!

Happy Independence Day!!

I am offering a discount coupon (code INDEPENDENCEDAY13) for free shipping on any domestic order $20 or greater in my Etsy shop today through July 7th.