Soda Tab Lamp Shade

Mom thinks it's Hippy, Dad just smiled, and I don't know what I think of it...

But it's in my room and I guess I think it's sorta cool.

It's not the sturdiest thing in the world... but it's definitely an interesting conversation piece!

Want one?

Here's some directions!

You'll need 400-600 soda tabs depending on what size lamp shade you want to make.

First off, you'll want to take out that small little half circle in the middle of the soda tab. It's shaped like a half moon. It comes out by bending it back and forth several times.

 Then you'll need a lamp shade loop. We had an old lamp shade hanging around the house so I cut the top of it off with some heavy duty metal cutters.

 Be sure to throw this sharp pokey piece away safely.

 Next you want to bend your soda tabs like this.

The easiest way to do this is with pliers. Pinch the top of the tab with the pliers, then bend the bottom of the tab downward with your thumb.

Now this part will vary from lampshade to lampshade. In my case, the top ring of the lamp shade hoop was pretty large, so I had to take metal loops and attach them to the soda tab, then to the lampshade. Here's another way to attach them.

Put on as many as will comfortably fit. Too many will not be good. Your shade will be wrinkly.

Next... clip the tabs with a metal/wire cutter. Do it right in the center as shown in the picture below.

Your tabs should end up looking just like these.

 And this part is tricky to explain so here's a link to Sean's Blog. Look at the 6th picture down.

 And keep on going row after row until it's as long as your little heart desires!

 I ended up spray painting mine white.

 Hope someone out there can find this useful! Leave me a comment if you end up trying it!

Glove Shirt

 Do you get tired of hearing screams coming from the backyard where the kids are playing in the snow? You pull on your boots as fast as you can and rush out ready to call 911, only to find that he or she only got some snow down their sleeve... or their glove is falling off? They think it's the end of the world! 

Well, I came up with something that helps a ton!

First I bought a long sleeve T-shirt from Wal-mart and a pair of gloves.

 Then I took a toilet paper roll, and stuck it inside of the glove. This will keep you from accidentally sewing the sides of the glove together.

 Then I laid the sleeve down flat, and measured it with the glove. The shirt sleeve ended up being a little bigger than the glove.

 So I sewed the sleeve using a straight stitch on my sewing machine.

 Then I cut off the excess. You can now surge the edge if you have a serger. If not, that's fine. 

 Now I put the sleeve over the toilet paper roll, and matched up the edges of the glove and sleeve and started sewing with a needle and matching thread. I just used a whip stitch. 

http://www.holiday-crafts-and-creations.com/whip-stitch.html

Continue whip stitching all the way around until you come to where you first started. Tie a knot, cut off the thread, reach down through the sleeve and retrieve your toilet paper roll, and then admire your handiwork! Just have the kiddo put this glove shirt on first, and then his bigger winter coat. This contraption will majorly help to minimize the tears! Thanks for reading! Hope it helps!

- Jennifer -