Bored? Here’s a quick and easy project you can do while sitting in your cubicle, like artist Angela Duncan. All you need is a lampshade and a pen. Choose a sharpie, or roller-ball for the best results. Use color, too! Any kind of marker will do. I like the eastern influence in this design. This is actually (and obviously) an excellent idea for anyone with a steady hand and a boring
lampshades. In fact, dressing up a lampshade is a great way to add some zip to a room.

Here are some other ideas to consider:

• Add some grosgrain ribbon around the bottom edge.
• Spice up the ribbon with glass beads hot glued, or pre-sewn onto the ribbon.
• Add some tasteful decals to the inside of the shade. It will create a nice touch when you turn on the lamp.

Those are a few of my ideas. What are yours? Do your prefer a plain shade or a bedazzled style?

And now, the winner of the Not Just For Sushi Dishes is….

Liz!

Congratulations to Liz. She gets to choose from the three styles of plates and Terra Home will have them zipping on their way to her. Liz, are you going to give them as a gift, or save them for yourself? It’s a hard decision. My favorite style, by the way, are the fish.

Next week I’ll have another giveaway and then, two giveaways per week up until Christmas. It’s fun! So stay tuned.

And now I’m off to check out the Urban Craft Fair here in Detroit. See you Monday!

Here’s a preview of some items on sale.

For more previews and a list of vendors, check out their blog here.

I will definitely see you there!

Today I saw that Marie Claire Id?©es’ blog has several holiday crafts you can make using Liberty fabrics.

The instructions are written in French, but you’ll get the idea. And if you need some How-To instruction, try an online translator to help.

They give instructions for the birdhouse and the tree with ornaments. Obviously, you don’t have to use Liberty prints. But you can buy them directly from Liberty and local fabric shops.

Can you help me out? If you know a shop that sells Liberty here in the States, can you let us all know by leaving the info in the comments?

I wonder if she could do the same thing with dryer lint. I have this favorite sweater…. That’s my laugh for the day. Enjoy.

Sweet Paul's brilliant pumpkins

Here is just one of several ideas from Paul. You’ll enjoy all his ideas – even those not related to pumpkins. Be warned, you might find yourself engrossed in Sweet Paul’s posts that you run out of time for pumpkins.

That’s on my To-Do list today, along with my third assignment for Apartment Therapy’s Kitchen Cure. We’re supposed to do a deep cleaning. Fortunately, I did that while I reorganized. I have one more cabinet to tackle and then all I have left is my kitchen island to style. I’m saving that for my trip to New York in a couple of weeks. Wouldn’t you know, I threw out a bunch of those little trees (see pumpkin, above) last week.

Closet of Terror becomes the pantry

Enjoy Sweet Paul and let me know how your pumpkins turned out.

And now, without further ado, the winner of 20 square feet of custom wallpaper from Alluminare is:

Libby U!

Congratulations, Libby! You will be receiving your coupon directly from Alluminare. And your Design Hole T Shirt from me! Yay!

Here is her design, along with her plan for making picture frames and some cool art. I hope I’ve translated the instructions properly. If not, I hope Libby will set me straight. Or, better yet, send me a photo of the finished project.

Cool Picture Framed Art

1. Buy nine – 1 foot square frames and spray paint them black.
2. Carefully cut out a bunch of 1-inch x 1-inch squares of wallpaper – it’s ideal because you don’t need to trim or break the pattern.
3. Tack the squares to the front of the frames (and only the fronts, no wrap-around).
4. Arrange the frames into a 3-foot ?ó 3-foot grid and secure them together (temporarily, carefully).
5. Find a simple, graphic design and paint it in white across all the pieces.
6. Separate the pieces, affix to the wall in the same grid order, but about 1 to 2 inches apart on all sides.

Libby suggests: You could do this in any arrangement. A cool option would be to have several squares in a row, vertically or horizontally, and a long, skinny graphic across them. Perhaps use the same pattern in border form…at an angle, maybe…endless possibilities. Even vector family portraits, Lichtenstein-style, if you’re particularly artistic (that would be rad).

Thanks again to everyone for giving us some great ideas. And thanks to my sponsor, Alluminare for such a great prize.

Candy designed this beauty

Now to the contest. This is the last day to enter for a chance to win 20 square feet of wallpaper from Alluminare. You design it yourself! Just visit the site, design your favorite style and post the link in the comments. Let me know what your idea is for using the wallpaper in a craft project.

You can read all the details here.

I’ll announce the winner tomorrow morning. There’s no time to waste, so enter today.