How To: Valentine's Lightbulb

Here's how I made my Valentine's Lightbulb from my post "How do I love thee?".

Valentine's Lightbulb project instructions

Materials: lightbulb, wooden block, wire, paper for tag, glue gun

1. First you need to hollow out a lightbulb. It was my first time hollowing out a lightbulb so I learned how to do it here.

2. Next, you make your heart "filament" with a piece of wire like you see in the photo. After forming the heart, twist the wires together all the way down. The filament should be about 3 1/2 to 4 inches in length (it's better for it to be longer than shorter because you can always trim it). Be careful not to make the heart too large because it may not fit into the narrow opening of the bottom of the lightbulb. Spray paint the wire red if desired.



3. I bought this wooden block for $1 at Michaels. You could also use a piece of scrap wood that you have lying around. Bore a little hole in the middle of the block. This will hold the filament and keep it from moving. The hole should fit the filament wire and hold it straight up. Put a little hot glue over the hole and poke the filament into the hole and hold it until it sets. WARNING: make sure you test how much of the filament will be showing through the glass when placed inside the hole and lightbulb is "tried on for size". Do this before gluing filament in hole! Trim off at the bottom of the wire if too long.

4. After the glue sets, carefully place the lightbulb over the filament and glue lightbulb in place.

5. Glue your message onto the wooden block

6. Enjoy!

Lightbulb (burned out, on-hand)=FREE

Wire (on-hand)=FREE

Wooden Block=$1

Paper/Message=FREE

Grand Total=$1

How De"light"ful!

Brandi-Lee

How To: Dresser & Lampshade

Here's how I rescued the old dresser and lampshade from my other post "Take a tour: My Livingroom".

Dresser instructions

1. I removed all the drawer pulls and sanded the entire thing.
2. I filled the old "drawer pull holes" with wood filler and made sure the "drawer pull rings" in the wood were sanded away (if they aren't sanded well enough, it'll show when you paint it).
3. I liked the "antique" look of the drawer pulls so I decided to keep those. I figured out where I wanted the pulls and drilled new holes in the drawers. 
4. I painted. No, I didn't prime and paint and seal with all the expensive stuff. . .I spray painted it! I used about 2-3 cans of black spray paint (about 98 cents each @ Walmart) and gave it about 2 good coats.
5. When it was dry, I replaced the drawer pulls, put the drawers in and brought it inside.

The entire project took about 3 hours (including rests in between). I love the look of the finished dresser and I also love that I have tons of hidden storage!

Lampshade Instructions

If you think about it, no one is going to go and look into your lamp shade and say "Hey, this was broken and you fixed it! how ugly!" That just does not happen. So it did not matter how I fixed it up inside, no one would be able to see it anyway! So this is what I did:

1. I bent one of the white wires up so the two wires intersected.
2. Then I used some craft wire that I had to bind it together.
3. Then I added a "ring" using the craft wire. I sat that ring on the top of the lamp's harp
4. I secured the lampshade ring to the harp using the lamp's finial (round, black thing. The part used to secure the lampshade to the lamp).

BAM! Easy as pie! and just as sweet!

Brandi-Lee