Natalie at Vegetablog made a paper lampshade for a lamp using her Silhouette SD craft cutter machine. She used 10 pieces of vellum paper cut with a bubble pattern she designed, then overlapped the papers and attached them to a pendant light. There’s no doubt a craft cutter will make this project simpler, but if you have a few hours to spare, you can do it with a craft knife, too. [how to make a paper bubble lampshade] [via]

A note about flammability: Natalie added a small cage at the top of the pendant light to keep the paper away from the bulb. If you make a project like this, please take precautions to keep the bulb away from the paper. One of the commenters on Natalie’s site suggested using a product called Flame Free, which is a spray you can use to help make things you use in crafts flame retardant.

Project Estimate:

• 10 pieces of vellum, about $10
• Craft cutting machine or craft knife, on hand
• Pendant lamp kit, $4 at IKEA

Total: $14

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Nela from Cut, Nela, Cut added a photo of this amazing cut-paper tealight holder in the Dollar Store Crafts Flickr pool. Such intricate work, and so pretty! Nela’s work is all this impressive (or even more impressive), so check out her blog. You can make it out of cardstock, or how about using one of those take-out box containers to make a unique light? You could even use paper punches to simplify the paper-cutting process. (Sidenote: Check out Craftypod for an awesome article on getting tons of decorative patterns from just two craft punches. The technique probably won’t work for this particular project, but it’s so cool I wanted to share anyway.) [here’s a link to the tealight holder project]

Looks like you could use it as a shade for the Wine Glass Lamp.

If you want to save money and skip the take-out box, you can make the container yourself for an even cheaper project! Nela’s box used the free template from Stampin’ Mathilda that you can download here. This photo is of Stampin’ Mathilda’s original project, which is so pretty! I think this would make a great wedding table decoration, or other romantic party decoration. You can customize it pretty much any way you want, too, so I think it’s great inspiration for all kinds of adaptations.

Don’t forget to use a battery-operated tealight for these projects, since they’re paper! You don’t want a craftfail on your hands!

Project Estimate:

• Take-out box, $1 (or paper, on hand)
• Paper punch, on hand or $1
• Battery-operated tealights, 2 for $1

Total: $.50 and up

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