It's that time of year again.....

That's right...

The time time of year when everyone is frantically making their house unnaturally perfect for all of the relatives coming into town. 

The time of year when the aisles of the grocery store are packed with woman (and men) ready to fight over the last turkey in the ice box.  

The time of year when there are so many cooks in the kitchen you have to wear steel toed boots just keep your feet from getting crushed!

Well, even though it can get a little crazy around Thanksgiving, those are part of the experiences that make the holiday memorable....

I do, however, think we need to take a little lesson from the guys this year.  You know... the ones who will be lounging around on your couches all day with their feet propped up - relaxing/falling asleep in front of several games of football - their only worry being to make the first slice into the turkey as picture worthy as you feel it should be.  You know the ones, right?

So, take some time this year to relax.  Get all the hustle and bustle done (because it's gonna happen anyway!) and then enjoy the moment. 

Enjoy the imperfections. 

Enjoy the noise. 

Say a prayer of thanks that this is your life and you GET to live it!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

p.s.  As my gift to you this thanksgiving, I am offering 20% off your entire purchase at Little Light Shine on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  Just use coupon code BF23CM26 to receive your discount!

Two become one.....

My family and I had the privilege of being present as my sister and her fiance exchanged vows this past Saturday on the beach in St. Petersburg, Fl.  Despite the crazy winds from the effects of hurricane Sandy, the ceremony was beautiful and the couple... even more so!

In honor of Kristin and Ron's marriage I wanted to make them something special and unique.  I think I came up with a lamp that depicts them in every way - from where they live, to how they live.  I hope they love it and are inspired by it as much as I was....

A portion of your soul has been entwined with mine.

A gentle kind of togetherness, while separate we stand.

As two trees deeply rooted in separate plots of ground,

While their topmost branches come together,

Forming a miracle of lace against the heavens.

~Janet Miles

Congratulations Kristin and Ron Smiley!!!!!!!

Proud as a peacock.....

And I really am!

I put a lot of work into this lamp and personally I feel like it is my best one yet - technically speaking.  I am going to show you a few more pictures than usual for this one so you can really see the transformation take place...



 So a couple of things:

On the old shade (and yes, it was disgustingly old) there were some nasty stains on the inside of the shade. So the whole thing had to go.

Also, my oldest son was furious that I was going to re-do this base.  He thought it was already super cool. So my apologies to Elijah for that.  :)

                       So there is what I had to work with....      




....and here is the finished piece!












 I think this is my favorite before and after yet and I hope that you like it just as much as I do!

You can find all of the information on pricing and measurements over at Little Light Shine.  And remember... If you like it - Pin it!!!  :)

A very special thank you goes out to a very special family!  The Bertsch family has a special place in our family's hearts and thanks to their beautiful peacocks this lamp exists!! 

  

I figured it out!

What those little bubble lamps from the 50's are called that is....

It's called Hobnail.  You see it on vases, lamps, all sorts of decorative things from way back when.  I seem to find a lot of them, which is fine by me.  I don't think people realize how cute they can be when they are updated a little bit with some color!










Here is my latest hobnail before and after.  It makes me smile.... :)

Pretty cute, right?!!  As always... if you would like some more info on the pricing and measurements of this lamp you can go to jj's little light shine on Etsy (or just click the link that's highlighted there!)!!!

Forever and a day.....

...is how long it seems like it took me to re-vamp this lamp - hey! that's a nice little catch phrase there... sounds like the name of a HGTV show or something.  :)

Anyone that knows me knows that if you tell me something can't be done or that I should just give up, I am just going to work that much harder to prove you wrong!  Well, I kinda felt like if this lamp could talk (another nice catch phrase - I'm on a roll!) it would have been telling me to just let it rest in peace.  I swear, every other time I turned around something was crumbling on it or breaking off of it.  So I was determined to make it whole again - and I have the blood blisters to prove it!




If you look closely in the before picture (sorry about the cat's behind...she didn't want to move) there is a small section above the gold glass part that is different than in the after picture.  Don't worry if you don't notice it.  Just take my word for it that at one point that little piece literally just crumbled to pieces leaving a gaping hole on the lamp base.  I ended up having to take the entire lamp apart, take another lamp apart, find pieces from that other lamp that would fit onto this lamp and try to put the whole thing back together again.  Sounds like a pain, huh? Good news is that in the process of doing this, I taught myself how to completely re-wire a lamp which will come in very handy.

So the dreaded beads are gone from the shade and the base has a new thick white coating.  It almost has the appearance of ceramic.  I got the inspiration from my watch.  I wear a big chunky boyfriend watch that is white and gold and I think it's pretty cool.  I think this lamp looks pretty cool now too!!












It looks even cooler over in my Etsy shop which is where you can find all the information you need on measurements and pricing!!!

Phewwww.....

It's been a busy few days, but I finally got another posting up on my Etsy store yesterday and now I am finally getting up the before and after for it!



It's usually super easy for me to visualize what something is going to look like when it's finished, but for some reason I couldn't with this one.  I think it turned out kinda cool though!  I like how the pattern on the fabric picks up on the pattern in the crystal down on the base.  Aaaaaand.... judging from some of my other lamps, I must really be into purple right now because I've done several with some sort of shade of it!  Hopefully some other people out there are loving some purple right now too. :)

If you would like some more information on the measurements and pricing for this lamp, or for any others, you can hop on over to my Etsy shop - jjs Little Light Shine!!!

Glass block retro.....

This little lamp is so unique! I can picture it in a modern/classy home office space as a cool accent piece...

Even though there was not much area on it to sand and paint, it turned out to be pretty difficult.  Because there was the piece in between the glass blocks, I had to take the entire lamp apart for this one!




But I really love the way it turned out - just a tiny little thing, but definitely a great addition to a special space!!

Here a few more shots from some different angles...  

 And don't forget to check out my Etsy shop for more information on pricing and measurements!!!

What a difference some color makes!

This was a pretty simple make-over, with some big results!  I knew I wanted to use lime green on a lamp, but I was worried that it would be too much limey-ness. :)  This tall slender base was just perfect.  Tall enough to add some impact, but not so bulky that that the green blinds you!

Isn't it crazy how you can go from so boring to so cute and fun?!!



Here are some more after pics for you...

 Pricing and measurement information can be found at my Etsy store, Little Light Shine, along with lots of other cute lamps you can browse through!!

Shades of grey.....

On a chevron shade!!

Now if that doesn't getcha goin' I don't know what will!  Hee hee :)  I'm just kidding.  I just knew those would be popular search engine words right now!  I haven't even read it, by the way.  But if I ever did - I wish I could be curled up right next to this lamp. (You like that tie-in?!)

This lamp did not start out in bad shape at all.  In fact, I almost felt guilty doing anything to it because someone else may have liked it the way it was already.  The shade.... not so much! 

The shape of the lamp is what drew me to it and I am so happy that I made the decision to re-do it.  I am in love with this lamp!

By using some "interesting" painting techniques, I was able to give this lamp a faux cracked glass appearance. I then covered that in several coats of a clear high gloss.  The results were better than I had even hoped for! 

The frame of the shade was pretty bent up so it took some work to get that back in line, but I kind of like the bulb clip fitter.  Those are hard to find now-a-days!








This lamp has actually been sitting around for a little while and I've been so anxious to be able to list it.

Because of the way I painted the base - it took several days for the paint to set.  There are actually two little spots that I still have the heat lamp on, but I couldn't wait any longer!

 I love this lamp.  It's so trendy and the shape is just perfect.


If you would like some more information on pricing and measurements you definitely should click here and check out my Etsy shop!