Jack-o-lantern Chandelier Shade Covers

When I got my Ballard Designs catalog in the mail last week, the jack-o-lantern chandelier shades caught my eye. My little girl is mesmerized by the lighted jack-o-lanterns that are appearing in all the stores (and around our house). I knew she would really enjoy the pumpkin shades on the chandelier above our kitchen table, but I wasn't willing to spend $18 a piece on them for my six light chandelier. Upon further inspection, I decided that making covers for my existing chandelier shades would be pretty darn easy. And it was.

Ballard's Version

My Version

Personally, I like my friendly little shades much better. The little one absolutely LOVES seeing their friendly smiles looking down on her as we eat.

The covers only cost me $2.10 for all six.  That's a savings of $105.90!

Do you have chandelier shades? Want to make them fun and festive?

Here you go:

Materials:

• craft paper
• scissors
• exacto knife
• orange scrapbook paper (the large, square cardstock kind)
• double sided scotch tape

1. Make a template of your shade by tracing the outline on craft paper.  Roll it along the craft paper and trace the outer edges. Begin and end with the seam, making sure to leave a little overlap on the end.

2. Cut out your paper template and try it on the shade.  Make any adjustments necessary.

3. Draw a jack-o-lantern face or any shape you desire on the template and cut out using exacto knife.

4. Trace your template and cut out design on the orange paper and cut out the shape.

5. Wrap the paper around the shade and secure on the back side using double sided tape.  Use the side opposite of the one you cut.  Then, you don't have to worry about stray tracing lines.

I decided to make the same pumpkin face on all six of my shades, but you could do cutouts of bats, witches, or different jack-o-lantern faces for every shade cover.  Get the kids involved and let them make their own designs.  Obviously, you will have to use the exacto knife to cut the designs out for them. There are tons of possibilities!

Easier Than I Thought!

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