How to: Not decorate a lamp

     Even the Best must fall sometimes. My grandfather once gave the book The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, and to this day, it is one of my favorite books. It's an amusing way to look at history. Well, I too have finally met my fall. It started out so simple, a lampshade. How hard could that be to decorate? Martha Stewart and Real Simple each had tons of ideas on how to do it. Ombre, tassels, stripes, the ideas were endless. Surely, I could do it. So off I went to target to purchase a lamp. I should have seen it coming then. It took me nearly 30 minutes to decide on one, and then I went back and exchanged it halfway through the rest of my rounds in Target. I think I spent nearly 2 hours there and far too money, but that alas is another story. So here's my lamp:

    First I tried to stamp a pretty design on my lamp. FAIL. It's way to curved and not strong enough to take it.

    So I was spending way too much time on the internet and found this cool pattern. I thought it would look good on the lamp shade. I printed it out then went to Office depot to get Carbon Paper to copy it with. (By the way, never by Carbon Paper from a craft store, it was double the price at Michael's and only gave me one sheet! At Office Depot, I got it for 4 dollars and 25 sheets). Here's my attempt to copy it:

      It was really difficult and I got bored, plus I could not get it to line up correctly since it was curved. It was a HUGE pain to line up and trace. Way too much for the 10 dollars it cost me. So I did what every good DIYer does, painted it and stuck glitter stickers on it!

 

      The stickers believe it or not, were also a huge pain. It is not at all how I imagined it would turn out. Not even close. A total and utter flop. I put it in my room for kicks and giggles, maybe one day I will try again. Until then, I am leaving curved surfaces to the pros. Too be honest, when it's turned on, it's not half bad, I am kind of warming up to its kitschy charm. Oh well. Have you ever tried to do a DIY and have it fail on you?