Outdoor Chandelier Tutorial

I feel as though the baby shower was a success.

The last guests left close to 3am, so I think everyone had a good time.

I had a great time, once all the prep was done and I could relax a little. Luckily the other two girls throwing the shower with me took over in the kitchen once guests arrived. I am not an asset in the kitchen, let me tell you. My skills lie more in the area of greeting when it comes to party throwing. So that is what I did after I finished the decorating.

I am waiting for the pics from the photographer so it may be a week or so before I can get them on here for your viewing pleasure.

In the meantime, I mentioned here, that I would give a little rundown on how I made this baby...

 

I have also had a lot, and by a lot I mean like 10, of requests for this so I thought I would jump right to it this wonderful Monday!

First of all, get yourself some lamp shade bones. And by that I mean the frame sans fabric.

 

I have had this HUGE, old one just hanging around (get it?) for years. I always meant to turn it into a chandelier, complete with hanging crystals and everything.  One day I am sure I will get around to it but for now I am going to enjoy it in its current state.

Along with the bones you need these things....

 

Christmas lights and a swag lighting chain. Electrical tape is optional, as you will see later on in the post.  I had all of these laying around the house.

Second step is to wrap the Christmas tree lights around the bones in a pattern that makes sense to the shape of your lamp shade.  I used two strands because the lamp shade is really large.

The first time I used electrical tape to just tape the lights as I went along and had this....

Not too bad, but I wasn't loving the tape.  I decided to be lazy and leave the tape but then fate stepped in......

TIP #1: Check to make sure all the lights on your strand light up before you take the time to carefully tape off the pattern!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I plugged it in, half the lights no longer worked and I also got an electrical shock. Awesome.  I then had to take them all off and start over with a new strand.  Double awesome.

The second time I just wrapped and weaved the lights around the bones in no particular order....much easier and looked even better.  Didn't even need the tape.

Then, I attached one end of the swag chain the top of the frame using pliers.  I then threw the chain over a branch of a tree and then attached the other end of the chain to the frame.  Of course, for this part, baby giraffes don’t have to be bothered with pesky ladders...

Photo found here

However, the more vertically challenged among you may have to use a ladder or step stool. 

That was it! So cheap and easy and was a big hit!

TIP #2: If you want a white strand of lights, the cord that is, look in the wedding section of the craft store. (I got mine at Michael's a while back)  Regular Christmas lights are green most times.

Well there she is in a nutshell.  Any questions?

Love,

tbg