Quick Holiday and Seasonal Pillows and Lamps

This is meant to be two quick and reusable ideas that can change the entire look of a room if several pillows and lamps of varying sizes are decorated in this way. PILLOW MATERIALS A decorator pillow (new or used) Fabric (holiday or Seasonal) enough to cover the pillow, envelope style Cording or braiding to trim completely around the edge of the pillow Any other embellishments you want Glue gun and glue sticks Needle and thread, or Velcro strips or Velcro dots INSTRUCTIONS 1) Place the pillow in the center of the wrong side of the fabric and fold all sides to the front center of the pillow. If you have to, tuck the edges in tightly and create an "envelope"-fold-over. 2) Glue or sew this flap onto the fabric to "seal" the new covering of the pillow. NOTE: If you're using Velcro, attach the strips/dots of the Velcro to the underside of this fold-over flap and the opposite pieces of the strips/dots to the fabric beneath this fold-over flap. Velcro can be attached by gluing. 3) Decorate the pillow by gluing any embellishments onto the side of the pillow that you wish to use as the "viewed" side. If the folding has been done neatly, you can glue or hand sew embellishments onto the center of the fold-over area to cover how you've "sealed" the covering (covering the stitches or any visible glue). NOTE: Whenever each holiday is over, carefully cut the stitching, or cut around the fold-over section to remove the fabric from the pillow and re-cover the pillow with the next fabric. Save the removed fabric to either use on a smaller pillow, or use on smaller craft ideas the following year. LAMPSHADE MATERIALS A lamp and shade Fabric to cover the shade Velcro strips or Velcro dots Glue gun and glue sticks Fabric or craft glue (optional) INSTRUCTIONS 1) When making a flat "skirt" to cover the lamp shade, measure the height and diameter of the shade and add 1 inch to the height and 1 inch to the diameter. This allows for two 1/2" seams horizontally and vertically, making double-fabric seams on which to attach the Velcro dots in order to attach the skirt to the shade. (The instructions say "dots" but you can also use strips.) 2) Lay the fabric on a flat surface, wrong side facing you. 3) Fold the top and bottom horizontal edges over 1/2" and fabric-glue (or craft-glue) each seam down. Repeat with the two vertical seams of the fabric. Allow to dry. (You can use hot glue instead of craft glue.) 4) Hot-glue the Velcro dots, evenly spaced, onto the two newly created horizontal seams. Hot-glue the closing dots to the vertical skirt seam (place them on the "wrong" side of the fabric so they won't show when you finish attaching the skirt). 5) Hot-glue the opposite (closing) dots, evenly spaced, around the top and bottom outside horizontal sections of the lampshade. 6) Hot-glue more Velcro dots vertically onto the lampshade, evenly spaced, for the one closing side seam of the skirt to match (reserve the closing dots for hot-gluing onto the fabric's vertical seam). 7) Wrap the fabric skirt around the lampshade by matching the Velcro strips/dots and attaching the skirt to the shade. 8) Hot-glue items onto the lampshade that pertain to the holiday or season and that also match the pillow(s). You've then created a wonderful decorating statement. When the holiday or season is over, remove the skirt and replace it with another one that you've made for the next season or holiday. The Velcro dots remain on the lamp shade in order to attach the next skirt to it. If the heat from the lamp loosens the glue holding the Velcro dots on, simply glue them again.