Bobby Socks Quilt Co.

Last weekend we adopted a new puppy.  She is a 3-month-old sharpei mastiff cross.  Her name is Wallace and she is very sweet!  She went to school with me this morning, soaked up a lot of love – and gave many kisses with her polka-dot tongue!  She even enjoyed badminton practice at lunch.

Wallace

I wasn’t in love with our last alteration to the Ikea dandelion light, so we did some playing around and came up with the idea of making pinwheels out of pages torn out of magazines.  Martha and I are very happy with this version of the light, so we’ll keep it this way for a while.  Cheap and chic, I think!

I had wanted to get wire cage style lights for our entry/hallway since we planned our house.  However, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on them.  Then I saw a brilliant idea on a House Proud segment on the Nate Berkus Show.  They made wire cage lights by using wire plant baskets from the dollar store.  I checked out our local dollar store and, sure enough, they had small wire baskets for $1.50 each.  I bought 10 for the 5 lights.

First I removed the chains. Then I spray painted them with stainless steel paint.

Spray paint inside and out

After a second coat and some time to dry, I used some wire to attach pairs of baskets and to make a little top piece so that the cage would stay in place on the light fixture.

Wire two baskets together

Here’s what they look like “installed.”

Finished wire basket light

Including 2 cans of spray paint, the cost for 5 light fixtures:  less than $30!

Even though it’s one of the most mild winters we’ve ever experienced, it was still nice to go south for a few days, dig out the summer clothes and soak up a little vitamin D.  In February we went on a cruise with our son, my husband’s sister and husband, and my father-in-law, who was celebrating his 80th birthday.  One of the most fun things we did was an off-road segway tour in the Bahamas.

Segway Tour in the Bahamas

Sam and Grandpa Elmo - the birthday boys

Sam and I also spent a day at Universal Studios in Orlando – Sam’s choice for his birthday!

Sams I am

I’ve tried a couple of different versions of the IKEA dandelion light over the past year and a half.  I tried pink paper hearts a year ago but they only stayed up for a day.  Not a fan.  When I was in New York a couple of weeks ago, I was inspired by a light I saw in Anthropologie.  It sort of looked like it was made of coffee filters stitched together.

Anthropologie Light

So I started tea dying coffee filters, crunching them up a bit after they were dry and then attaching them to the IKEA dandelion light.  I used small coffee filters, and I’m not 100% happy with it.  I’m wondering if I’d like it better with larger coffee filters.  Think I still have some experimenting to do.

IKEA Dandelion Light Altered with Coffee Filters

Anthropologie also had some interesting lights hanging over the pay counter.  They looked like little cages made of twist ties that had been glittered.  I have bare bulb lights hanging down my hall that I’ve been looking for a way to finish.  I would like to try this, but so far my hunt from white twist ties has been unsuccessful.  I found green ones at the grocery store, red ones at a bulk foods store, and apparently you can’t buy garbage bags with twist ties anymore – they all have draw strings or plastic ties.  I’ll keep looking!  Here’s what the light looked like.

Anthropologie Twist Tie Light