Lampshade make-over using freezer paper!

I’m sure you’ve all heard of using freezer paper as stencils to iron onto fabric. If you haven’t, be aware, it’s addicting!!! I can’t stop. All I do is try to think about what else I can stencil! A while ago, I got this lamp from Target. I got it to decorate it some way, I just didn’t know what at the time. I got these adorable stencils by Martha Stewart, and as soon as I got them, I knew that’s what I’d be doing on the lamp. Only, after I painted over the stencil, I saw all the paint had gotten under it and bled, so there were no sharp lines, and it looked awful. The reason for this, was the stencil was too thick to lie on something that curves the way a lampshade does. So now that I’ve discovered the amazing use of freezer paper, I tried it out on my lampshade, and it came out awesome!! Now, my lampshade is made with polyester, so it’s ok to iron that, obviously a low heat, but I wouldn’t do it on a plastic shade (I know that’s so obvious, but some people are…well, dumb lol). I got this ironing board last year, from Target (I’m a Target fiend) when we moved into our place, and I just LOVE the print on it. So I used it as my inspiration to make my stencil.

Here’s my lamp before. White….boring… (Sorry for the awful picture, I was taking it while my husband was sleeping and I didn’t want to put the lights on!)

Here’s the adorable ironing board cover that is my inspiration.

What I did first, was measure and cut the paper to my lamp.

Then, I taped my paper down (dull side up).

I traced the flowers.

I did about every other flower, because I didn’t want it to be cluttered (except I’m lying and the real reason is there was no way in hell I was going to cut all those petals out! lol)

Using an Xacto knife, I cut allllll those little petals out.

Once all the flowers were done, I taped the stencil on my lampshade.

Starting on a low heat setting, I ironed my stencil onto the lampshade. The reason the freezer paper sticks, is because the heat from the iron melts the wax on the paper. It’s not going to completely adhere, but just enough so it won’t move around while painting.

I used Martha Stewart paint, because it goes on just about anything, and a round foam brush.

I dabbed the paint on, making sure to go straight down and not at an angle, so it doesn’t get under the stencil.

All done!! I took a closer look, and made sure there were no spots I missed.

Such as this…which I just touched up with a small paintbrush.

I love my new lamp!!! And in all honesty, I’m glad I only did every other flower, because on such a small amount of fabric, it would have been too much.