Here’s an easy tutorial for faux “Table Lamps” that can be used as themed table centerpieces or accent party decor. They’re made from pillar candle stick holders + lamp shades that can be embellished to your liking… so no messy cords or outlets required! If you want to actually make them “light up”, you can use battery operated LED lights, although it will be a subtle sort of lighting compared to their electric counterparts.

The “lamp” shown in this tutorial is from the Goodnight Moon Baby Shower (pictured here and here) and was inspired by the same blue and yellow bedside lamp pictured in the book. I also used this same concept a couple years ago though – to make extra tall “lamps” for a hotel inspired holiday party… so you can really tailor this idea to all sorts of themes! And now on to the tutorial…

MATERIALS:

• Pillar Candle Holder
• Lamp Shade (I got this one at Ikea)
• Optional: Spray Paint for lamp and/or candle holder
• Small Cylinder Vase that fits on the candle holder
• Optional: Ribbon to embellish the lamp shade
• Strand of beads to act as the “pull cord” (this one is from a beaded curtain)
• Glue Dots

Instructions:

STEP 1: (optional) Paint the candlestick holder and lamp shade to your liking. If they already started out the color you need them to be, that’s good news! Jump right on over to Step 2…

STEP 2: Embellish the lamp shade with the ribbon/trim of your choice. Using Glue Dots for the adhesive will keep this embellishment temporary so you can easily remove it later and reuse the shade. I used Craft sized Glue Dots here, but you can also use Mini size if you have a skinnier ribbon/trim. The trick is to stick the dot directly from the roll onto the lamp shade (instead of peeling it off the roll with your fingers & then placing it on the shade). This will help retain stickiness and circular shape of the dot.

Stick the edge of the ribbon onto your first Glue Dot, then keep adding more dots every few inches until the ribbon is secured all the way around.

You can position the ribbon/trim wherever you’d like on the shade, even doing multiple colors and bands. I stayed a little bit above the lamp’s rim here so there would be yellow both above and below the ribbon, but also did second style with a yellow pom pom trim that ran right along the edge of the rim (pictured at the bottom of the post).

Note: When the lamp flares a little like this one, it can be hard to get an absolutely perfect edge all the way around (it might be slightly lifted in places), but the good news is that no one will care if it’s “absolutely perfect”. This one isn’t! But it looks pretty darn close…

STEP 3: Prep the cylinder vase for the top of the candle holder by adding a little adhesive to the bottom of it, as shown below. I usually use either Craft or Pop Up sized Glue Dots for this step, depending on the bottom of the vase (this one is recessed a little in the middle).

Note: I also recommending using 4 dots spaced evenly around the circumference so that the vase sits level. We only took a shot of the vase with 2 of them on here though. =)

STEP 4: Place the vase on top of the candle holder then the lamp shade on top of the vase.

Note: If you’d like to add extra security to the placement shade, you can also use Glue Dots to help keep it in place, as shown here:

STEP 5: Now the main shape of your “lamp” is done! For the finishing touch, add a strand of beads to act as the lamp’s “pull cord”. This strand is from a beaded curtain I had left over from another party, but you can also string your own beads or use a similary type of element.

Feed the beads through to your desired length, then trim. Leave a little to drape over one of the lamp shade’s inside bars to keep them in place.

Note: If you’d like to further embellish the “pull cord”, you can add a paper shape or larger bead/crystal to the very end of it, as shown in the 2nd & 3rd examples below:

Here is one of the super tall lamps I made for the hotel-inspired holiday party…the candle holders used here are actually floor pillar candle holders from Ikea (they were $20 each). I also attached a little drop crystal to the bottom of the beaded “pull cord” for extra detail. You can find more details on this “lamp” right here.

If you end up utilizing this tutorial I’d love to see what you come up with! =)

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