Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Pinterest Challenge - FALL Edition!

These Pinterest Challenges over at Young House Love  are seriously needed to get me off my butt. Like... If they didn't happen, I would sit here in front of the computer, drinking my iced coffee through a licorice straw all day. True story.

Ok, I lied. I can't do coffee through licorice. That's saved for my EVENING drinks.

Back to the challenge!

From the blog, "The only rule is to do your take on something inspirational that you’ve pinned, so it can be anything- big or small (decor or sewing or cooking related – or beyond)."


So I went through my pin boards to try to narrow it down. Since I only pin things that I actually plan on taking inspiration from eventually (as opposed to pinning anything sparkly), this wasn't so hard. I immediately jumped to my LIGHT The Way board, and reread all of the tutorials from my pins.























and i should categorize my boards, apparently... WHOOPS!

I have genuine interest in ALL of those lights, but I decided to go with the Moooi knock-offs, and didn't follow any of the tutorials exactly. The gist of these lights is to wrap yarn around a ball and have the yarn saturated with an adhesive. One of the tutorials used wallpaper glue, another one glued the yarn as she wrapped...

I chose a much easier and much cheaper way.





  • Elmer's Glue
  • Cotton Thread (the cheap kind from Wal Mart)
  • Balls
  • (not pictured) Vaseline


(you also need a little bit of water, a bowl to put the glue/water mixture in, scissors, and somewhere to hang the balls)























I chose to suspend my balls (you guys! Stop laughing!) from my garage door opener. NOT a good idea if you plan on USING it any time soon... But I wasn't planning on going anywhere (and I parked in the driveway).






It's a good idea to hang them about chest-level, so that you can easily access all parts of the ball.































I covered all three balls with Vaseline, but I honestly don't think that part was necessary. If you're using these slick (god, i can't get my mind out of the gutter) balls, the dried yarn will come right off. But better safe than sorry, non?



























Mix the glue & water. My first batch was way too watery, so I'd suggest using a 2 part glue to 1 part water ratio. Just dump the glue in a bowl, fill the glue container half way with water and then mix it.

Then I just dropped the yarn ball into the glue/water, and thoroughly saturated it. Grabbed one end of yarn, and wrapped it randomly around the ball...







































At this point, I was completely covered in glue, and my ball was losing air.



























If you do this, don't go THROUGH the loop! Just tie a knot around the whole thing. I had to blow the ball up (yes, it was covered in glue and vaseline, and I was pulling glue out of my nose hairs ALL DAY) and "seal" it with a screw.

You can see in the above picture that I left a large area open. That's for light bulb access. I would have never thought of that. Like.. I'd be trying to slip a bulb and my man-hands through these tiny holes... So thank god for tutorials!!!

Let it dry COMPLETELY. And by that, I mean like ALLLL DAY! I kept going back to these and poking them, and they were soft until the next morning. I was so scared it wasn't going to work!

After you've waited (longer than your impatient self could tolerate, because you wanted this done RIGHT, right?)... remove the inner ball. If you've used beach balls, you can just deflate them (just don't press TOO firmly when trying to get all the air out). Otherwise, I'd suggest poking small holes in your ball so that the air will come out slowly, and you can gently "release" the ball from sticking.

Oh... And when the ball is out... DO NOT STORE THESE WHERE KIDS CAN GET THEM!!!



I am still crying over this. Luckily, two of them made it!



I bought some HEMMA light kits from IKEA (for $3 and change/each), placed the kid's toy where I approximate a future table will go, and hung my balls!



























I can't tell you how COOL these look in person. It casts a shadow that looks like a spider web on the walls. SO awesome.



There are still little glue pieces stuck in places, but you really can't tell. I keep trying to pick them off, anyway.

And when the lights are off, they still just look killer.


The wire and I are battling it out, though. It's staying put for now... but I think that's because I threatened to melt it. It was dangling with my balls before.

Eventually I plan on getting cord covers and painting them to match the wall.


Like these from Home Depot.

But that'll probably wait until the NEXT Pinterest Challenge. Maybe I'll have redone the purple one by then. HA!

Are you into Pinterest? Participating in the Challenge? I can't wait to see what everyone else enters!

14 comments:

  1. Those are so pretty. I love the colors and good advice here. Will come in handy when I try to make a lamp style for my guest bedroom.

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  2. Oh Wow. We had the same idea!! But I love that you did two (well 3) and in color! I now may HAVE to do a second one now in color. And use Vaseline. It took forever for me to get my ball away from my string- haha- my mind is in the gutter too.

    http://sugarspiceliving.blogspot.com/2011/11/pinterest-challange-pendant-light.html

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  3. @Marci@TimberandLace Thanks! I think these kind of lights would be so great in a guest room. I mean, who would EXPECT that?! I'd love to see when you're done!

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  4. Oh, I LOVE these! So perfect for a kids room. I've been contemplating a light fixture in my son's room, and this may be just the thing!

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  5. @Jenna Thanks! I would be jealous of your son if he got one. I think I need to make a few more for ME!

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  6. Very cool. I made something from pinterest yesterday. No pictures yet though. The room it is in is far too much of a disaster to take a picture :)

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  7. and side note, I love the toddler slipper chair :) I get several repins of that on on pintrest every week.

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  8. @Niki I'm SO GLAD!!! I completely forgot that I told Ry (@thedesignconfidential) that I'd ask you to share a few pics in a brag post! Think that'd be at all possible? Maybe ask your photog if you could crop the pics to show only the chair? :-D

    Anyhow, I can't wait to see what came of your Pinterest inspiration! I TOTALLY know what you mean about disastrous rooms. I always try to get good angles to hide it. HA! Doesn't always work!

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  9. These turned out great! Sorry about the purple one :( I've been wanting to try this myself, and you've inspired me to bite the bullet! :)

    xo Catharine @ Your Modern Couple

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  10. @Catharine Woo Hoo! It really wasn't as difficult (or time consuming... OR messy!) as other blogs state.. so I say GO FOR IT! Mix up a short CD, grab a ball of yarn and glue (and... everything else you need :-p) and DO IT!! :-)

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  11. @Gina (Lady Goats)

    She's fine with cropping and using the pictures. :)

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  12. @Niki Great! Do you know how to submit a brag post? If not, you could just send the photos to Ry and she can post it under your profile!

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  13. I've done this before back when Ready Made had them in their magazine. I love that you used colored thread though. Beautiful.

    Just a little tip, the Ready Made tute called for liquid starch to be applied 'after' you wrap the ball in yarn. I.e. you spend less time with glue all over your hands.

    Good luck with the purple one!

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  14. @Nikki Thanks for the tip! But I was actually reading one tutorial that had done that, and (poor lady), she was picking glue from between almost every "hole"! And that made it more difficult to place the yarn where it was wanted, she said. Did you do it that way?

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