Thursday, May 19, 2011

Wine Glass Paper Shades: How cute are these?


I made my first set of these shades years ago and just realized I never blogged about them.  I'm on a kick of brainstorming cute but inexpensive table decorations and thought I'd try my hand at them again.  The ones I did years ago were plain white vellum and I still have them somewhere.  I remember seeing them when I was packing.

These shades are so fun!  (I'm trying to include the word fun in more posting because Nina says she always uses the word "fun" in all her google image searches because you get better results.  Yes, I take blogging tips from a 13 year old! haha!)

Paper shades are very versatile and I can think of all sorts of events they could be used on tablescapes for!  They could be centerpieces or used on serving tables.  BBQs, wedding receptions, casual or formal dinners, inside or out... you can use whatever paper you like to fit your event and your theme.  Tea light candles fit perfectly inside and you can either light them (no the paper doesn't catch on fire) or use battery operated tea lights.  The dollar store usually carries the battery operated ones.

The red would be great at a bbq or a patriotic themed event!

This was .05 clearance vellum.  You can see how I punched heart shaped holes in these ones.

Yes, I know these aren't wine glasses, but I bought patriotic gummy candies and put them in canning jars on my table which explains the next picture.

The round gummies must be yummier than the bears because they went first leaving me with an empty vintage jar right in my view when I was playing around with the shades.  I love these funny shaped jars, and the shades fit perfectly on them as well!

This is a simple but romantic paper shade.  I can picture these at a wedding reception, romantic dinner or on a tray full of breakfast.  Beautiful!

Tips:
~When you light the candle inside it will shine through the paper, which means be aware of things like bar codes on the back of your paper.
~The more sheer your paper is, the more the light will shine through, but they make an impact either way.
~I just used the super cheap Ikea wine glasses we use to drink out of on "fancy" occasions.  I don't see a need to buy glasses just for this project, use what you have, unless you are going to be drinking out of your wine glasses at the same event, but that may be stemmed glassware overkill.
~You can use votive candles, but keep the wick trimmed very short.  When the melted wax cools it can be popped right out of the glass.
~You can get one shade from 8 1/2 x 11 paper or two from 12 x 12 paper.  Print the pattern onto paper or cardstock and trace.

Click on the pic to enlarge, right click to save and print :)

3 comments:

Valerie said...

I've seen those kind of shades for sale and they're pretty expensive. I was gonna say you should put up a few sets on your etsy shop, but I don't see it on the side. Maybe you don't have it now. Anyway, they are all really cute. Thanks for the pattern. I don't know if I will ever get around to making any with my crazy schedule, but I'll have to file it!

Anonymous said...

Hi how are you?

I was reading through your blog, and I really like it, so I want to invite you to visit my blog, and if you follow me, I will follow you...

Jesse

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Those are so darling! The possiblilties of what you could decorate with are endless. I'm thinking Halloween would be a riot.

Great and creative ideas my friend.

Oh, and FUN!