DIY Neon Wrapped Lamp Cord

I ordered a simple clip lamp from Amazon to help illuminate my work area. I loved its industrial look, but wasn't thrilled with the ugly brown cord. And since I planned on clipping it to a shelf, I knew the cord would be visible at all times. I decided on a simple fix. A wrap! Here's all you'll need to do it yourself:

• Clip Lamp. Also available at most hardware stores
• Nylon twine in your color of choice, I used this great orange
• A clothespin or other clip, to hold the string when you need to take a break

To begin, tie a square knot at the top of the cord near the fixture leaving a tail of a couple of inches. Keep the rest of the cord bundled up in a twist-tie to make it easier to work with, and begin wrapping towards the plug end of the cord, over the string tail that you left from the knot. Here's the wrapping method that worked best for me:



Wrap the string around the cord 5 or 6 times somewhat loosely. Holding the string tight with one hand, scoot the loops up, tightening the string until the wrap is tight and continuous. Push the string up to make sure that it's tight and doesn't have any gaps revealing the cord underneath. That's it!



The wrapping takes a while: I did mine over the course of a week or so in the evenings while I watched movies or caught up on tv shows. When you need to take a break, just clip the cord and string to keep your spot and prevent unraveling. When you get to the very end, tie a few knots. Add a dab of glue to the knot if you need to. Trim the end of the string, and enjoy your snazzy new clip lamp!
 

Pics from my weekend.

The California central coast was blessed with some lovely spring-like weather over the weekend and it felt so great to get outside. I took a morning trip to Santa Cruz yesterday and spent a couple of hours with my sister and brother in-law just walking around, looking at plants and trying to identify them, admiring historic homes, and enjoying the day. Here are a few of my favorite photos from our walk.

Above: Nice rock garden composition with California Poppy, Dusty Miller, Aeoniums, and a great grouping of Echeveria-like succulents. There's even one growing in the craggy boulder!



Great purple glass headlamps on this old Ford truck.


I love this big antique sign. Frogs in suits and top hats are always cool, if you ask me!


This street sign made me laugh and reminded me of Little Shop of Horrors.


Everywhere we went there were magnolias blooming! This white one had spectacular flowers and the sky above it was so deep blue.


Speaking of deep blue, this cool pressed tin sliding door and window moulding. Cool contrast of colors and materials on this building.


Very nice Leucospermum (cordifolium?) accented by reddish/brown boulders.
 

Quite an intimidating cactus! This one was probably 8'-10' tall!
All photos are my own, taken with my iPhone 4. 

Happy Monday!

All Things Paper, a new book!

I was so excited over the weekend to hear from my friend Ann from All Things Paper that the book she's been hard at work on, All Things Paper: 20 Unique Projects from Leading Paper Crafters, Artists, and Designers is currently being printed and will be out on bookstands on May 28th! I'm especially excited because one of my own projects, Citrus Slice Coasters is included as well!

The book is available for pre-order here on Amazon, so make sure to checkout with a copy next time you're doing some online shopping. I can't wait to try out the projects myself. Happy Wednesday!

Ahh, friday.

I've had such a busy week! Deadlines at my day job, my living room painting project, and car problems (poor MINI!) have been keeping me on my toes over the past few days. But I'm happy to report that my walls are all painted and living room is generally put back together so I'll have some time to work on DIY projects this weekend! Yay! Have a good one!

I love this image of San Francisco, from here.

Painting is painful.

I try to keep things on the positive side here on the blog, but seriously, painting hurts. Muscles I never knew I had have not only made themselves known, but they're also demanding Advil. I spent most of this last weekend painting my living room. I shared photos of my chips and samples here, but ended up choosing something a little lighter than my first choice, Behr Gold Coast White, which started looking really yellow after I painted a sample in the corner. So I went with Cancun Sand instead and I'm really happy with it so far. I have one wall left to paint, but the room is already so much lighter and brigher. I feel like I don't even have to turn as many lamps on at night as before.



I just need to power through the pain(t) for another night or so until it's done. Then I'll enjoy the product of all my hard work and make a note to myself to only take on a painting project when I need to punish myself for something. :) Thankfully, I did get a chance to get outdoors on Sunday to enjoy the sunshine and commune with nature before I got back to work. Here are a couple of photos from my walk around town. Can you tell I'm having fun playing with the Afterglow app?



And, if you've noticed, I've got a shiny new url for the blog. It's just vitaminihandmade.com now! Links should automatically update from my previous address, but if you find they aren't working, make sure to update your bookmark with the new address.

Happy President's Day!