Mermaid Bear Necklace & Some Mermaid D.I.Y.

When I saw this teddybear mermaid necklace pop up in the Moon Bunny etsy shop, I couldn't resist treating myself. It's a teddybear... and a mermaid. And it has little golden shell nip-covers. How ridiculously, hilariously cute is that!?

It's incredibly well-made as well, with so much attention to detail.

I also made myself a few gold-coloured mermaid accessories recently:

I got this seashell mirror compact on ebay for a couple of quid and glued some swarovskis and plastic shells to it (I got the shells is a mermaid jewellery kit for kids and painted them gold).

A papercraft seahorse I got from Millers and turned into an earring...

... And here's a sparkley stud earring that I made from a gemstone sticker from Paperchase glued onto a piece of clear PVC which I then glued onto an earring back. Cheap as chips!

Nathalie Du Pasquier Cushions

I said I still had to show you my favourite Christmas present and this is it! Anyone has has seen my home decor board on pinterest knows that I've lusting over Wrong for HAY cushions designed by Nathalie Du Pasquier, one of the original 1980s memphis group designers, for quite some time. 

I could never really justify spending that much money on a single cushion (what if I spill food on it? What if my hair dye rubs off on them?!), however, to my surprise, my sister had had a brilliant idea. She bought all four Nathalie Du Pasquier tote bags from a lovely Glasgow based shop called TOJO Design and she and my mum set about making them all into cushions. How cool is that? 

I think they go very well with my dad's galaxy painting above the sofa and my own handmade spikey lamp.

Making a Spiked Black Metal Lamp

For a long time now, I've been very inspired by the idea of a black lamp with metal spikes. 

My 'home decor' board on pinterest has, for a while, been home to both this image of a piece by artist Rebecca Johnson from Bughouse and this piece by Andrea Maestri. Unfortunately though, lamps like this are pieces of art rather than house products so, as a result, are either not for sale or waaaay out of my price range. 

For that reason, I had a go at making a spiky lamp myself, diy-style. Hopefully it's different enough from any existing pieces so as not to be copying them (I've not seen any others with a plain black shade and spikes on a matte black base yet. Besides, I'm not selling it - it's just for me!).

The finished lamp

I used an old yellow second-hand lamp. First I scrubbed it to death with some sandpaper (very important), wrapped masking tape over the bulb and cord and then painted it outside with a matte black spray-paint. I ordered the spikes online from a shop on ebay. I think they're meant for decorating mobile phones, haha.

Then I set up a ridiculous contraption to keep the lamp horizontal while I glues the spikes on, abandoned that when it didn't work and drove myself half mad trying to hold it like a club and stick them on without the glue slipping off before it dried. Yay.

I guess it worked though: here's the finished cactusy looking lamp. There are a few faults and you can see some of the scuff marks where I sanded it, but I think it came out ok.

And here it is with the light plugged in and switched. The shade's a bit thin and cheap so I'll probably get a better one to replace it, but it'll do for now.