Tonka Lampshade

At one time I had a spare lamp, with no lamp shade.  I wanted to get rid of it and buy a new lamp because I needed one for a toddlers room.  But I just can't bring myself to throwing anything away!  That is one of my weaknesses, I know!

  Anyhow, I bought a light colored fabric lamp shade with a inner plastic lining and thought of ways to decorate it.  I found a Tonka coloring book and used the pictures as the templates for a "construction site" on my lamp shade.  To get the outline of the trucks on the lamp, I cut out the pages I wanted to use, and taped them on the inside of the lamp.  I then put the shade on the lamp and turned it on.  It was an instant light box.  I was able to trace the Tonka truck and car pictures that I wanted to use with a pencil.  The empty spaces where filled with a roadway that went around the lampshade, street signs and trees.  After tracing and drawing some pictures, I colored them in using both acrylic and Puffy t-shirt paint and a paint brush.  The Puffy Paint gave the wheels a 3-D effect and acrylic paint helped with the effect of a dirt mound.  On the right, you can see the pictures of the work in progress.  

Materials:
1.  Toddler coloring book-use pictures with little detail or it will be harder to trace. 
2. Pencil
3. Light colored fabric lamp shade
4. Lamp with bulb
5. Paintbrushes
6. Paint (Puffy Paint and/or Acrylic)

 

There are many sites online where you can print free coloring book pages.  I even found some of the ones I used here.  If you make something like this, I would love to see how it turned out.  This lamp has been in use for over two years and still looks good!