Pinterest Challenge: Yarn "Ombre" Lampshade

I have something super exciting to share with you today, my Yarn "Ombre" Lampshade!

I could not possibly be more excited because it is finally, officially here! Young House Love's and Bower Power's Fall Pinterest Challenge!!!

I chose to make something that I've been inspired by for a little while now, a Yarn Ombre Lampshade from Mandi at Vintage Revivals. Just a few weeks ago, I bought a lamp from JCPenney's for only $3.97 (amazing deal - I had an old gift card that had been sitting in my wallet for a few years and there was an October discount code that I used thanks to Effortless Style Blog) and although I had originally thought that I might want to spray paint the base and keep the shade as is, I decided to be inspired by Pinterest and create this awesome yarn lampshade.

So, I started with this, and first took off the lampshade.

Then, I got out my 3 shades of yarn - one white, one darker green and one lighter green - and got them ready to go.

Starting with the darker color, and using my hot glue gun, I started about 2 inches off of the bottom of the lampshade. I just put a dab of hot glue on the seam, made sure the yarn was secure, and started winding around. The secret is keeping the yarn INSIDE of your lampshade. I was able to guide the yarn with my right hand and turn the shade with my left hand.

After wrapping it around until it was about 2 inches think, I slowly started to weave in the lighter shade. This involved a few looser strands with the darker color and then starting with the next color at the seem and going in between those looser strands. After every few wraparounds (for the entire lamp, and after every one wrap in this section, I used my left hands to push the string down and closer together.

Halfway there!

Here's a shot of the back with all of the string ends!

After I finished wrapping with the white, and made sure everything was hot glued in place (my last row would NOT stick without an entire edge of hot glue), I turned the shade over and completed the darker color, going from where I had originally started and working my way back (back up, since the lampshade was upside down now) until I had hot glued the last row in place as I did with the white on the top part of the shade. And voila! Here she (yes, it's a girl lamp) is! The room she's in is still in the process of being done, so ignore the empty feel and one ugly slipcovered sofa and really all of the mismatching going on, and just enjoy the shade.

One last close-up!

Josh thinks it's great and I'm really happy that it turned it out the way it did! Have any of you used yarn for something other than knitting lately? I'm hoping to use my leftover yarn and turn it into something exciting! I'll make sure to keep you posted on that project. In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you about any projects (yarn or otherwise) that you've been working on.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and I'll be back later with another post and a great gift wrapping idea!

PS. I also linked up to House of Grace's Twice Owned Tuesday Party!