Personalized Night Lights

I was always a fan of personalized and do-it-yourself gifts because it just feels more special. 


When I was in high school, I decided to sleepover in my sister's room. I was thinking of a gift for a friend back then as we were about to sleep. A sudden Eureka moment came to me when I caught sight of her night lamp which looked similar to this:

Night Light (photo courtesy of powerbeauty.com)

Instead of Disney princesses, I thought of making a lamp that would show our photos. I felt the plastic texture of the lamp cover and it gave me the idea of using inkjet printer friendly colored acetate. You can easily purchase this from bookstores but they are a bit pricey. 

Inkjet Printer Friendly Acetate (photo courtesy of pastrychef.com)

I didn't have access to metal rings before as a foundation for my lamp so I picked up thin bamboo sticks from my high school. Any thin wood sticks would do but bamboo sticks worked very well since it was sturdy and it had a smooth texture. 


I tied the edges together using rubber band and a lot of yarn to create a pyramid shape lamp. It wasn't perfect but it looked something like this:

Pyramid Shape Lamp (photo courtesy of stylegallery.co.uk)

I bought the light bulb, the base of the light, switch and plug from our local hardware store. I was taking up Electronics class back then so I had an idea how to assemble it. The guy in the hardware store, however, volunteered to fix it all for me. 

Lightbulb, base, switch and plug (photo courtesy of mcguckin.com)

I used a flat base instead of a long base as shown in the picture above. Something like this:

Light Bulb Flat Base (photo courtesy of its-about-time.com)

Anyway, I placed the electricals on the base of my pyramid shaped lamp. I created a base for it just before the exposed legs. 


I used a solid colored thick paper to cover the whole lamp. I used a darker colored paper since I knew it would look dusty after a couple of months. At least a darker color will look nice much longer. On hindsight though, it might be better to use cloth so that it's washable. :)

Printed acetate (photo courtesy of mrwilsondj.com)

After installing my paper cover with glue and masking tape inside (haha, such a DIY home project!), I printed personal photos on the acetate and waited for it to dry. I then cut around these acetate photos and taped them onto the lamp cover from the inside. 


Tada! A DIY Personalized night light! 


Sorry I don't have a picture of the actual product since I made it back when I was in high school. :) But it looks something like this but with a pyramid shape foundation:

Personalized night light (photo courtesy of handcraftedmemories.blogspot.com)

Personalized night light (photo courtesy of photogiftsplus.com)

If I'll get to do this project again, I will probably use a different shape next time. The picture frame type of night light seems easier to work with. :)


Hope you liked my gift idea way back from high school. Hahaha :) 


~It's the little sweet notes everyday that matter. :)~