Here in kooky California, the cherry trees have just started erupting in airy, delicate blooms and a perfume that smells just as light. Here, we walk through drifts of fallen blossoms on the sidewalk, while across the country, my parents’ front door remains sealed against more than four feet of snow.

So goes the weirdness of growing up on one coast and making a home on the other.

As I’ve been admiring the pale new clumps of blossoms, I noticed that we have an early spring still life of sorts on our mantel. We picked up this little glass fitting at a flea market recently, and turned it into a lamp with the flicker of a candle (there’s a little opening in the back so it doesn’t get too hot – but you could use a battery “candle” too). And the candlesticks in the background were a kind of accident: we were taking apart a busted lamp realized that the blocks making up the base were perfect candleholders, as is.

One of those happy realizations that surprises me as much as cherry blossoms in February.

I’ve had a jerry-rigged flea market lamp on my desk for about a year. But the bland lampshade started to bug me, and I thought a nice pop of color would brighten up the corner.

Lena Corwin’s Printing By Hand was my starting point. Instead of her contact paper method, I used leftover doilies I had on hand from this project, because I'm loving their lacy effect and trying to find modern ways to use them.

When I peeled back the doilies, I first thought I wasn’t crazy about this project. But now that it’s in place, I’m digging it. I think if I had to do it over again, I think I might add even more doilies (gasp!) because I really like the contrast and texture. And it’s a bonus that I looks just as nice when the light isn’t on.

You can check out the step-by-step process right here.

One funny side note to this project: Before Valentine’s Day, my husband was across town near a craft store and I asked him to stop in and pick up a pack of the smallest doilies they had. He reported back that he diligently asked the cashier, I didn’t think I would ever hear myself ask this question, but do you have any smaller doilies?

He’s a keeper.