Bring On the Bling....

It's all about the bling, I tell ya.
At the gift show and in hip boutiques, chandeliers glimmer and sparkle and look like the moviestar equivalent of a light fixture. And the prices! ACK!

Well, I've got an insider tip for you: Even if you don't sell lighting or antiques or home decor, you can cash in on this trend. Yes, ma'am, you can! And for not a lot of bling, believe me... let me show you how.

Below, you'll see two small crystal chandeliers hanging next to a larger one. OK, well, actually, the larger one isn't a chandelier. It's just a normal old six-arm fixture that I paid five bucks for at a thrift shop, painted it white and detailed the arms in pewter paint. I added a slew of crystals on the arms, the bobeches (those round 'saucers' beneath the 'candles') and up the chain. Topped it off with white lampshades with crystal beaded trim. (Those were four bucks each at Ross).

Some of the crystals on that 'chandelier' are plastic - yeah, plastic! Old Christmas ornaments is what they are! Added to that are sleek square real glass crystals that I took off of a third small chandelier like the two you see in the photo. They are attached with a simple wire ring, and it easily opens to let you remove the crystals. You can hang them in windows to catch the light, on tree branches or on vases, or on other light fixtures like I've done here. Or you can take the small fixture intact, and hang it from some ribbons as I've done here. You can even buy a light cord assembly and actually have light inside it.

These could hang in a display for apparel, jewelry, fragrance, cosmetics, glassware, barware, even for some chi-chi pet products. In your shop window, they exude 'hip factor' and will draw people in just to see what kinda' bling you have for them.

And the best part? Those small chandelier fixtures, with 24 dangling rows of sparkling glass crystals, are available at IKEA for about $15 bucks. FIFTEEN bucks. Not a lot of bling for a lot of bling, you get what I'm sayin' ? Make the trends work for you....as inexpensively as possible. That's my thing. "Fast, Cheap, & Easy" TM all the way!