Fairy Lanterns, DIY Tutorial

If you haven't seen them yet.. prepare to fall in love!! 

Our new store decorations are up for Fall and I am LOVING them!!

We decided to make little Fairy Lanterns! We combined the fairies, lanterns, and fall leaves. The combination reminds me of a warm fall evening with Fairies Dancing above. It is JUST PERFECT for our store!! 

Today I am going to show you step-by-step how to make the Fairy Lanterns!

For 1 lantern, you will need:

• 4 pieces of cardstock paper 8 1/2" x 11" (2 for the base, 1 for the roof, 1 for the bottom)
• 1 piece of Vellum paper 8 1/2" x 11"
• 3-4 feet of twine (for hanging lantern)
• 1 LED tea light with switch. DO NOT USE A FLAME TEA-LIGHT due to risk of fire
• Die-cut shapes such as fairies, flowers and leaves (for decorating your lanterns)
• Paper for cutting out the shapes (black cardstock for the silhouettes, fall colors for the leaves)
• Score Board
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Exacto knife and cutting mat (optional)
• The Ultimate Glue (or some other kind of clear glue for gluing paper and vellum)
• Hot Glue Gun (for gluing the roof, LED light, and twine in place)

To begin, take 2 sheets of cardstock (that are the same color) and cut them down to 8 3/4" x 6"

Next, score the 2 pieces of paper at 4 1/4"  and at 8 1/2". When you set them upright they should look something like this: 

Using an oval die-cut shape, cut out the windows of your lanterns. 

**I used the Accu-Cut oval shape die-cut here at the store. If you buy paper from our store, the die-cut machine is free to use**

Next, cut your piece of vellum paper down to 4 pieces that measure 5 1/2" x 4" each. 

Using The Ultimate Glue, glue the pieces of vellum on the inside of  the oval (so you can't see the glue from the outside) 

Once the glue has dried, glue your 2 sides of the lantern together. Just a thin line of glue will work just fine!! 

Below is what it should look like at this point: 

*As you can see, the glue is visible. That is why we glue the vellum on the inside of the lantern*

Next, it's time to make the bottom of the lantern. 

In order to do this, we need to make sure it will fit nice and snug on the bottom of the lamp.
Cut a piece of cardstock to a 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" square. 

Using your score board, you will need to score it on 4 sides.. THIS NEXT STEP IS IMPORTANT!

Line up the edge of your paper against the edge of the score board BUT THEN scoot it *just a touch* to the right leaving a sliver of a gap between your paper and the edge of the score board

NOW score the paper at the 1/2" mark. DO THE SAME STEP mentioned above for scoring each side of the paper. 

Then, use a pair of scissors to snip the edge of each side (see picture below) 

Using The Ultimate Glue, glue the tabs in place

At this point, you can start making accommodations for the LED light you will put in your lantern.

In the center of your bottom piece, draw a rough-size circle shape for your LED light to fit. Use scissors or an exacto knife to cut out the shape. It actually works out better if the hole you cut is funky and NOT a perfect circle. The reason is that the jagged-edge will help to hold the LED light in place. 

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If you do NOT want a light, skip this step.

Ok, now it's time to attach the base of the lantern to the bottom piece.

Slide the lantern into the bottom, it should fit very snug. Using The Ultimate Glue, glue the lantern to the base. 

 Now for the roof. 

You will need to cut out 1 triangle at first so that you can then trace it. 

To make the triangle, you need a piece of cardstock that measures 4 3/4" x 3 1/2". Find the center point on the long side and cut the sides to make a triangle (see photos below) 

*I changed the color of my triangle to pink FOR DEMO PURPOSES so it is easy to see on the grey paper* 

Take a piece of  cardstock and line up the triangle so the 4 3/4" side is up against the outside edge of the paper. Using a pencil, trace the triangle. 

Then, line up the triangle on the side and trace again. Do this until you have traced 4 triangles. REMEMBER to keep the long side of the triangle (4 3/4") on the OUTSIDE edge. 

When you get to the last space, create a 1/4" tab (see photo below, right) 

Cut out your shape (I highly recommend using an exacto knife and a ruler, but you can use scissors if you'd prefer) 

Then, using The Ultimate Glue, apply some glue to the tab and attach it to make your roof!! 

Now, for those of you putting an LED light in your lantern, this is when you do that step!!

If you are like me, you may want your light to be hidden. Not only did I want there to be an LED light inside the lantern, but I wanted to be able to turn it on and off!!

To do that, cut out a piece of paper that is the same size as the LED light. I used a scalloped circle punch I had.
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*Using a standard hole-punch, punch a small hole in the side* -- This is where the switch will be accessible. 

If you are going to be adding in dangles as well, you can punch a *tiny* hole in the center for your twine to slide through. 

Use a dab of Hot Glue to glue the twine in place and attach the paper to the underside of the tea light MAKING SURE to place the hole-punch spot on top of the switch so you can switch your lantern on and off. 

If you would like to add dangles, now is the time to do that!! We used leaves and strung them up. 

To make sure the dangles are HEAVY enough to hang correctly, I always hot-glue a penny onto the bottom dangle and hide it with the same shape.. 

Slide the LED tea light into the jagged hole we created in the bottom of the lantern. Use Hot Glue to secure the light in place. 

To make it so your lantern can hang up, poke a *tiny* hole in the point of your roof and run some twine through it, putting a knot in the end. I secured this with Hot Glue as well.

NOW THE FUN PART!!!! 

Decorate the inside and outside with silhouettes! We used black cardstock and cut out some fairies. We used some of the new fairies from Poppy/Memory Box BUT THEN we also enlarged some fairies AND cut some of them up, copied and cut them out so we could make TONS of fairies doing all sorts of fun jumps and twirls.. they each have their own personality!! 

Bekah was SO CLEVER when making the fairies!! After she cut out the wings, she used the new Nuvo Glimmer Paste to make the wings IRIDESCENT!! 

Then, we glued the wings onto the backside of the fairies using The Ultimate Glue. 

Bekah even bent back some of the wings to make them more dimensional!

We used a variety of different flourish die-cuts and fairy shapes. 

When we glued the silhouettes into the lantern, we made SURE to only apply a little bit of glue to the tips of the fairy hands or feet so that the glue would not show up on the outside of the lantern. 

Once you have decorated your lantern with silhouettes, it is THEN TIME to glue your roof in place. 

*it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you wait until the very end to attach your roof.. otherwise you will not be able to put your fairies (or other silhouettes) inside your lantern. 

Put the roof  in your hand, upside down, and put a dollop of glue in each corner. 

Set your lantern, upside-down, into the roof. This way you can see for certain that the roof is evenly adjusted to match up with your lantern base. 

After it has dried, hang up your lantern and admire your work!! 

The BEST part??!!? 

​THEY LIGHT UP!!! 

The possibilities are endless!! Great for a gift, a nightlight for a kid's bedroom, decorations for a garden party or a fun craft activity for a Saturday afternoon!! 

Stop in to see us and get a glimpse at all our fun Fall Decor.. we would just LOVE to share our ideas with you!!!