Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Halloween Lantern Craft Tutorial

These are some seriously cute vintage inspired

Halloween lanterns!


I printed six of these; each will hang in groups of 3 from my ceiling on each side of my fireplace using monofilament at varying heights. I love to expand the Halloween decor outward from the mantle, making a larger scale vignette that guests can see the moment they walk in on Halloween night!

I have added tons of images below along with the tutorial to help you along.
Of course you can use these on their own, but if you continue to go one step further like I did, then continue to follow the directions to create the bottom, battery operated lights can go inside for a Halloween Glow! Its way too cool and the kids love it! A gentle breeze, or in my case, a ceiling fan on low offers a slow spinning motion creating just enough movement to draw attention. Next year I think I’ll incorporate them into a centerpiece of pine cones, acorns, dried hydrangeas, apples, wheat, corn husks and fresh autumn leaves! Or maybe even into a Halloween Wreath!

***OneSpringStreets Creative Halloween Trick***

Depending on how thick your card stock is will determine how much light comes through. I wanted mine to show brightly so I completed mine like this…

Print one set on card stock and another on normal printer paper, cut out the vintage window images on each set, leaving a border around the one printed on printer paper for gluing. The one on card stock becomes a sturdy base, the others fill those windows. Just insert the images from the printer paper on the inside of the card stock base with tape or glue. The vintage images cast an eerie glow all evening long! Did I mention the kids just love this! It’s amazing how many little ones love to touch and spin them and because they are card stock, I just let them go for it! At the end of the night, I’ll give them away to their delight and just make more for next year!

Created exclusively by OneSpringStreet.Net.

You can purchase this design here.
Print as many as you wish for your own personal use!
Or create Halloween gifts to give!

Get Creative!

Decorate yours as you wish with glitter, buttons, brads, rhinestones, ribbon, raffia, etc! The possibilities are endless!

All OneSpringStreet Printables are 300 DPI and are formatted to fit on traditional size 8 ½ by 11-inch paper.

*For best results print on crisp white card stock and traditional weight printer paper to “full scale” or “fit to page”*

TUTORIAL....
Here is the final product I created with just the card stock alone,I love the black and white gingham!


I've tried to add an image for each step I took. I've never written a tutorial for something like this usually mine are on HTML coding, so please forgive me in advance and let me know if I've missed something.....

Of course it has four sides, here's a view of the other sides.....


Supplies I used:
Printout of Halloween Lantern Template,
Scissors, Ruler, Scoring tool, tape or glue, hole punch, ribbon, battery operated candle if desired, along with one extra piece of card stock if creating the bottom to hold the candle.  

First I scored around every foldable edge on the card stock using a ruler,
and well, I don't own a scoring tool, so what did I use? Please don't
tell my husband, but I used the needle for the turkey injector,
it had the perfect point! C'mon, he never uses it anyway!

Here's the scored page.... See! It was the perfect point!
I'll have to remember to tell him that when I get caught!

Next I started to cut off some of the edged of the border.
I did keep the extra white on the bottom though.

Here's what is left from the final cuts. I am keeping that
border to help support the bottom when I put it in.

This is my "amazing handy dandy tool" that is suppose to be used
for wallpaper, but it's always in my tool bag for creasing purposes!
It works perfectly and cost very little!
I used it to crease every fold on the lantern with ease.

Cut down the center of each section of the lanterns roof only.

Fold everything.
It is at this point that I use a hole punch for ribbon later.

You can see the bottom, this is the extra white border I left on.
This will support the bottom for the candle.
If I was only going to put this on the table,
I would not insert a bottom and just skip those steps.

Tape or glue the bottom folds.
I love this Elmer's Tape Runner.
I purchased mine at Hobby Lobby!
Works like a charm!

Tape or glue the roof together first, then the sides.

You are now done unless you wish to add the bottom in.

To add the bottom in, place the finished lantern
on another piece of card stock.
Draw and score around the base for correct sizing.

Cut approx. 1/4 to 1/2 inch beyond the scoring mark to create a border.
Fold the score marks and cut the corners up to the
score line as show below on an angle.
Test: Insert the bottom to make sure it fits.
If all is well, continue on to the next step.

On a corner of the bottom, measure out the size of your
battery operated candle. You will cut a section out so
that you can insert the candle later,
turn it on and off and for replacing it when needed.

Cut a corner opening, but just score a bend mark as show below.

Fold back the cut on the score line, bending it to create
a small edge and tape or glue into space.
This small edge will stop your candle from falling out of the lantern later.

Cut a length of card stock approx. 6 inches long.

I used the candle to decide the width of the strip of card stock
then multiplied it by two. Score a line down the middle length wise and fold.
 

Scored card stock.

I then went back to the bottom and in the very center
placed the candle and outlined it.

Back to the strip of card stock.
Roll the card stock around the candle and cut it
to fit approx 1/2 way around the candle or more.
You want to make sure you candle can easily
side into the slot once it's attached.
Glue the outside of one side of the folded strip.

Then cut tabs all along the glue side up to the middle.

Round the paper with the tab side glue facing down.
Place on your outline and secure tabs

This creates the perfect resting place for your candle.
No matter if it spins, the candle will
always be centered.

Now glue the folded tabs of the bottom and
insert on the inside of the lantern.
Mines a little off here because I was rushing.

Insert your ribbon or monofiloment (fishing line).
Place your candle in the bottom and your ready to hang it!
There's that candle in place! It's not going anywhere!
Next year I think I'm going to create a Halloween Display on
my coffee table! I'll put some of these on candle sticks and
cake stands along with a whole bunch of autumn leaves,
pinecones, acorns, apples, red grapes and cinnomon sticks!

2 comments:

  1. This is a darling creation. Thank you for sharing the details and great pics.
    So enjoyed my visit and thank you for stopping by and becoming a new follower. I am now a happy follower here as well.
    Have a great day and happy creating.
    XO Celestina Marie
    Celestina Marie Design

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  2. martin kragh rysslandshistoria-Martin Kragh is a researcher at the Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies. He defended his PhD at the Stockholm School of Economics in 2009, and specializes in the economic and political history of Russia and the former USSR. Kragh has also done research on the history of economic thought, and has written a textbook (in Swedish) on the topic.

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