Decorate paper lanterns for fun or to go with a party theme.
Paper lanterns add a soft glow for indoor or outdoor lighting and provide an inexpensive option for party or wedding decorations. Make plain paper lanterns more festive by decorating them with a customized design. This project requires only paper and craft supplies. Choose your own decorations to add more color, dimension and festivity to paper lanterns of any shape or size. Choose colors and shapes to complement your decorating theme or event to personalize your decorated paper lanterns. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Select stencils or templates from a website in your desired pattern, such as flowers or wedding bells. MarthaStewart.com recommends printing out a butterfly template---you can reduce or enlarge the butterfly to suit your lanterns---and fold them so that they move like real butterflies.
2. Choose paper in the background color you want for your decorations. For example, select yellow-gold for sunflowers or silver-gray for wedding bells. For an outdoor event, select 20-lb. or heavier weight paper to make them sturdy enough to withstand wind.
3. Print the template on the colored paper. To use a stencil for paper lantern decorations, hold the stencil firmly and use a mechanical pencil or sharpened pencil to trace the design. Move the stencil as needed to fit as many designs on the paper as possible. You can put the designs in any direction on the paper.
4. Decorate the designs for the paper lanterns with glitter glue. For example, paint gold glitter glue on sunflowers and silver glitter glue on wedding bells. Add other colors if you want, such as bursts of pink on the wedding bells and streaks of orange on the sunflowers. It's neater and more efficient to decorate the designs before cutting the designs out of the paper. Allow the glitter glue to dry completely. It may take over half an hour to dry fully, depending on the temperature and humidity.
5. Place the colored paper on a cutting board and use a utility knife to cut the designs out of the paper. Hold the paper down firmly with one hand. Keep your fingers away from the utility knife.
6. Gently fold or bend the edges of the designs to give them more dimensions. Bend the edges of the bell down so that the bells will stand out from the paper lanterns. Bend flower petals up and twist them to each side so they resemble real flowers.
7. Apply glue dots or white glue to the backs of the designs. For small paper decoration, one or two dots will be enough. For an outdoor event, apply at least four glue dots one in each direction from the center of the design on the back. This helps stabilize the decoration on the paper lantern in case of wind.
8. Repeat Steps 3 through 6 to create as many paper lantern decorations as you want.
Tags: paper lanterns, designs paper, glitter glue, wedding bells, colored paper, glue dots, lantern decorations