Share the fun!

It’s time for another fun Silhouette Challenge. I had so much fun last month with my first challenge that I happily jumped at the opportunity to do it again.

This month’s challenge is Fall-o-ween and since we are busy decorating our home for Halloween, I decided to use my Silhouette to make some more Halloween decor. What did I end up making? These fun and easy DIY paper Halloween lanterns.

Sadly, today I came down with a head cold. I am such a baby for things like that. Since this cold is making my head feel like mush, I can’t for the life of me think of anything to write.

So instead of boring you with mindless words, or even worse, writing something that makes no sense, I am going to show you pretty pictures of these fun DIY paper Halloween lanterns then give you a tutorial. Short and sweet!

And while you enjoy the pictures and tutorial, I am going to drink some OJ and go to bed. Maybe in the morning I will be able to form complete sentences again.

Well, are you totally convinced you need to make some lanterns for yourself? Hopefully the tutorial will make sense, if not, there are lots of pictures so you should be good. Enjoy!

How to make DIY Paper Halloween Lanterns

Supplies:

• Black and orange cardstock
• Vellum paper
• Cut files for the lanterns
  • I am sharing the cut files & PDF for these Halloween lanterns ornaments in my subscriber library until 09/13/2021, then they will move to the shop. Click here to subscribe to my newsletter and gain access to all the freebies. If you already have your password, click here to go to the library download them.
• Silhouette electronic cutting machine 
  • If you don’t have a Silhouette, I also included PDFs of the files in the library of free downloads if you want to cut them by hand
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun with glue sticks
• School glue sticks
• Flameless tea lights

Cut the lanterns out of cardstock. For the small Boo lantern, cut 2 of the lantern side pieces and 1 of the top piece.

For the larger pumpkin lantern, the top is in 2 pieces so you will need to cut 2 of the side pieces and 2 of the top pieces.

Cut 4 pieces of vellum paper just smaller than the side of the lantern. For this I just used a ruler and scissors since you just need 4 rectangular pieces that don’t need to be perfect.

Using the school glue, coat the back of the lantern and press a piece of vellum onto it. Rub it well so the glue sticks well to the vellum. Repeat on all 4 sides of the lantern.

Assemble the sides of the lantern by folding along the dotted lines, then glueing the tabs at the corners until you have a rectangle.

Fold along the dotted lines of the top piece so that there is a little lip around the bottom of the piece as shown in the picture below.

Add a bead of hot glue in the lip and press it firmly until it dries to secure it. Repeat on all 4 sides of the top piece.

Finish assembling the top by glueing the flaps to create a triangle on top of the lip you just created

For the larger lantern, the top piece is cut into 2 pieces, so after you secure the triangle top closed with glue, use a piece of tape to hold the bottom of the piece together.

Now glue the top to the lantern sides by putting some hot glue on the flaps on the top of the sides then pressing the top on them. Hold until it hardens.

Use flameless tea lights (please, please, please do not put real candles inside your paper lanterns, no one needs a fire this Halloween!) inside your lanterns and watch them glow.

My kids are loving these lanterns so much, we will have to replace the batteries in our tea lights many times before Halloween. Or maybe I just need to hide the tea lights so they don’t keep turning them on. It would be okay if they didn’t only turn them on in the daytime when you can’t really see the glow anyway!

Don’t forget to sign up for access to my library of freebies today. Inside you will have access to the cut files (and PDFs) for these DIY paper Halloween lanterns and much, much more. If you already have your password, click here to access the library. 

Thanks for stopping by!

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