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Saturday, March 31, 2012

French Script Paper Lanterns

I've been wanting to do a project with paper lanterns for quite some time since summer is right around the corner.  This is exactly what I had in mind to do.  Well, Friday on my way home from work, I stopped  in at my favorite garden shop and what did I see?  Lanterns just like what I had pictured in my mind.  Kind of creepy.   Someone has been reading my thoughts!  Needless to stay, I stopped at the party store on my way home and picked up a package of 3 paper lanterns.  They were white.  Total cost for the 3 lanterns including tax was about $7.  I came home and started printing my French script typography invoices on tissue paper and set about covering the three lanterns.  For directions on the homemade tissue paper click here.

Now my lanterns were white and I like to use the natural tissue paper for a more antique look, but white would look fine too depending on your needs.  It was cold out last night, and I didn't want to brave the cold so I set up my trivets and photographed these in my kitchen so you could see what they look like lit up.

I have shared all three of these French invoices on my blog.  I am pleased with the way they turned out.


Since I didn't have a light strand, this is how I lit them.  I used two battery candles per zippy snack bag.  I hung the bag inside the lantern on the little hook they provided.  They illuminated quite well.  Each lantern took me about an hour's labor and I used the spray glue.  I think something like this would be great for Halloween.  How about a haunted Versailles theme? 

12 comments:

NanaDiana said...

You are SOOO clever. Those are just darling..and what a clever way to light them. xo Diana

Miss Kitty said...

Gosh! These are just beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing how you did them with us. The way you lit them was very clever and could be used with any paper lanterns...thanks for that tip too.

miss flibbertigibbet said...

Those are so beautiful! I have a set of the store bought variety in my studio and I love them but this is a great project!
Lorraine

Bliss said...

Those are way to cool for Halloween.... although Halloween printed stuff on the natural color tissue would be awesome.

~Bliss~

Its So Very Cheri said...

Those are gorgeous. Great job--very unique.

I wanted to ask everyone if they would share the Linky Follower party on facebook so we get lots of new followers--after all it benefits all of us.

xoxo,
Cheri

Anne said...

Maggie,
Love how your creative mind works.Those look amazing.Love the battery candle idea too.
Anne

Debbiedoos said...

These are awesome! I would never have thought to do these. Thanks so much for sharing with the newbie party.

Anonymous said...

You did such a fabulous job! I have seen these and was always so tempted to buy them. But after seeing yours I might just have to give it a try! Thanks so much for sharing. Happy Easter, Marcia

Ivy and Elephants said...

Maggie you totally rock. What a great idea! Thank you for this wonderful post! I would love it if you would share this at our What’s It Wednesday blog party. Hope to see you there.

Paula
ivyandelephants.blogspot.com

Deneen@dreaming-n-color said...

Maggie I just love these. I am a new follower!

Rory Fugerson said...

Very cool paper lanterns. I thought using other types of paper wouldn't do for those paper lanterns. But with these I saw that even newspapers, scratch papers, or whatever type of paper it may be like a4 paper size, you can use it for these paper lanterns.

Janis@All Things Beautiful said...

This is so very cool!!! I LOVE IT!! I'm gonna try the tissue paper printing and cross my fingers! The Lanterns are lovely, and the battery candle idea is brilliant!