Simple DIY Autumn-Inspired Lantern

To whoever is reading this article, hello and welcome to our very first article on Hamlet & Foundry! This first ice-breaker of an article is harder to actually write than we'd imagined, but despite the slight awkwardness for us, we're pushing through. A brief intro to who we are and why exactly we thought publishing a blog would be a good idea for us: we (Gus and Alex) are a best friend team of 15 years. The name of our blog is actually inspired by the names of the area where we first became friends! We both have a love for cooking, crafts, home and fashion aesthetics, and keeping our skin looking as nice as humanly possible, so we decided to put our collective genius together and share with the world what we think might be some pretty cool stuff.

Without any further wait, here's the tutorial to an updated DIY we first made together in 2nd grade. Enjoy!

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What you'll need:

- Round button tap light (you can find a small, individual tap light at the Dollar Store for, you guessed it, $1 OR you can buy a pack of 4 tap lights at Walmart for about $4.50)

- Batteries (if not included)

- Slightly transparent scrapbook/tracing paper - this is where you can get creative by choosing the style and design of the paper. Any craft store like AC Moore, Hobby Lobby, or Michaels will carry a wide selection of this for less than $1

- Regular scissors

- Double-sided tape

- (Optional) Some fancy edging scissors (just in case you want to get fancy. You can find these close to the scrapbook paper aisle in craft stores)

Instructions:

1. First make sure the button tap light has the required batteries in it. These generally take 2-4 AA batteries.

2. Decide what paper you want to use and trim it as necessary. You'll be putting the paper around the light horizontally (landscape-wise, if you will), so trim the end of the paper in order to have no more than a 1-inch overlap. This is also the time to take the edging scissors to the top of the paper. I personally think that a scalloped edge looks rather nice with these lanterns.

3. Align the bottom of the paper to the bottom of the light and use the double-sided tape to secure. Once the paper is secure to the light, use the double-sided tape to secure both ends of the paper together.

4. Place your new lantern in a slightly conspicuous place so people can see it and be awed by your handiwork! These look great in the evening and are very versatile with how you can design them. They look pleasing to the eye when they're grouped together, especially if you trim the length of the paper so they're of varying heights.

Here's some shots of the ones we made, which we love for fall: