Light-Up Christmas Lantern Ornament

6 Materials
$12
4 Hours
Medium
Want to make an adorable and unique ornament for your tree this year? How about this charming light up lantern with a remote control LED candle! Handmade light up lantern ornaments are a great way to add visual interest, highlights and warmth to a Christmas tree. You will love the festive glow that's added - creating a soothing and relaxing feel. This Christmas lantern ornament is made out of decorative glittery silver foam sheets that also includes a remote control LED candle that you can flip the switch on the bottom and use the remote control to turn it on and off at any time. And it's easy to make for those of you who don't have a cutting machine - like me. Simply click on the PDF template to print. And the best part, it's simple to put together using a few basic supplies!
First, the lantern should be 4 1/2 inches tall by 3 inches wide - with a 1/2" border to draw an inside rectangle.
Then, to form a center support X, measure and mark from each corner of the inner rectangle, 3/8 inches, and draw connecting lines. You will need four for the sides of the lantern. For the top, draw a 3" triangle - you will need four. And for the bottom, draw a 3" square. You will need two. 
Because the glitter foam sheets I had were rather flimsy, I cut out pieces in chipboard first to glue onto the foam to make the lantern sturdier. Usually, the glitter foam sheets found in the children's craft section are thicker, 2-3mm and rather stiff, but not this time. The bottom round shape of the led candle is drawn on one of the bottom squares. 
I used the chipboard pieces to draw and cut out the shapes onto the foam sheets and then glued them together.
To assemble, add quick grab glue to the edges of two sides - perpendicular and hold in place until the glue sets. I used a book to prop the sides up until the glue was dry. I chose to use a quick grab glue instead of hot glue because hot glue can sometimes leave a rough or bumpy finish to foam sheets.
Oops - I should have glued on the plastic sheets (cut 1/2" smaller) to each foam sheet side before and not after gluing the foam sides together.
For the bottom, center the candle in the middle of one of the squares and draw a circle. Cut out inside the lines. Glue the bottom pieces together and cut out the remaining solid piece circle slightly smaller.
The candle should fit perfectly . . .
in the foam sheet bottom hole.
For the top, add glue to both edges - the lantern side and bottom of a triangle until glue grabs and sets. Continue with each side, adding glue to all connecting edges . . .
for three of the triangles.
then make a hanging loop by folding an eight inch piece of decorative twine in half, tying the ends in a knot and gluing to center where the triangle points meet. Glue on the final triangle adding glue to all three edges and the top edge of the side, to close the top together.
Glue on Christmas embellishments to the top . . .
and complete the look by adding a bow.
Resources for this project:
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Gail@Purple Hues and Me
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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