There’s nothing like a good crafting session to raise the spirits. It’s fun to create one-of-a-kind home decor items, and this paper lantern DIY will help you do just that. Whatever crazy colour you’ve painted your living room/nursery/front porch, it doesn’t matter – you can make a fantastic paper lantern with adorable bunting to match it perfectly!
The first thing you’ll need for this paper lantern DIY is, not surprisingly, a paper lantern! :) These plain paper lanterns are very common – you can find them on Amazon*, in all different sizes and even colours.
I needed binding to attach my little flags to – so long 2 inch strips of fabric were ironed into binding. (For those unfamiliar with making binding, iron the material in half long ways, open up and fold each edge into the centre and iron again, then fold the whole thing back in half on itself. Keeps all the messy cut edges folded inside.)
If you’re not interested in making your own binding, you can buy it pre-made in 3 yd lengths. It comes in lots of colours – there’s a selection here*, including one in gold lamé*, which is very fancy.
Then I released my bunting lantern into the wilderness. Here it is in it’s new home:
Another project ticked off my list.
If you enjoyed this paper lantern DIY, good news, I have another paper lantern decorating tutorial over here.
Happy DIYing my friends!
*affiliate links
very good idea, I love it! thank you about this tutorial ;)
Love this idea, the bunting is really cute and effective. I’ve featured it as one of my favourite DIY paper lantern projects on my party blog post http://www.stylemyparty.co.uk/blog/20-diy-paper-lanterns/ hope you like it, take a peak!
That is sush a good idea. The final aspect is so funny and beautiful. Nice blog. Hope to see you soon on mine. XOXO
Sehr schön, eine tolle Anleitung…Danke
Lieben Gruß Claudi
Thank you for sharing! I bought 3 lanterns to experiment on for my upcoming baby’s nursery. I dont have a sewing machine and wouldnt know how to work one anyway.. you think i can just use ribbons and colorful paper instead of bunting?? love your blog!
Mama at 40 in the Philippines
Absolutely – anything that you can glue down is fair game for decorating these lanterns. You could cut colourful paper triangles and stick them to the underside of the ribbon to create bunting and then glue the bunting to the lantern just as I did. Good luck!
i love it!! easy, but fantastic!!
I linked to your tutorial on my blog – thanks for sharing!
doro K.
Love this! Such a happy light. :-)
Hi Kirsty! This has been my favorite lantern tutorial for SO long, and I finally blogged about it today!
http://www.chickabug.com/blog/2011/11/diy-paper-lantern-decorating-ideas.html
Thank you for the inspiration! : )
Heather
Great tutorial. I love it, thanks for sharing
Love this tutorial. Link it up to my Party Tutorial contest for a chance to win some fabulous prizes:
Hi there! Thanks so much for sharing this idea with us. I featured it on my blog today and pinned it on pinterest today too!
Love it! Thanks for sharing! <3
This is such a fab idea, love it! I have one of these lanterns still in the packaging somewhere, off to find it and use up some scraps! Thanks for sharing such a fab idea!
I copied you, loved the idea so much – thanks for sharing! Was too lazy to go to the bottom of the lantern, but still looks cool for my yet to be born baby’s room! Pic at http://www.flickr.com/photos/iwannabcreative/5815949253/in/photostream
I LOVE this idea,I’m a huge banner fan :),I make then in all different shapes and sizes and sell the in my store, but I have never thought of this idea. Thanks for sharing ,I’ii use it for up coming summer celebrations.
Hello from your newest follower! I love your blog’s name and this idea is so darling! If you have a chance stop by my blog.
http://caribbeanmissionarywife.blogspot.com
[email protected]
Adorable!!! I am running out the door now to go to IKEA to get a lantern and make one of these so cute!!! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Tonpia,
The bunting was as long as it took to wrap around the lantern! (sorry, I didn’t measure it). The little flags are roughly 2.5 inches apart, centre to centre. Hope that helps.
Hi. I just found your blog and am enjoying poking through it. I adore this project and am sort of sewing impaired so I have some basic questions: how long was your bunting strand and how much space did you leave between the flags?
Thanks.
Great fun!!! Just found your blog though Oh-Dee-Doh & loving it.
Cheers, Julia @ Baker Hill Homes
What a great way to dress up a paper lantern! I so need one for my dining room!
Perfect for a play area. You rock!!
LOVE IT! Totally want to make one for my sun porch this summer.
agedsimplicity.etsy.com
So pretty – and now I know why I’ve been saving all those stupidly small fabric scraps! You could actually stitch the bunting to these lanterns, which also have the advantage of being fairly traded (i.e. the people who made them got paid properly, whereas for E1.50 the IKEA workers presumably didn’t…): http://www.onevillage.org/lighting.htm#glowbal1
I just finished my lantern yesterday. I actually had all the materials, including the lanterns, in my stash. It looks lovely in my one year olds room. Thanks for this great idea.
This looks so nice and pleasant. Thanks for sharing it with us :)
This is amazing! I love it SO much! :)
-Annie @ {PP}
This is absolutely fan-tab-u-lous! LOVE it!
XO,
Sarah
I love this! I featured it on my blog today. Feel free to grab a featured button!
Lois
http://www.auntielolocrafts.blogspot.com
That is absolutely adorable. I can’t get over it. I think I just fell in LOVE! I think I need to go out and make myself one of these. Thanks for sharing. Love love love it!
This is so simple and eye catching! Love it. Look out for a feature on it on our FB page, Whimsy Petite Styling! Thanks for the inspiration!
i’m in love! want to make one now! found you from dollar store crafts too!
Hi Miki, the painting is a big ole canvas I painted almost five years ago. I actually painted a pair of them because I couldn’t find anything that went with my lounge room in Australia; turns out they matched that lantern quite well. They’ve since moved to the staircase since taking this photo.
Thanks for dropping by and thanks for telling me about the Dollar Store Crafts site, I had no idea!
Just saw your project on Dollar Store Crafts and quickly came over to check it out! So great! I have a dozen of these lamps at home – just waiting for the perfect project and now I found it. I do have a question for you though – can you tell me about that amazing painting in the background? :) Thanks!
I featured you today on my Toast of Tuesday! Come grab a button!
http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/2011/03/toast-of-tuesday_29.html
That is darling!!! I’d love for you to link up to Wow Me Wednesday!
http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/2011/03/wow-me-wednesday_23.html
This is absolutely perfect.
I love this! It would be so cute for party decorations.
Oh my goodness I love this so much! What a brilliant idea! Hope you don’t mind I linked to it from my blog. I just love it too much!
This is the single cutest thing I have seen in a long time. BRAVO!
That turned out so pretty!
wow, a really great ideea!!
Greetings, daniela
Found your lantern featured over at Be Different, Act Normal. I love this idea. Great job!
Such a cool idea, I love it.
Thanks Margaret!
I just flew over from wherever I first saw this adorable idea, then I spent some (excessive) time pouring through your previous entries. You are so creative and your blog is such fun! Can’t wait to visit again!
Came in a rush from flickr :) to say I.love.it! It’s perfect!
love, love, love the lantern! Your blog name also is fabulous!!
Genius! I love it! Lots of love, Amanda xxx
wow what an amazing lantern, i love it and am sorely tempted to make one for my grandaughters for xmas. Abolutely stunning well done you
Pene
I adore this and will be making one for my son’s room very soon!
It’s nice to find another person blogging about crafting and life in France :)
Just come from Selina’s too. What a clever lady you are to make such a pretty lantern. I absolutely love it. I also love your stained glass quilt you are making. I am intrigued as to how you make it. It’s very tricky looking. Maybe I will google it later on. Can’t wait to see it finished.
Oh! You make me jealous! The lampshade looks perfect!:)
Hi, I just found your blog through Selina, loved reading your posts.. I love the lantern and bunting, absolutely gorgeous.
Simply gorgeous!! I have a thing for bunting – that is a super sweet make over. I think I will have to head over to Ikea again soon:)
I love this Kirsty! What a great idea. The bunting is adorable.
Kirsty, that is just gorgeous! I’m not really a huge bunting fan, haven’t understood the little bunting craze that’s been going on, until just now. I’m now sold!