Paper Lantern Craft for a Summer Party

Here’s a little goodie I posted over at CraftsUnleashed-blog- and I thought I’d share it here, too. You can whip up one of these beauties just in time for your Labor Day festivities!

I have to admit that this wasn’t my original idea- I saw a project on Martha Stewart’s blog that used butterfly punch cut-outs on a purchased paper lantern and I thought it was super cute. I was tickled, too, because ConsumerCrafts.com sells these fabulous battery-operated paper lanterns for cheap- only $6.00 for a set of two! (Ok, you have to buy your own AAA batteries, but whatever.) Anyway, long story short, I used my Cricut, Core’dinations cardstock, and the paper lanterns to whip up a lovely decoration for your table or patio.

I used the Cricut and the Plantin Schoolbook cart to cut 1.5 inch stars from theRetro Mod Vintage Core’dinations cardstock stack. I love the fact that the paper is two-sided, so you get more bang for your buck! You can also hand-cut your stars or use a paper punch, if you have that handy.

You”ll need 12 stars each of red and blue. You’ll use 6 stars per swirl.

Using a hot-glue gun, affix the stars in a swirl pattern down the side. The glue sets up almost immediately, so you can make them up right before the party!

These look great sitting on the table as a centerpiece, too:

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