Make a paper lantern ornament from a printable design!

This is a spin-off on my previous lantern ornament project. If you feel confident doing somewhat intricate papercutting, you can do it the same way by cutting the design out. You will find the pattern in the design pack. Otherwise, try this alternative idea with vellum paper.

Materials for Making a Lantern Ornament

• black cardstock
• scissors; a hobby knife and a hole punch would also be helpful
• printable vellum paper
• thread
• LED tea light

How to Make a Black Lantern Ornament

1 – Print the lantern design on card stock (65+ lb). I recommend using black card stock for consistency: then the lantern will be black inside and outside. But using white cardstock would work as well. Cut it out. If you have a craft knife, it can be useful for cutting the inside window out as well as the circle at the bottom of the lantern. And a hole punch works well for punching the hole at the top.

2 – Fold the design at dotted lines to form a lantern.

3 – Print the design on printable vellum paper and glue it inside the window with a glue stick.

4 – Glue the lantern together with a glue stick and let it dry.

5 – Put an LED light inside. Tie the upper flaps together with a bow or a string. The hole at the bottom will allow an easy access to the switch of the LED light, and the opening at the top will let you take it out if you need to without untying the strings.

In the white lantern, the design is cut out of paper, but a piece of vellum paper is inserted inside to diffuse the light.

Get the Design!

You can make as many of your own designs as you want by using a blank template, drawing on it and cutting the design out. It is available for free here. This part might especially appeal to children. Try hearts, flowers, and other simple shapes.

In our paper lantern ornament package, you will also get:

• blank design
• bird & flower simple designs (as shown here)
• bird-in-a-cage design

All available in black and white!

The design for this project can also be found in our Silhouette Christmas Bundle. The book is a collection of various ideas for Christmas-themed silhouette crafts—ornaments, lanterns, cards, tags and toys. Altogether, there are  fifteen silhouette crafts with over sixty pages of printable silhouette designs. Print and make—it’s that easy!