Even before our visit to the San Diego Lantern Festival, I was in awe of a “do-it-yourself” gorgeous Asian paper lantern craft I found on Pinterest. My mouth dropped when I spotted this — so beautiful and something Sophie and I would LOVE doing. So we gathered our craft supplies and embarked on this activity during my recent stay-cation.
To make the Asian lantern, I used a $5 Ikea pendant lampshade (it’s huge, by the way), two packages of jumbo cocktail drink umbrellas (Party City), and glue … LOTS of glue.
We started with the lampshade.
Then opened all the umbrellas.
What’s a project without some umbrella humor?
Then it was time to stick the umbrellas into the lampshade (use glue to attach — I’ll explain later).
And keep sticking…
And keep sticking (I told you it’s huge)…
Now at this point in the craft, the umbrellas started falling out and I began wondering how to salvage this activity. I thought of glue, but wasn’t sure how we’d individually attach every umbrella. Sophie suggested painting it on. Brilliant! I dumped some Elmer’s white glue into a plastic container; gave her a brush; and she covered that lampshade with glue. I recommend doing this before you even start the umbrella part.
And then, eventually, you’re done!
Isn’t it pretty? I love the color. We hung ours from the backyard porch.
