I’m so excited about this DIY project! It’s suuuper easy and adds color and texture to any room instantly. I really enjoy these because they look so complicated, but they really aren’t. I struggle a lot with wanting to add color to my home, but because we are renting, we can’t paint. So if you are a person whose landlord won’t let you paint, or are limited by lack of color than these are the perfect accent for any room.
You will need: A paper lantern, a hot glue gun, hot glue sticks, scissors, & thin fabric (about 1.5 yards).
First, cut your material into small 2 inch squares. I can’t remember exactly how many squares I used for the lantern balls, but it was A LOT. I would cut the material into strips, then cut the strips into squares, I’d say about 50 at a time.
Take a square of material and fold it in a triangle like this:
Then fold the material into a flower and glue it together with hot glue. You might have to put some glue on the inside of the flower and pinch it for 10 seconds to set the glue.
Squirted some hot glue onto the paper lantern, and place the fabric flower in the glue. I held the flower in the glue until the glue hardened, which takes between 10-15 seconds, depending on how much hot glue you use. Repeat this about 200 or so times.
I’m not gonna lie, this project can take anywhere from 3 to 5 hours, depending on the size of the material you use or the size of the paper lantern. You can also mix and match colors and textures of fabric glued on the balls. To keep myself from getting bored, I popped Friends into my DVD player while I cranked out this project.
When I finished, I used ribbon to hang them from different lengths above my couch:
This was a really fun project to work on, and it totally brightens up my living room with the yellow and grey tones. I hope that you can recreate something similar of your own. I’d love to see it! Be sure to subscribe, and keep me posted on projects that you are working on.
xo,
Maggie
