Halloween Lantern with Vintage Images

 If you are stopping by for the Creative Charms Fall Blog Hop, please click HERE to go to the blog hop post.  After you finish the hop come on back and have a look around!

I found another way to use some of the vintage Halloween images from Twisted Papers.  I've had this idea in mind for a while and Friday night I finally had a chance to make a basic prototype version.  

I used this tag from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More on the "TagsMirror Windows" feature to form the lantern frame.  I sized the tag at 8 inches to be sure it would fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock.  By using the Gypsy, I was able to tap "weld" and eliminate the tick marks for the scoring (you can do the same thing with Design Studio by checking the "welding" box).

This is the large tag cut removed from the mat.  I cut four of these - two for the outside and two for the inside of the lantern.

I printed out two copies of a couple of vintage Halloween images on vellum.  I made them approximately the size of the openings in the tag frames.  When I printed the images I used the setting for transparency film in my printer and that seemed to work well (photo paper settings would probably put too much ink on the surface).

Once I had the frames cut and the vellum printed I was ready to start assembling the lantern.

I eliminated the tick marks because it is very easy to see where to make the score lines.  Just place the frame against the top of the scoring board and line up the "notch" between the two frames with any line on the board.

Fold toward the "mountain" of the score line - be careful, the frames are rather thin and you don't want to tear the paper.

You can use one of the cut outs left from the frame to help determine where to trim the vellum image so it will fit properly.  I had "guesstimated" on the sizing and it worked out almost even - my images were a bit long for the frame.

Be careful when you trim the vellum with a trimmer - the blade seems tear the paper easily at the start of the cut.  It is sometimes better to put the blade down in the middle of the cut and pull it to both ends to get a smooth result.  It doesn't really matter here since this edge will be sealed in the frame.

I used an ATG to apply strong adhesive all around the frame.  Then I carefully lined up one of the vellum pieces, making sure to have the "good" side facing out.

You might have to trim a bit at the angles on the top of the frame.

When you have all four images secured in two of the frames you can start to put the lantern together.

Add more tape all around the inside of one of the empty frames.

Then, line it up with the inside of the vellum image and stick it down.  The tape is very aggressive, so take the time to line it up carefully the first time!

Add more tape to the other empty frame section and apply it over the second vellum image.

After this step your frames should look like this.

Add more adhesive on the open frame and place the second section with the vellum images on top of the frame.  The lantern will look like this from the outside.  Now you just need to add adhesive to the last open frame and carefully pull it closed, adhering to the inside of the last vellum pane.  This step is the most difficult because it is now a three dimensional object.

When all four sides have been connected, the lantern will be finished (with no exposed edges of the vellum showing) on the inside.

I used four battery powered tea lights to illuminate the lantern.

It is very difficult to take a photo of the lantern in the dark but here you can see the effect of the low tea lights.

Next, I tried a real candle (in a glass container).  The effect is slightly different when the flame is higher.

This lantern looks pretty when it is lit up and also when it is in unlit in the daylight because of the colorful images.  I made this one as a start - I have lots of ideas on ways to "fancy" it up!  You can use different frames, change the sizes, use different images on each side, add lots of embellishments - there's no limit to the variations that are possible. I want to do some of these as hanging lanterns - won't that be pretty?!

We have company for the weekend - my husband's sister and her family are staying with us while the new floors in their house addition are being installed and finished.  There may be some haunted house building happening on Saturday...I hope you have a crafty weekend!


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Upcycle a Bottle Top with Creative Charms

Upcycling combines crafting and recycling to create new, interesting and useful things from ordinary objects that might otherwise be thrown away.  Today is my day to post on the Creative Charms blog and I shared these tea light holders made from a very ordinary object.

Our family likes Tropicana orange juice.  It used to come in cartons, but just recently it started to appear in these bottles.

The only identifying mark on the lid is on the top.  This will not be seen since the top becomes the bottom for this project.

As soon as I saw these new lids an idea popped into my head - the pointed pattern on the outsidemade me think of Halloween...

...and the center circle was just the right size to hold a battery operated tealight!  There is a slight gap between the inner screw top and the outer lid - perfect to hold a piece of vellum upright.

I measured carefully and determined that a piece of vellum cut at six inches and overlapped by about 1/4 inch to form a tube would fit neatly in the gap.  For the first light, I cut the vellum at 6 inches by 4 inches.

I punched a spiderweb strip with the Martha Stewart Deep Edger Spiderweb punch.  I used some Creative Memories Precision Point Adhesive along the center line to adhere the strip to the vellum.

I placed the trim on the vellum at about an inch from the top and 1/4 inch from the side edge.  Then I used my adhesive tape gun to place adhesive along the short edge.

I rolled the vellum into a cylinder and stuck the edges together.  Then I trimmed off the excess spiderweb border.

I added some large gradient gem stickers to the triangle sections of the lid.

Then I added some tiny gem stickers to the tips of the triangles. 

I used the punched trim to keep this project very simple.

 

You could easily design a shade similar to the one I did several years ago with various Halloween images (you can read more about this lantern HERE).

For the second light, I used a piece of vellum six by three inches and punched the top with a Martha Stewart border punch of spiders.  I added little black gem stickers to the spider bodies.

For the third light, I cut the vellum at two by six inches and added some leaf shaped gems and sequins from the  Fall Medley.  I attached these to the vellum with glue dots and left a short gap for the 1/4 inch seam.

I added an extra sequin leaf over the seam so the pattern would be consistent.

You could make these without the orange juice lids but they add color and a firm base to each tea light.  If you wanted to make these for another holiday, you could spray paint the lids to make the bases in your chosen color.  I think they would look nice in gold for Christmas.

I used different colors and varied the placement and sizes of the gems on each holder.

The battery operated tea lights stay cool and there is little danger of the light touching the vellum since it sits in a separate channel.

The other project I posted for Creative Charms is this Autumn card.  I have always liked the word art on this Cuttlebug folder.

I started with some ordinary kraft cardstock cut at 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches and folded in half for an A2 card.  I placed the front of the card in the Cuttlebug folder and embossed the design.

Next I colored the words "Autumn" and "Blessings" with my ProMarkers so they would stand out on the card front.

I used Cinnamon for "Autumn" and Walnut for "Blessings." It is fairly easy to stay on the embossed area and slight wobbles won't matter in the end.

The next step was to spray the entire card front with Glimmer Mist.  I used my favorite color, "Sun Sisters," which gives a lovely sparkle and glow.

I used my embossing heat gun to speed up the drying of the glimmer mist.

The inside of the card is not very attractive after coloring and the spraying warped the cardstock just a bit so I added a liner to the card.

I cut a piece of ivory cardstock at 8 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches and folded it in half.  I added adhesive all over the top and centered the liner in the card.  Then I closed the embossed card top over the adhesive and fixed the liner in position.

The back part of the liner stays free and allows space for an extra message.  Since it is not attached to the back the card will open and close easily.

It is very hard to capture the sparkle of the Glimmer Mist in a photo but the effect is very pretty and it totally changes the look of the raw kraft cardstock.

The  Knitter's Garden - Orange Flowers looked too much like Spring for this card so I added  Amber Vintage Brads and an Amber Vintage Marble Brad to the centers.

The flowers take on a more elegant look with the brads added.

I filled in with some leaf sequins from the Fall Medley .  Everything is attached with glue dots - first the gold leaves and then the flowers.

Creative Charms Mini-Giveaway winner...

The winner from the comments on my last Creative Charms posts chosen by random.org was Yelowflower

Could you please contact me with your mailing information as soon as possible?  I'll be sending you...

...an assortment of leaf gems and sequins to use for your own cards.

Please stop over to the Creative Charms blog HERE to see all of the Design Team projects.  Be sure to leave a comment on my post with these projects. Once again, I'll  have little giveaway for someone who comments here or on the Creative Charms blog (leave a comment in both places to double your chances).

You do not have to be a blog follower to win, however, if you like my blog and want to show your support for my work, please do follow or subscribe.  I also have a Capadia Designs Facebook page HERE and if you "like" that page you will see my daily posts in your news feed.

I wonder how many of you will start looking through your fridge for bottle caps to alter - do you like orange juice?  If you do some upcycling be sure to let me know and send a photo if you can.

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