DIY: Recycle Paper Bags to Create Colourful Luminaries

Hello! Hope you all are in the best of spirits!

I came across a couple of tutorials I've done in the last few months mainly done for a local daily. Just didn't have the time to share them with you people. So for sometime now on, I'll be filling up my blog with these DIYs & Projects. The coming weeks will see a lot of tutorials and the projects I've been on. To start with, here's a super simple tutorial on using paper bags to make luminaries. A great way to recycle and create décor for your home, parties and events. 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• A Paper Bag
• Crepe Paper/Kite Paper in different colours
• Glue

Step 1: Begin with neatly trimming of the upper part of the paper bag. 

Step 2: Make strips from crepe paper. Use different colours for a colourful & vibrant look.

Step 3: One by one glue the colourful crepe paper strips to the paper bag.

Here's what you're final product will look like. 

Use LED tea lights or place a plain glass votives to light your luminary up. Alternatively, this can be used outdoors using sand  to hold pillar candles.

I hope you enjoy making these! A great alternative to add some quirky element to your home décor/event décor. They're sure going to brighten up all your blues. ;) Try it out!

Next on the blog: Some cute & unique gift tags.

Till then,

Happy Crafting!

Karen 

DIY: Pet Bottles Lanterns

Hello all you lovely people. Hope you all are doing great! 

Today's post is a continuation to my previous post on recycled pet bottles. This is just another fab way which can be tried to beautify your pet bottle lanterns. A great, simple and inexpensive way to create festive lighting for your home this Diwali.  

Jumping straight to the tutorial, lets start with what you'll need for this project.

·      A Large pet bottle (Either a Mirinda, Coke or Pepsi)

·      Crepe Paper

·      Fevicol/Glue

·      Tea light candles

Take a large pet bottle and cut the upper half & the lower part of the bottle just keeping the

Middle portion. In this case I’ve used a large Mirinda pet bottle. Trim off the extras with a scissor 

to get a neater finish.

The Middle Portion of a Large Mirinda Pet Bottle

For embellishments, I’m going to make use of crepe papers to create a lantern. So take any three different colours of crepe paper. In this case, I’ve used yellow, orange & red. To begin with, cut strips of approximately 5-6cms of each colour. You can get creative by using different textures and colours.

Now take each strip, and make arc-like designs on it. Once you’ve done this, cut out the arc portions keeping it continuous.  Do this for all three crepe papers.

Once we’re done with cutting the arc cutouts, we need to stick them onto the pet bottle cutout in order to create a frilly effect. So now the next step would be to stick each of the crepe cutout by layers. Apply fevicol to the upper part of each frill and stick it to the bottle. So first, start with sticking the first layer beginning at the top of the bottle cutout. Continue the same method and keep sticking each layer one below the other till you reach at the bottom of the bottle.

This is what you're lantern will begin to look like.

You're crepe paper layers will look more like fish scales. Take a look at the picture below:

We're done with the lantern but we need to use it turning it upside down. Like this, it will give a better effect of the scaly layers that we've created. Finally, Just use it with a LED tea light or a normal tea light to light up the lantern. Here's the final product...

Definitely a fab way for putting to use all throw away pet bottles. A very simple idea which can be customised in numerous ways. Do try it out and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Till Then,
Happy Crafting!

Karen