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"Where better to care for the soul than in the details of our daily lives?....The soul has an absolute, unforgiving need for regular excursions into enchantment. It requires them like the body needs food and the mind needs thought... An enchanted world is one that speaks to the soul, to the mysterious depths of the heart and imagination where we find value, love and union with the world around us. As mystics of many religions have taught, that sense of rapturous union can give a sense of fulfillment that makes life purposeful and vibrant." ~ Thomas Moore.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Paper Lanterns Decorated Shabby Chic

Hello Lovelies,

Just popping in to share my little fun project recently.
My Beautification series has been on hold for a bit as I have been super busy gardening and took lots of pics for a post but half of them got deleted by gremlins, so will have to take more soon, but that post is on the way. My gardening takes all priority as it is both the source of my peace and my connection with Nature as well as food and flowers. I will pick up back on the Beautification series very shortly.

For now just wanting to share some simple whimsical beauties I just made, paper lanterns.







There are some Chinese ones I adore but cannot find or when I do cannot afford them, but they are gorgeous and I love them. As always a need invents creativity and I bought some plain round white paper lanterns and tried to make something pretty on my own. I did see something a couple years back and took my lesson from them, but with my own twist.

I bought some plain white round paper lanterns at Party City....$7.00 for package of 3.

 




I had some beautiful tissue napkins I wanted to use for decoupage on my plain IKEA Secretary 2 years ago but have not gotten around to it and I'm also loving the simple plain white of it.....for now.
But these floral napkins will be perfect for this project and what I want to see. The beauty of this is that the lanterns come in all colors, and paper napkins come in hundreds of gorgeous different patterns and colors and one can totally personalize what they want to see in their lanterns. The choices are unlimited and I think I'll make more......in the blues, aqua, range.....soft and delicate......ooooooooh.....getting excited again. :D
I used around 3 napkins for two lanterns, and cut out the flowers. There were two extra layers of tissue for each napkin and I removed those which made these super uber thin tissue like but I wanted the sheerness as I did want light to go through it. The cutting was meditative as I listened to something online.
The other materials you will need are Mod Podge, scissors, small paint brush, some nylon or cotton thread to make tassels in colors of your choice or white cotton which you can dye to color of your choice....., and some beads if you want them in the tassel. You can be really creative with tassels.
If you want another color to paint the lantern, you will have to have some of that too, and I wanted Aqua, still one of my favorite colors after white.....and paper towels............... I'll explain how to get through that later on here.......





The white lanterns were easy......simply open them and insert the metal hanger and begin to apply the cut outs of the flowers from the tissue napkins. You mod podge (which I also watered down a bit as it was far too thick for this tissue paper) the back of the cut outs and apply them on the lantern where you want them....then you mod podge the surface making sure to get all the edges of the cut out firmly down so it is all flush onto the lantern. It looks beautiful already. I love simple but dramatic projects.

For the Aqua one, I thought I could just mix up some Aqua paint from the colors I had, and that was a bit of work as my blues and greens were all the wrong ones, but I finally got it right. Applying the paint straight onto the lantern made it too opaque for my taste and didn't allow for much light to go through so I had to act fast and use a wet paper towel to remove what I had applied.....then I added water to the paint for a watery consistency and used a wet paper towel dipped into it and lightly squeezed to give the rest of the lantern a light and quick wash. You don't want this to get too wet as it is paper. I was lucky as I acted fast lolol, so I quickly washed the rest of the lantern with the watery Aqua "wash" using the dipped paper towel, then brought it outside to dry in the sun which it did rather quickly too. The lantern has an uneven quality to it which I love and adds to its interest. These things are very forgiving, you can make mistakes which turn out to be their very beauty.









Then I had to make some tassels and used some beads I already had to add some weight to it. Now for me, I wanted the tassels to be like the ones the Chinese use as they drape, move and hang very nicely, every strand separate from each other but I could not find the nylon thread to do this. I found one large roll in white but nylon cannot be dyed as I wanted to match the Aqua lantern with an Aqua tassel, so I opted for cotton thread. I knew I could dye these, so I will have to sacrifice the nice drapi-ness of the nylon for proper color which I think is wise. I have a pail of aqua dye lying in a bucket as I dyed a blouse last week and am doing what little bits I can because I love this color. So the dye was lying there ready to dye the cotton tassels which only needed to be dipped for 2 seconds for the right color.
Making tassels is very easy and you can find lots of youtubes on line for this, and today I finished them. As I look at them I see one must be careful of the shape of the cutout, no sharp sides is best.
I made three as three come in a package. They are hanging on the front porch, safe from rain. I like them. :D








































 This lantern has different flowers of tulips, I love both.































This was a fun, cheap and easy, beautiful and quick project. I hope you try it and I'd love to see what you do!
Thanks for visiting.

Sharing this post with Chic on a Shoestring

and with The Charm of Home


and with Rooted In Thyme

and with A Delightsome Life

and with DIY Showoff

and with A Tray of Bliss 



16 comments:

  1. Ohhhh I love these. They are so so pretty Serena. The roses....sigh. I hope you are well and finding happiness in your gardens. xx

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    1. Thank you Kerrie. Things are ok, and the gardens are a place of joy again, yes. I thought of you and wondered if you would buy some white lanterns and paint them with that delicate painting style of yours in hues of greys.....such a lovely idea, don't you think? wink wink....and I want the first one. lolol.

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  2. WOW they are so pretty. I think I may have to make some myself. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I hope to see yours, they are really easy to make. One can really be creative with them too.

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  3. It seems every time I wonder what you are up too, well there you❣ The little lanterns are so pretty and feminine, think I will try these too. Thanks so much for the lovely idea. Spring here in the Pacicfic Northwest has arrived with so much green it is incredibly beautiful. Lilacs, Dogwoods, Lily of the Valleys and so many more, even baby bunnies in the yard❣ Can't wait to hear more beauty suggestions and see your gardens❣Xxxxxxxxx

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    1. You know Mary Anne, I "heard" you in my head this past week wondering and others wondering if I'm still around and it bugged me and I forced myself to take pics and make this quick post and here you are confirming my "hearing". lolol....the wonder of telepathic natures of women still amazes me. ohhhh, to have dogwoods, lily of the Valley, and lilacs, wisteria and all those gorgeous things I would see always.....I miss them soooooo! You are lucky to have them. Just made another post on the gardens. thank you as always for visiting.

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  4. SERENA! I can't believe it, I just made the connection after looking at the comments on my blog, that this was YOU! First of all, your world still enchants me and leaves me pondering so many possibilities for the garden life. HOW ARE YOU? It has been so long! Many changes have occurred this year due to my job duties and other interests, but it's lovely to be in Blogland for a while. Thank you for visiting my post. We had such a great time photographing the Minnesota countryside and French antique-filled farmhouse!

    Your art is always a joy to behold. I am not a pink lover (as you can tell, I am a blue person!) BUT....BUT....your command of white and other natural pink elements such as flowers and other natural beauties use pink as an accent that is so calming. LOVELY!

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    1. :D
      Hi Anita, yes Its been a while, I don't post as often, so much is going on and the rest of the time I need quiet, away from electronics etc. Pink, well its new for me, I'm loving its frequency.....the house is pink a lovely color for subtropics and bright sun, but I use is sparingly otherwise. I'm love with lavenders, blues and purples especially in flowers now. I'm ok, and perusing blogs I found you made a post and I had to visit, and as always I am awestruck as the beauty you create in such sublime ways.....you are a jewel.

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  5. Oh I love this so much! I'm now wracking my brain to imagine where I can hang one! Please come and share this at my Five Star Frou-Frou linkup at A Tray of Bliss? I'd love to host you. Meanwhile, I'm a new follower, and I've added your blog to my sidebar. Just the prettiest thing EVER. Love, Mimi xxx

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    1. Thank you Mimi, I went to your blog and had loads of fun! reading various things and signed up too. I hope to remember to join Frou Frou next time.

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  6. Serena, I love this idea, Decoupaged Paper Lanterns. Brilliant!! I love all three and they look so pretty on your porch! I can't wait to try and make some. I'll be featuring you this week at Simple & Sweet Fridays!
    Thank you so much for sharing this creative project!
    Hugs, Jody ♥

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  7. These are so beautiful and romantic looking. I would love to have something like this, and will have to remember your instructions. I love the blue and I love the white! Thank you for sharing how you made them.

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    1. Thank you Cynthia, I hope to see what you make when you do.

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  8. I've featured this beautiful post at Five Star Frou-Frou this week. I hope you'll join me again! Mimi xxx

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