Wax Paper Frosted Glass Twinkle Lantern

I named and renamed this post and finally settled on "Wax Paper Frosted Glass Twinkle Lantern," because nothing else was quite descriptive enough or told how easy this project turned out to be. Also, looks awesome!

Oooh aaaah!

I've seen lots of lights on Pinterest using garden lanterns and Christmas lights and they look deceptively simple. My first try was no good, with a snarl of wires and lights stuffed inside my Pier 1 lantern. I didn't like it. Looked messy.

I figured the light string needed some structure, so I wrapped it around a textured plastic water bottle and tried that. Twinkly, yes, but you can totally see the wires and lights and bottle. Me no like this, either!

I thought that crinkled plastic would diffuse the lights but that just looked dumb. Kind of like crinkled plastic stuffed inside a lantern. Nope.

Checking out my stash I found some pretty frosted sea glass and half marbles and my trusty E-6000 jewelry glue, but that would have taken too long to dry and the glue is smelly and the weather is too nasty to do it outside. No go.

Here's what I came up with. Good old Mod Podge and crinkled wax paper.

I did the first lantern pane and held it up to the window light. Score! A soft frosted glass look using stuff I already had in my stash. Plus, a little effort and time. Lickety split the whole lantern was done!

I added florist foam to fill up the bottom of the lantern then added a couple of handfuls of  half marbles and sea glass for weight. The water bottle wrapped with Christmas lights went in next. Now for the big unveiling......

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I LOVE how this came out! A nice  twinkly glow that makes my Autumn baker's rack look pretty in the soft light. I added one of my primitive star garlands and just smiled and smiled. 

A quick, easy and CHEAP project that came in almost exactly like I'd envisioned it. That's a win win in my book! And the best part is that I have THREE more lanterns. So I'll be buying some of those cheap $1 strings of Christmas light strings at Wal mart and making more of these twinkly lanterns. I can use these all year long and if I invest in some outdoor Mod Podge, they can light up my front deck. Totally love that.

I'll be linking up to the parties in my side bar. Come visit and check out all the cleverness and creativity. See you there!

Lighted Autumn Hurricane

I scored this gigantic glass hurricane at a yard sale for $2. It is 20" tall and 8" across at the belly with a wooden base. I love it's size and how I can dress it up all year long. Plus, $2!! That still makes me grin.

Last spring I filled it with vine balls, book page decor balls, driftwood, monkey's knots, pine cones and my favorite green glitter dragonfly. I LOVE how it looked with a few of my cobalt glass pieces.

So this fall I restyled it for Autumn. Now it is a lighted accent to my Thanksgiving decorating. I like it. I like it alot!

I grabbed a garland and a short string of 50 lights from my stash....both Dollar Store buys from years past. I twined them together and stuffed them into the glass. The problem was, they all fell to the bottom and left the top of the glass empty.

The Welding Man suggested that I put a piece of dowel inside to support the garland, so here's what I came up with. To disguise the dowel I covered it with an Autumn leaf print napkin cut into strips. A bit of hot glue at the top and bottom kept the paper in place. We threaded it through the garland and used florist wire to hold it at the top. Then we plugged it in and I am pleased as punch at the way it looks!

Here it is at the corner of my "bookcase in lieu of a mantel" with my Thankful wreath, my faux stained glass mirror, my oak family tree painting and another, smaller, unlit hurricane. It really brightens up that corner and is a beautiful night light. I checked it often for too much heat from the lights and it is safe, just warm.

Now I'm thinking that smaller hurricane needs lights, too. I can put it in the corner of the living room with my Autumn tree branches. And for Christmas I'm thinking silver balls and ornaments and pine cones and a bit of greenery, all lit up!

I'll be joining the blog parties on my sidebar, come along and link up! There is a wealth of creative projects out there!

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http://www.playpartypin.com/2014/09/weekend-re-treat-link-party-86.html