DIY Fairy Lantern

School might be starting up soon for us, but summer isn't over yet. I couldn't resist adding to my summer decor this week and put together a few fairy lanterns, check them out:

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I started with these plastic craft bottles from Dollar Tree.

I like that they are lightweight, not as breakable as glass (and only a dollar of course), but the labels are a pain! Completely glued down, the paper had to be soaked in hot water before it would begin to come off. Not such a big problem, but I do prefer the easy peel kind of label 😉

Tip: Make sure that your bottles have completely dried out before painting or decorating.

(You can click here to browse Dollar Tree's online selection of art supplies)

While waiting for my bottles to dry, I used my Cricut Maker to cut out a few fairy silhouettes from black card stock. I left them on the mat in this photo so you can get an idea of the size I went with for the Dollar Tree craft bottles, about 1x2 inches. You could use black paper if you wanted, though you will need to use extra care in removing the cutouts from the sticky mat.

Using a glue stick (I have good luck with the Dollar Tree Jot brand) I coated one side of the silhouette and pressed it against the inside of the bottle. Then with the back of a spoon, I was able to add more pressure and get the card stock to conform to the bottle's rounded shape.

Here are my bottles with the fairies in place. Aren't they cute?

The next step was to apply acrylic paint on the outside of the bottles (I used Apple Barrel Antique White). By squirting a small dab of paint onto a crumpled paper towel and then blotting, I was able to add a light coat of mottled paint without hiding the silhouette inside.

I also spray painted the lids gold 😊

I kept all of my bottles white, but wouldn't it be pretty to do a few in pastels or maybe even with some glitter paint? Let me know if you do, I would love to see the pictures!