Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By General Crafts Contributor Mina, from the blog Mina’s Journal.

Make these wee night light lanterns for the wee ones you know to help settle them to sleep, or to set a mood!

Craft Materials:

• Small boxes – lightbulbs or food packaging for example
• Marker or pencil
• Craft knife
• Cellophane or clear plastic
• White glue
• LED lights
• Craft Paint

How to Make the Night light Lanterns

Carefully pull the the packaging apart, so it is still in one piece, but will lie flat.

Draw your designs onto the packaging. I used the inside of the box so the paint would cover better.

Simple shapes are cool. You can see here I’ve used hearts, stars and small square and rectangle shapes like a building at night time.

Cut your designs with the craft knife and paint the surface of the box.

Cut cellophane to cover the cut out spaces and glue to the inside of the box.

Note about Lining the Boxes

For large designs, the spaces look better if they are lined with something like cellophane. For small designs, there is no need to line the boxes.

You could line the window spaces with colored cellophane.  Bend the existing folds of the box the opposite way than they were intended, so your box will keep its shape. Glue the side edges together. Fold the ends of the box back in.

Pop your lights in when you are ready!

A Note about LED Lights

The LED lights I used here are childrens’ finger laser lights. They are safe, small and have a switch – all enclosed in plastic housing. They are cheap – there are four in the set I got in colors white, blue, red and green.

Ideas for the Night light Lanterns

For little ones:

• Stack on top of each other for buildings.
• Change the nightlight Lanterns and / or the colored lights around each night as a pre-sleep activity.

There are more sophisticated uses for these things for grown ups.

• Set the scene for romantic dinners
• Use in the bathroom to have your bath with (Don’t forget the bubble bath!)
• Use in ‘your space’ for quiet contemplation or relaxation

Have fun with these and create your own ambiance! Happy crafting!