Cozy! The dark days are upon us again. In parts of the Netherlands, St Martin's Day is celebrated and in many villages Saint Nicholas also arrives in the dark. In short, it is lantern time again. You can buy that cute lantern in the shop. Or wait... You probably already have everything you need for it! Make a lantern out of rubbish together with your sprout and you'll have double the fun. To get you started, our DIY expert Melanie does one for you: a lantern made from an empty milk carton. It turned out to be a cute little owl.
Crafting with waste: crafting your own lantern from an empty milk carton
You know the drill... You buy a paper lantern in the supermarket and after an evening of singing along at the top of your lungs for Saint Martin or Saint Nicholas, the lantern is a dirty rag. The wind and rain do a paper lantern no favours and that makes it a disposable product: every year you buy a new one and every year it blows or rains away. We have good news about that: you can very easily make your own one of a kind Making a lantern out of rubbish! Yes you read correctly, from stuff you already have lying around at home. This lantern is free, because it is made from an old milk carton and other leftover materials you probably have at home and you don't have to buy anything new for it! With a bit of luck, it's also much sturdier. In any case, much more fun, we promise!
Saint Martin?
November 11 is the day I put my light, that I put my light... St Martin's Day is not celebrated in all parts of the country. But how much fun is it for children to go around the houses with your lantern, sing and then get sweets too! 11 November is the day Saint Martin, a Hungarian-Roman knight was buried. He was known for doing good for the poor. This holiday is therefore also known as the feast of sharing. Really.
DIY: craft a lantern from an empty carton of milk or plant milk.
Crafting with waste: milk carton lantern
Tools
- empty carton of (vegetable) milk
- piece of cardboard
- coloured magazine pages
- bottle tops or beer caps
- coloured tissue paper or kite paper(e.g. from a shoebox)
- white craft glue
- pen
- scissors
- markers or paints
- glue (gun)
Instructions
- Rinse the suit well and loosen the side flaps.
- The belly: draw a circle on the front with a pen, just slightly below the centre. You can use a cup or a lid as a template.
- The wings: draw a drop shape on both sides, with the tip pointing upwards. The bottom is about to the height of the belly.
- Cut out the round and both drop shapes. Using the tip of the scissors, make a small hole in the centre of the round to cut it out neatly.
- Tear the magazine pages into small pieces, the more colour the better!
- Glue the pieces of paper to the suit with the white glue, also glue them around the opening of the belly and wings and glue the overhanging pieces towards the inside. Then let it dry.
- Cut the kite paper into the same shape as the belly and wings but slightly larger (1 cm all around). Then glue this over the openings.
- From the cardboard packaging, cut 2 rounds for the eyes. You can use a cup or a lid as a template. Also cut a drop shape for the beak. Give the eyes and beak a nice colour.
- Using the glue gun, glue the caps onto the rounds of the eyes.
- Cut 2 small rounds from the cardboard, make them black and put a white dot in them. Stick these into the caps with the glue gun.
- Glue the beak and eyes to the suit.
- I used LED lights I still had, pushed them through the opening of the pack and secured them by screwing the cap back on. I made a hole in the middle of the pack at the top to thread a ribbon through to hold the lantern. Of course, you can also attach a lantern light to it.
Additional tips for your DIY lantern from empty milk carton:
- Decorate the owl with feathers, stickers, etc.
- Use pages from a comic book for a fun effect.
- Blotting paper is still sometimes found in shoe boxes, this blotting paper can be coloured using markers.
- Search the thrift store for suitable lights to put in your lantern.
More zero waste crafting tips from thegreenlist.nl
- Winter DIY: Dutch houses made of old cardboard.
- Save a lot of waste: make your own advent calendar.
- Old T-shirts? make a DIY plant pendant.
- Fun zero waste crafting tip with kids: make your own clay.
Photo credits: Melanie de Oliveira.
