Summer is nearly upon us! Summer time is by far my favourite time of the year. I still have wonderful memories of those endless summer days spent riding my bike with friends around the neighbourhood, swimming at a pool until our feet were wrinkled, getting popsicles from the corner store, hanging out on the beach, reading book upon book (I was a big bookworm from day one) and using our imaginations to come up with all sorts of creative ideas to pass the time. We have a new baby now so my summer will look a bit different than usual, but I am so looking forward to spending the days with my kids, watching K run through his sprinkler, spending time on the beach with family, and just relaxing. We cannot wait to welcome the summer solstice! To do so, K and I decided to make some eco-friendly summer solstice lanterns using recycled materials, to celebrate the longer days and warmer weather. We use one outside for eating dinner on those nice nights, and one adorns our nature table. They are easy and so fun to make.
Materials
- Glass jar – applesauce and pickle jars work well
- Tissue paper – colours of your choice; we used blues and green to represent the water and grass and blue sky, but feel free to use whichever colours you want or have on hand
- Scissors
- Glue paste
- Paint brush – to put the glue on
- Candle – tea lights work well
Process
- Start by removing the label from your glass jar.
- Cut up the tissue paper into small pieces. You can cut them into whatever shapes or pieces you want. I stuck with simple squares and rectangles in a few different sizes.
- Mix up your glue paste. I mixed Elmer’s glue with water – about 1 part glue to 2 parts water – but you can use less water to make it even thicker. You can also find many DIY glue and paste recipes glue and paste recipes.
- Use the paintbrush to brush the glue paste onto the glass jar. Go section by section, sticking the tissue paper to the jar as you go. Feel free to add more glue in any places the tissue doesn’t seem to be sticking as well. Go all around until the entire jar is covered as much as you would like. This is where you can really have fun with it! I like mixing all the coloured pieces together and covering every open space. You can also do different variations, such as a line of blue followed by a line of green, etc. Or if you have multiple shades of one colour, you could make a neat fade up the jar.
Let it dry so it’s no longer sticky when you touch it. Go over the jar with a bit of the glue paste in any spots where the tissue paper is not completely stuck or is coming up at all. Let it completely dry.- At this point, you can add a design if you desire (we cut out a yellow sun for the one jar) and glue it on with the paste. If you’re leaving it as is, you’re ready to put in your candle and use the lantern.
- Add the tea light or small candle in the bottom of the lantern and enjoy all summer long!
This is such a fun project for the kids! Thanks for sharing.