How to make a spectacular pumpkin lantern with paper!

I am sure you are wondering why I would make a pumpkin lantern out of paper when I could just carve a pumpkin. Well the answer is that when I used to live in Vancouver, I lived right next to a lake, Trout Lake, and every year in late August they would have a lantern festival.

Everyone would make their own lanterns and come to the park in the evening and have a processional all around the lake. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

Some people made floating lanterns and would set them out on the lake and the reflections of the lights on the water was breathtaking. Beautiful music played in the warm summer air and the gold glow from all the lanterns filled the park. It was magical!!!

The memory of those serene lanterns crept into my mind recently and gave me the idea to make a pretty pumpkin lantern for fall.

Imagine, how happy I was to have this idea and then be asked to join as a guest with the Hand Crafted Society! The Hand Crafted Society is a group of talented bloggers who once a month share a diy project. They are all so creative and I know you are going to love their projects.

This month, the theme is pumpkins, so my pumpkin lantern is perfect!

If you are coming over from Missy’s blog, Sonata Home Design, welcome. Missy is the true expert on color and her pumpkin floral arrangement is so beautiful, vibrant and perfect as a fall centerpiece!

So let’s get started but first how about a jack o’lantern joke?

Why are jack-o’-lanterns so smart?
A candle makes them bright

Materials for pumpkin lantern:

• 5 pieces of brown cardstock paper (8.5 inches wide x 11.5 inches long) (250 GSM is the ideal choice)
• tissue paper or fabric (9 feet long and 5.5 inches wide)
• mason jar
• battery operated candle
• white tissue paper
• glue stick or glue gun
• ruler
• scissors
• pencil

Step 1: Creating panel supports

For this pumpkin design, we are going to create eight separate panels to create the structure of the pumpkin.

Describing in words how to do this can be a little hard, so I am going to give you a sketch with the dimensions of what needs to be done and then will also describe it. While I am showing it to you on white paper, be sure to actually do it on your brown cardstock. White paper just allowed the dimensions to show up better.

Sketch out the panels, by measuring out two strips 3 inches wide.

These panels are going to taper to the widest point in the middle and down to the narrowest part at the ends. Mark the center point vertically. On the ends, measure 3/4 inch in from each vertical line leaving a space of 1.5 inches in the middle.

Repeat until you have 8 panels.

Cut out panels.

Fold panels in half.

Below is another diagram with dimensions and visual photos to show you what to do.

From the outside edge, measure in 1/2 inch all the way along the long side and the two short sides as shown below.

Cut along that line.

Here is what you will actually be doing on your brown cardstock panels.

Step 2: Covering the panels with fabric

Lay the paper panel on your fabric or tissue. Cut around leaving a half inch of fabric on all sides.

Fold over and affix with glue. I tried a glue stick and it worked well but it was slow because I had to hold it down for so long. I switched over to a glue gun because it went much faster.

Step 3: Create a top and bottom for the mason jar

Place the mason jar on the brown cardstock paper and trace out the top and the bottom.

With the top piece, place it on the fabric and cut approximately a 1/3 of an inch extra all the way around.

Fold the edges of the fabric over and affix with hot glue.

Set aside.

Step 4: Creating the lantern

Place the bottom round circle on a flat surface.

Evenly space the panels around the edge of the circle with the good side facing up.

Place hot glue under the base of the panel that is on the circle and make your way around the circle attaching all of the panels to the round circle.

Let dry.

Flip over so that the bad sides of the panels are facing up.

Step 5: Optional – mason jar prep

This step is optional. I did not want to see the mason jar and the candle as I felt that would be too busy and would take away from the pretty gold sheet panels of the lantern.

I wrapped tissue paper around the mason jar and affixed it with tape.

Place the mason jar on the brown paper base circle as seen below.

Step 6: Affixing panels to mason jar

Pull the panel up perfectly vertically and affix the end of the panel to the edge of the mason jar with hot glue. Hold until dry.

Make your way around the mason jar with each panel. You may need to overlap the panels depending on the size of your mason jar.

It should look like this in the end.

Step 7: Creating the pumpkin stem

Using the leftover piece of cardstock from creating the panels, we are going to create a simple stem. There are many ways to create pumpkin stems and most involve many more steps than this one. I wanted to create a very simple stem, that was quick to create.

Fold the strip of cardstock in half.

Fild the last 1 inch of paper on either side outwards.

Draw a half circle with a pencil.

Now, draw a one dimensional pumpkin stem.

Cut out.

Place glue on one side down to the fold line. Do not place glue below the fold line.

Press the other side of the stem into the glue.

Fold the bottom portion out.

Twist the upper portion as seen below.

Place glue on the two outward flaps and affix to the round top circle covered in fabric.

Insert battery operated candle inside mason jar and turn on.

Place the faux stem on top of pumpkin lantern.

Next I tried it as the centerpiece in a tablescape. It was the perfect addition as a tabletop pumpkin lantern due to it’s cordless design, easy setup and less smelly than a real pumpkin can be.

For the tablescape I started with a base of a burlap runner down the middle of the table. In the center, I placed a pumpkin charcuterie board and put the pumpkin lantern on top.

Two cutting boards were placed on either side of the centerpiece. Velvet pumpkin sprays and gold faux fall leaf garlands were wound down the center of the table.

On the china cabinet, I placed pampas grass and old sticks in a vase, a gold mirror and small gold pots filled with neutral faux flowers and twig pumpkins. On the left side is a candeholder placed in a large gold bowl with hydrangea and small sweater pumpkins.

The table setting is a layering of a rattan charger, a gold charger and vintage plates with a neutral napkin in a rattan napkin ring. For this I would use gold cutlery as well along with the beautiful gold stemless wine glass.

Festive and pretty!

The extra good news is that your whole family and your guests will enjoy the simplicity of this centerpiece and still be able to speak to each other without their views being hampered by large arrangements.

Do you have time for another joke?

How did the jack o-lantern quit smoking?
He used a “Pumpkin Patch”

Halloween version of the pumpkin lantern

As Halloween is just right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to create a spooky Halloween pumpkin lantern. For this one you will need:

• Dollar store Halloween tablecloth
• Black cardstock paper
• Battery operated candle
• glue gun & glue sticks
• scissors
• ruler
• pencil

Follow all the steps above for making the gold pumpkin lantern except when it comes to laying out the panels on the tablecloth, be sure to frame up the scenes.

My tablecloth had a ghost, cat, witch, cobweb, etc. I wish I could have used the pumpkins with the diabolical grins but they were horizontal rather than vertical.

Simply place the paper panel on the fabric and cut 1/2 inch excess around the panel, fold over and glue.

Space out your scenes so that they don’t repeat beside each other. If you look below you will see that I have two ghost panels so I placed them on opposite sides to each other.

It is very important to make sure that when you glue to the bottom circle of cardstock that all of the images are in the right direction. You do not want to have an image upside down, so take care in this step.

Follow the rest of the steps as you did with the gold lantern, including making the pumpkin stem.

I did not cover the black cardstock with fabric as I did not feel it would show up, so I skipped that step.

Look how cute all the different scenes look!

Be sure to check out those reflections in the mirror!

Did you enjoy this project?

I hope you enjoyed this project. If you did, please leave a comment below as I love to hear from all of you!

How about one last joke?

Time to check out the other projects!

Next up is Susan from Hen and Horse Design and she has the sweetest Dollar Tree wire pumpkin wreath.

For the rest of the projects, just click on the images or names below.

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If you are looking for the products that I used to make this pumpkin lantern, they are linked below. Just click on the photo or the bolded description and you will be linked to the product. Should you decide to purchase the product, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Earning this commission is how I am able to provide free tutorials like this one so I greatly appreciate your support!

Brown cardstock paper

Black cardstock paper

Fall ribbon 6″ wide

Black Halloween tablecloth

Battery operated candles

Fall table runner

Burlap table runner

Rattan charger plate

Vintage style dishes

Gold stemless wine glasses

Pumpkin shaped charcuterie board

Marble and wood board

Acorn shaped cutting board

Velvet pumpkins

Black champagne glasses

Velvet pumpkins

Black wine glasses

Black chargers

Halloween haunted house table decor

Black creepy cloth