Summer Backyard Lanterns (Recycled Materials)

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a "conservative hoarder." I have not crossed over into the territories of the hit television show, but if I think I can use something again- I'm saving it.

Hence, my giant box full of old scrap clothing and materials. I have found everything from my 5th grade graduation skirt to an entire hoodie jacket made of mesh (oh, glorious goth days of yore!)

Well, it was time to really put these puppies to use. I was sick of having idea after idea, yet no actual finished product to prove to my husband that he is putting up with boxes of old crap for all these years for a reason :)

I stumbled across a picture of a string of "lanterns", made entirely of clear plastic cups and recycled fabric. Finally, I found my inspiration! (Well, finally I had the time to follow through on something!) All I needed were the plastic cups, everything else I had. After hitting the 99 Cent store, I was ready to go.

I started by cutting a plastic cup down one side and removing the bottom. This allowed me to flatten out the sides of the cup and trace it along a piece of regular white printer paper. I had my template. I then placed the template on each piece of fabric I chose to use for the lanterns. I tried to find "bohemian" styled clothing I had collected through the years. This reminds me of summer, and I wanted to go with an outdoor lantern string as opposed to an indoor lantern string as was my original inspiration.

After cutting enough pieces to cover each plastic cup, I then placed hot glue along one side of each cup. This part you must be careful with, because if you get the tip of the glue gun too close to the cup it will melt the plastic. Also, the hot glue makes the plastic hot on the inside too, and pressing the fabric over it can make the fabric hot. In general, be careful not to burn yourself and do not let small children help with this part.

Easy as pie! Now, I realized you just cut an "X" on the bottom of each cup to push a light through after I had already cut off all of the bottoms. Oops. I then had to hot glue the string of lights to each individual lantern (with the much appreciated help of Holly). Learn from my mistake. Do NOT cut off the bottoms of the cups!! A simple cut across each way would have saved us almost 2 hours.

Et, voila! My lanterns, successfully hanging across Holly's back patio space. There will be more outdoor summer patio crafts to come. This was my kick-start. The pictures don't do justice to how cool these really look in person, but you get the picture. The first photo is the original inspiration, the last is my finished product.