I decided that it’s time to heat things up a little by making these old-time-favorites! Paper lanterns! If you have any kids, or you’re still a kid in your heart, I suggest that you make these. It’ll be fun, I promise. And, it’ll add a whimsical–yet somewhat chic–somewhat–feel to your home or office or dorm or play pen…wherever you may be positioned at this time….
Materials: 
- 2 pieces of construction paper (preferably the sturdy kind)
- scissors
- ruler
- marker
- tape
- string
- hooks (optional)
- spray paint (optional)
Let’s get started!
***Follow these pictures from left to right to bottom***
Step 1: *This piece shall be called Mr. Hamburger* Remember the hamburger and hot dog folds from elementary school? Well, believe it or not, those will actually come in handy right about now.
Hamburger fold your first color of construction paper chosen (This one will be slightly hidden, so make sure that you chose the complimentary color, and not your favorite color.)
Step 2: Cut it in half.
Step 3: Wrap it around itself to create a tube, and use your tape to seal Mr. Hamburger closed.
Step 4: *This piece shall be called Mr. Hotdog* Okay, now I suggest that you use your most favorite color for this part because this paper will make up the outside of your lantern. Hot-dog fold this piece.
Step 5: Using your marker and ruler, draw a straight line near the “open-edge” of your paper.
Step 6: With your scissors, create slits that go all the way to your straight line that you drew, and stop cutting when you’ve reached the line. (These slits do not have to be perfect, I’ve actually made mine to be different sizes on purpose for some of my lanterns.) Now unfold Mr. Hotdog.
Step 7: Wrap Mr. Hotdog around Mr. Hamburger, taping them together. (To discreetly hide the dotted line, I placed this side of Mr. Hotdog on the bottom of the lantern.)
Step 8 (optional) : On previous lanterns that I made, I used a little bit of metallic gold spray paint to gently spray a transparent layer of paint on top of the lantern to make some of the color peep through.
Step 9: You do not have to hang these, but I love to hang mine from the ceiling and watch them spin when the fan is on or something…. I just use a hole-puncher (or a pencil) to create holes near the top to put string through, and then I just use transparent tape to hang them up by the string. You could use hooks for a more professional look.
And… that’s it. Enjoy!
***I’m eventually going to make about 50 more of these to hang all over the entire ceiling. Well, I don’t really know about that, but it’d be a really pretty view***
****If you decide to make some of your own, feel free to share pictures below!****
Carolina Girls in Action! 