Welcome back to the craft room and today’s Festive Ornament Paper Lantern Tutorial post. While my home has plenty of Christmas decorations during the holidays, there is always room for one more! Today I’m going to share a fun and festive paper lantern design that I created over the summer. Make it in white card stock for a pretty tabletop decoration or step it up to elegance by using gold metallic card. Either way, you will love how this looks during the day and even more with a flickering battery-operated candle in the evening.
The SVG File & Cricut Design Space
The Paper Lantern File
As I mentioned above, I created this Ornament Lantern in the middle of the summer heat. I was dreaming of cooler days and a beautiful tree lit with soft lights. I began the design by playing around with different ornament designs and finished by creating the lantern base. The image below will show you just how simple this project really is. While making the YouTube video, I did notice I neglected to add the vellum in the original file. When you download the file that can be found here: Ornament Lantern, the vellum is shown as the gray piece behind the ornaments.
Cricut Design Space
After uploading the file into Cricut Design Space, double check that it came in at the correct size, which is 11.25″ x 5.25″. If it came in larger or smaller, go to Edit, ensure the height and width aspect ratios are locked and put in the correct size. You could make this larger if desired by using the longer 12″ x 24″ cutting mat, the choice is yours.
Once you have the desired size of your piece, open the layers panel and ungroup the design. The black lines that show on the image are your score lines. Highlight the group of 4 lines, go to the Operations panel and change these lines from Basic Cut to Score.
If you are working with regular cardstock for this project, you are ready to cut the project. However, if you are using a heavier metallic card like I did, you will need to increase the pressure of the score lines. During my test cut of this material, one pass of the scoring stylist on my Cricut Explore Air2 was not enough pressure. In the video above, I duplicated the score lines. While the pressure was better, it still wasn’t enough. I would suggest duplicating the lines 4 times to get the pressure right out of the machine, or if you have a score board, then one pass will give you the location of the lines and you can deepen them by hand.
Now that we are ready to cut our file, choose Make It, select your accessory, in my case it is my Cricut Explore Air2, and then your paper type. For regular 65lb cardstock, I would suggest the Cardstock for Intricate Cuts with the pressure setting that works best for your machine. With the Recollections metallic card that I am using I chose to use the Heavyweight Cardstock 100lb setting.
Making the Lantern
Once your design has cut, putting it together is very easy. Begin by carefully folding the score lines. When working with the lines around the front of the lantern, go slowly so as not to rip your paper. Once all the lines are creased, double check your vellum piece to ensure it fits between and not over the score lines. If needed, trim it to fit with a paper cutter or your scissors. Adhere this to the inside front of your lantern with glue or use 1/8″ scor-tape. To help see the very edge of the vellum I did place it onto another piece of cardstock. I used a combination of 1/8″ Scor-tape and Art glitter Glue. Make sure to apply some glue to the back of the ornaments so they are tacked down to the vellum.
To close the lantern, add a line of 1/8″ scor-tape and/or a line of wet glue to the small 1/4″ tab. In the video I mitered the corners, but that isn’t necessary for this project. I also struggled quite a bit making sure the sides lined up straight. A much easier way to do this is shown in the photos below. Fold the lantern flat with the small tab facing up. Making sure the card is lined up perfectly, fold the larger 1 3/4″ width side flap over, pressing the seam together to fully adhere.
The Finished Lantern
To complete this project, I added a battery-operated flicker candle that I purchased at Dollar Tree. This is such an elegant addition to your holiday decor! The gold metallic card is a showstopper during the day while the silhouette of the ornaments warms the heart at night.
Thank you so much for joining me for today’s Festive Ornament Paper Lantern tutorial! These paper lanterns are not only stunning but also incredibly easy to make. A fun way to personalize your lantern is by using patterned vellum or even colored vellum for a unique twist. I can’t wait to see how you bring your own creative flair to this beautiful design!
Last year, I made my very first paper lantern—the BOO Halloween Lantern. If you missed it, feel free to check it out for some spooky inspiration. Have you ever made a paper lantern before? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below. Until then, have a fantastic week, and I’ll see you back in the craft room soon!!
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