Let's make something pretty with a cheap paper lantern.

You'll need: one paper lantern, spray paint, feathers, hot glue gun, dream catcher, yarn or old necklace, string lights, and hook for the ceiling. optional: white extension cord and extra hook.

Step 1: Paint

Unless your lantern is already the color you want, spray paint it a color that will blend well with the feathers. I went with metallic gold. Keep in mind that the lantern will still cast a glow the color of the original paper when the lights are turned on.

Step 2: Lights

Starting with the end that doesn’t plug into the wall, wrap your lights around the center metal bars for the lantern, leaving enough at the bottom to plug into the wall once the lantern is hung up. Carefully place the metal bar piece back into the lantern, securing like normal, letting the end of your light string hang from the bottom. If you don’t want lights hanging from the bottom, wrap the entire strand around the metal bars and use a white extension cord from the top. Hook it to the ceiling and then plug in. Ours is in a dark corner, so the lights look amazing hanging down like little stars.

Step 3: Feathers

Starting at the bottom of your lantern, hot glue rows of feathers so that they overlap each other, working your way up to the top. Fill in any open spots with smaller feathers. Don't worry if you can still see small bits of the paper behind the feathers.

Step 4: Dreamcatcher

Tie your dreamcatcher to the bottom of the lantern. Make a loop with the yarn or an old necklace to hang the lantern from and make sure your ceiling hook won’t fall out – i’ve been known to caulk things to the ceiling.

Step 5: Voila.

…and there you go. a feathery bohemian gypsy lamp. If you don’t have a dreamcatcher laying around, there's an awesome tutorial on the Lune Vintage Blog. I think I’m going to make a few more in different sizes with different feathers and tie them up with old necklaces.

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