Lantern making.

I always get excited if I come across something new to do with the girls, as I, too, like to have a good time creating. We haven't tried making lanterns yet, so we decided to give it a try. It took us two days to complete the project, which was OK , since the first part took a pretty long time to do, so they were running low on patience.
They picked up a few leaves outside, traced them on a water color paper and filled in the designs with water colors. I love to work with water colors, since you can see how the colors blend and you never know what the outcome would be. And both Ivana and Leona were ready to explore and try out different ways to come up with new colors of their leaves. They had a blast, and so did I, watching them.
The second part involved rubbing vegetable oil on both sides of the paper, once the paint dried up. And the trick here is, the more oil you use, the more translucent the lantern would be. A bit messy, to be honest, but definitely worth it!
After that we had to wait for the oil to set in and let dry completely. On the second day we finished the lanterns, by punching holes, going with a needle to outline the designs and I helped them out a little by making more carved lines to let the light shine through a bit more.
We didn't hang them, but used mini tea lights and let them stand on the table. And we decided to have a candle lit dinner today. It was so cozy and beautiful, and we'll be doing it more often, that's for sure. Christmas is around the corner... That gives me more ideas!