At Pinwheel Crafts, one of our favorite craft kits is the very popular Fairy Jar Kit. It’s a super fun craft for everyone, and allows for custom designs. Beyond the joy of creating their own fairy lantern, after the project is complete, children have a super cool alternative to a flashlight. They can play with their lanterns during sleep overs, backyard camping, and imagination play. 

For our final November blog post, we’re bringing you some brand new ideas for creating special lantern designs for the holidays. No matter your favorite part of the winter holiday season, you’re sure to love these project ideas. So, grab your glue gun and gather the family around the kitchen table, because it’s time to get started!

Christmas Fairy Lantern

Try a new twist on our classic design! The Christmas fairy lantern is just like our regular fairy lantern. However, we’re going to swap out the included fairy items for more wintery and festive decoration. Let’s get started!

You Will Need

• The Pinwheel Crafts Fairy Jar Kit
• Holiday printouts
• Black craft paper or card stock 
• Scissors
• 2 AAA batteries
• Red and green ribbon and holiday trinkets (optional)

Directions

1. Download our free sheet of holiday themed cutouts!
2. Cut out the holiday shapes you like. You can use the printed cutouts, or you can use the sheet as a stencil on more sturdy paper, like card stock. If you’re extra crafty and lucky enough to have a paper cutter (like a Cricut or a Silhouette), you can even machine cut the shapes and save your hand the trouble of cutting out intricate designs. 
3. Once you have chosen the designs you want to use and have cut them out, you will use the glue provided in the kit to attach the cutouts inside of the jar. 
4. Following the directions provided, use the glue to cover the outside of the jar with the tissue paper included in the kit. 
5. You can then add another layer of glue and sprinkle glitter on the outside.
6. Place 2 AAA batteries in the lid and screw it back onto the jar. 
7. Press the button and check out how beautiful the lantern looks!
8. The project is open ended from here, so you can decorate as little or as much as you want! Use the supplies provided in the kit, or attach your own holiday crafting supplies to make it extra unique. 

Holiday Snow Globe

If you’re looking for a way to create a super cute and unique lantern project, this is it. Make your very own (dry) snow globe. As an added bonus, with a little glue and ingenuity, you can even hang it from your Christmas tree for the whole family to see.

You Will Need

• The Pinwheel Crafts Fairy Jar Kit
• Scissors
• 2 AAA batteries
• Fake snow, chunky glitter, and gems
• Small holiday trinkets and figurines
• Red and green ribbon and small holiday craft items 
• Christmas tree ornament cap (optional)

Directions

1. For this project, the fairy jar will be displayed upside down, so we are going to be working with the lid.
2. Place the top of the jar (held upside down) on a piece of cardboard or foam board and trace it.
3. Now cut out the sphere. This is going to fit just inside the neck of the jar, so make sure that it fits inside. If it doesn’t, cut down the edges bit by bit until it can easily fit into the jar.
4. On your cardboard sphere, create whatever festive holiday scene your heart desires! Build a miniature nativity scene, recreate Frosty the snowman, show off Santa and his sleigh. The sky's the limit, so make it what you want. You can also cut out letters and designs from metallic and glitter paper (or vinyl) and glue them to the jar for added decorations or cheery holiday messages.
5. Glue the cardboard base of your holiday scene to the bottom of the lid. We recommend using quick dry glue, or low heat hot glue gun and attaching it to the battery door. This way, you can still change the batteries later on.
6. Pull the string lights up and string them around and throughout your little scene. Be sure to attach the string lights in a few different places with small drops of glue.
7. Once all the glue has dried, it’s time to put the jar back together.
8. Fill the jar with however much snow, glitter and gems you want.
9. Put the lid on the jar and tighten firmly.
10. Now, flip the whole thing upside down. Ta da! A cute little light up holiday scene!
11. From here, feel free to decorate the lid with whatever craft supplies you like, or attach an ornament topper to the bottom of the jar and hang your creation from the tree.

Winter Cloud Lantern

For a more elegant decoration, the winter cloud lantern is for you. With the use of white stuffing and traditional golds and silvers, this classy design will impress the in-laws when they come to visit.

You Will Need

• The Pinwheel Crafts Fairy Jar Kit
• Holiday printouts
• Metallic craft paper, card stock, or vinyl
• White craft stuffing (like polyfil, or cotton balls)
• Scissors
• 2 AAA batteries
• Red and green ribbon and holiday trinkets (optional)

Directions

1. Follow steps 1, 2, and 3 for the Christmas Fairy Lantern above, using whatever color metallic paper or vinyl you prefer. We recommend using silvers and golds, but reds, greens, and blues can also be very festive choices, as well.
2. Once you reach step 4, ignore the following steps. Instead of putting tissue paper on the outside of the jar, we are going to put stuffing on the inside of the jar.
3. Put in a 1 inch layer of your stuffing at the bottom of the jar
4. Place a few of the fairy lights on top of the stuffing. 
5. Put in another small layer of stuffing on top of that so that the lights are sandwiched between the two layers. 
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have filled the jar with stuffing.
7. You may need to push and reposition the lights and stuffing to make sure that the lights are evenly spaced out inside the jar.
8. As with the Christmas fairy lantern, you can decorate the lid as little or as much as you want! Use the supplies provided in the kit, or attach your own holiday crafting supplies to make it extra unique. 

Final Thoughts

Now that you have your very own holiday lanterns and snow globes, the only question left to ask is how will you use them? Will you adorn your window with your cloud lantern? Or maybe set your snow globe out as a festive set piece during the holiday? Maybe you will choose to bring your Christmas lantern with you to go caroling in your neighborhood. However you choose to display your unique creation, we hope you and your loved ones have a happy and safe holiday in the coming weeks.

Happy Crafting!