... and Papercut Halloween Lanterns

Today we are delighted to feature a guest post by Hayley from Nappy Cakes & Gifts. You can also find Hayley on Facebook and Twitter.

........................................

I've loved crafting for as long as I can remember. These days I mainly focus on making nappy cakes for baby showers and expectant parents but I still love trying new crafts and being creative. That's why I was drawn towards paper cutting, I liked the idea of creating something unique with just a sheet of paper, a pencil and a scalpel.

 I've always wanted to have a go at paper cutting, so I decided to make a spooky decoration with it being so close to Halloween! So I bought a pack of black paper and a scalpel and got to work! The paper is white on the back, so I drew a graveyard scene, complete with scary tree and crow sitting on a gravestone and carefully cut it out with my scalpel. I've placed my cutting on a piece of white paper so that you can see it clearly. The witch and ghost were cut out separately so that I can move them around before I stick them down.

With that done, I took an empty jam jar and painted it with metallic purple paint. Once it was dry, I took my paper cutting and attached it to the jar with double sided tape. I then took a LED tea light and put it inside the jar to light up my design. I'm really pleased with the result!

I particularly like the way the tree lights up. If I do this craft again I would put another coat of paint on to stop the brush strokes from showing  but other than that I'm very happy with how it turned out. Not bad for a first attempt =)

................................................

Thanks to Hayley for such a great guest post. We love the effect of combining paper cutting with a painted lantern. This is perfect for some Halloween crafting, but you could also use different designs for loads of different occasions! We're certainly going to try it out ourselves!!

We are linking up to these parties!