How to make a tea light lantern

Make a tea light lantern with our brilliant tea lighter holder DIY project, perfect for cosy winter evenings at home

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Angela Dodson

Published: December 15, 2021 at 4:55 am

Brighten up your winter with a tea light lantern! These brilliant tea light holders are simple to make and so atmospheric once the lights get low, when the twinkling electric tea lights inside them really make an impressive winter warmer! They are simple to craft – upcycling clear glass jars, embellished with some simple paper shapes to cast atmospheric silhouettes when the tea tight holder is being used. We are embellishing our jars with fake snow and pompoms, but the paper decoration is on the outside of the jar, so you could use a real tea light if you left off the fake snow and additions inside the jar if you wanted to.

If you like this project, why not have a look at some of our other ScanNCut projects? Download your free bullet journal printables to give your journalling a boost, or we’ve also got how to make stencils, this realistic paper rose, a gorgeous daffodil wreath, an easy paper lantern or these flowers in a jam jar!

How to make a tea light lantern

Download your free templates to make this brilliant tea light holder – it' a perfect Winter Solstice lantern! We’d love to see what you’ve made, so be sure to comment below if you’ve had a go at this project!

Use our tea light lantern templates to cut the shapes you need. For the village skyline silhouette, there is a main design and an extension section you can add in if you are using a larger jar. There is a snow layer section that is designed to work with both the snowman and trees silhouette and the village skyline silhouette. There are also some snowflake shapes in the set that you can use to make a snow scape jar if you prefer. All the templates are designed to be cut using an A4 piece of card.

Tea light lantern PDF templates

Click to download the PDF tea light lantern templates

Tea light lantern SVG cutting files

Click to download the tea light lantern skyline SVG cutting file

Click to download the tea light lantern snow SVG cutting file

Click to download the tea light lantern snowflake SVG cutting file

Watch our video tutorial!

You will need:

Card (Black and white)
Battery tea light
Snow spray
Snow confetti
small white pom poms
Clear during glue
Scissors, craft knife or cutting machine
Clear glass jar

Step 1

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Prepare your jar by spraying a little fake snow around the top part and leave to dry. This is optional, you might prefer to leave it clear. You could use the bonus snowflakes templates to decorate the outside if you prefer.

Step 2

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Use the templates or cutting files to cut your desired silhouette in black card and any accompanying snow layers in white card. Make sure the snow layer is the right way around so that the hills and profile match up with the black silhouette shape.

Step 3

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Turn over the snow layer and apply clear dying glue to the back.

Step 4

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Line up snow layer with left hand side and line up with the bottom of village skyline silhouette scene, press down to adhere firmly. Repeat steps 2-4 with the extension silhouette and extension snow later if needed – they extend the scene to work with larger diameters of jar.

Step 5

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When the spray-on snow on the jar has dried fully, gently curve the layered scene in your fingers and around the bottom of the jar. Trim off any extra length you don’t need, but leave a tab attached for attaching in step 6.

Step 6

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Use the tab to attach one end of the silhouette to the other so that it sits around the jar. Secure it with a few dots of glue behind some of the house and trees, or alternatively leave it loose so you can easily remove to swap out the scenes or colours.

Step 7

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Sprinkle a layer of fake snow confetti inside your jar. Take a little battery operated tea light and switch it on. Pop the tea light into your jar, nestled in the fake snow and top up with mini white pom poms or more snow if preferred.

Step 8

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Check how it looks and add more snow if desired. Get ready to enjoy some cosy winter nights at home with your tea light lantern.

Why not try making both style of tea light lanterns and swapping the paper sleeves between the options, depending on your mood and the time of year? Bring a touch of stained glass to your tea light lanterns by adding in coloured sweet wrappers behind the window sections of the winter village skyline silhouette.

More like the tea light lantern jars

We have many more great craft projects for you to try right here on Gathered! Take a look at our paper pine cone tutorial or try our printable nativity scene makes.

Papercraft designer

Angela found fame in the Card making world on the Trimcraft design team and when she won Card maker of the Year in 2016. She went on to become a key member of the Papercraft inspirations magazine design team, creating projects for every issue, as well a working with Card making and Papercraft. She runs her own blog on Blogspot, Polly Purple Horse, where she shares her own creations and her design team makes. She currently crafts for Angela Poole Designs.