This upcycled mushroom lantern is totally adorable and surprisingly easy to make! With just a few simple craft supplies and an empty drink bottle, you can create whimsical mushroom lights that are perfect for adding charm to any space.
Whether you’re looking to brighten up a shelf, create magical table decor, or craft a unique gift, these lanterns are sure to light the way. They’re a fun and eco-friendly way to turn everyday items into enchanting creations!
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How to Make a Mushroom Lantern
Materials:
- Yogurt or drink bottle (white; clean and empty)
- Battery operated tealight candle
- Craft foam sheets (red and white)
- Green felt
Equipment:
- Assorted round objects (to trace around)
Watch the step-by-step video tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Add the light to the stem
- Wash a drink bottle and remove the label. A protein shake or yogurt drink bottle is ideal. We used a 375 ml Boost protein shake bottle.
- Place a battery-operated tealight candle on the center bottom of the bottle. Trace around it with a permanent marker.
- Have an adult use a craft knife to cut just inside the circle. Try to make it so the tealight will sit tightly in the opening, rather than falling through.
- Place the flameless tealight into the opening. Optional: Add a couple dots of glue to keep it in place, if needed.
Step 3: Create the mushroom cap
- Place an 8 inch plate upside-down on a sheet of red craft foam. Trace around it with a pencil, pen, or anything that will leave an indent in the foam. (You can even use your fingernail!)
- Cut the foam circle. Fold it in half twice to mark the center point.
- Unfold and cut along one fold line up to the center point.
- Here’s what the circle should look like.
- Trace around various objects like coins, buttons, and marker caps to create a variety of circle sizes on the white craft foam. Cut the circles from the foam.
- Attach the white circles to the red circle. We used adhesive foam, but you can also use glue on regular foam. Be sure to leave a blank area on the circle that’s a bit less than 1/4 of the surface.
- With your glue gun on a low temperature setting, add a line of hot glue to the blank section and fold the other part of the circle over. This creates the mushroom cap. Hold the foam in place until the glue dries.
Step 4: Add grass to the base
- Cut a piece of felt to be about 3 inches tall and 8-1/2 inches long (long enough to fit around your bottle). Fold the felt in half and cut a “V” shaped fringe going down about 3/4 of the way.
- Add a zig zag line of hot glue along the bottom edge of the bottle.
- Press the felt grass into the glue, lining up the flat bottom with the bottom edge of the bottle. Continue gluing around the bottle. Cut any excess felt, if necessary.
Step 5: Add the mushroom cap
- Add a circle of glue around the bottle cap. Press the center of the mushroom cap into the glue.
- Your upcycled mushroom lantern is complete!
- Create your own little garden of mushroom lanterns.
- And turn on the tealights to watch your upcycled mushroom lanterns glow!
Helpful Tips:
- Be sure to only use battery-operated tealights in these mushroom lights. The heat from a real tealight flame doesn’t have anywhere to go, and will melt the plastic bottle and cause fire.
- You can change the shape of the mushroom cap by overlapping the flaps by different amounts (more or less) when you glue them. Adjusting the flaps this way will make the cap more or less pointy. Experiment to find the look you like best!
What size bottle do I need to make my upcycled mushroom lantern?
We used a 375 ml Boost protein shake bottle for most of our mushroom lights and found it was the perfect size for a tealight. We also used a smaller yogurt drink bottle for one of the lanterns.
You can use any other size of bottle that will fit a tealight inside of it. Try using a variety of bottle sizes to create your own glowing mushroom garden!
How else can I light up my upcycled mushroom lamp if I don’t have tealights?
If you don’t have battery-operated tealights, you can try placing fairy lights in your mushroom lantern instead. Another option would be to insert a flashlight into the bottom. This may create a brighter glow than the tealight.
If you’re looking to buy battery-operated tealights for this craft, your local dollar store should have some. They can also be found at most local craft stores, and, of course, on Amazon.
Can I use a clear bottle for the stem of my upcycled mushroom lantern?
You can definitely use a clear bottle if you prefer, but it will change the look of the lamp. It will have a brighter glow with the tealight visible through the stem.
If you like the look of the white stem, but only have a clear bottle, you can always paint the the bottle with white acrylic paint. You’ll likely need a few coats of paint to have uniform coverage over the stem.
These upcycled mushroom lanterns are a delightful way to bring a little magic into your home! With their charming glow and cheerful design, they’re perfect for adding a playful accent to any space. This craft is a fun and eco-friendly way to turn everyday materials into something truly unique!
Here’s even more lantern craft ideas:
DIY Beaded Plant Hanger and Lantern
Now available
Low-Mess Crafts for Kids Book
72 cute and fun crafts that kids and parents alike can enjoy. All with as little mess as possible!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon Canada
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