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Tombow sent me a few goodies and challenged me to come up with a fun project. I decided to make some paper Halloween lanterns! These look great on a window sill at night, or as Halloween-themed table decorations. You could make them as big or small as you like!

Supplies

Here's what you'll need to get started: 

• Tombow Dual Brush Pens (a dark and a light shade of the same color)
• Tombow Colorless Blender
• Mono Twin Permanent Marker
• Tombow Xtreme Adhesive
• Mono Permanent Adhesive+
• Pencil
• Black card
• Thick tracing paper (mine was 115 gsm)
• Scissors
• Craft knife
• Metal ruler
• Cutting mat
• Battery-operated candle

Steps

Watch the video to get a quick overview, and then follow the steps below to make your lantern!

1. Draw your template in pencil onto black card (I used black construction paper and it was a little flimsy, so go for something thicker). You'll want four matching rectangles or squares, with the sides touching, and four smaller windows (which will be cut out). You can also cut-out some decorations on the top of your lantern. I opted for creepy trees, but you could cut out pumpkins, bats, ghosts etc!
    
2. Cut out your top decorative shapes.
    
3. Use your craft knife, metal ruler, and cutting mat to carefully cut the windows out of each of your sides. Note: It helps to 'score' the creases where you'll fold each side, to give you a cleaner edge. I used a bone folder, but you could use the dull side of a butter knife etc.
    
4. On your tracing paper, use your pencil to lightly draw squares or rectangles that are slightly larger than the 'windows' you cut out of your black card. 
    
5. Color over the top third of your shapes on your tracing paper with your darkest Tombow Dual Brush Pen, then use the lighter shade 'pull' that color down the rest of the shape. Finish by blending the bottom third with the colorless blender to get a nice gradient, like a twilight sky. The reason Tombow Dual Brush Pens are great for this, is they are water soluble and blendable, which enables you to get these soft gradients!
    
6. Use your Mono Twin Permanent Marker to draw your silhouettes over your sky gradient. I went with bats, but you could do witches on broomsticks, pumpkins, ghosts etc!
    
7. Cut out your tracing paper rectangles. 
    
8. Use your Tombow Xtreme Adhesive to stick the tracing paper shapes over the window cutouts on your black card. This adhesive is permanent and will really keep your 'window panes' in place!
    
9. I used the Mono Permanent Adhesive+ to stick the end sides of my black card together to form my lantern. Being smaller I was able to get onto that small edge more easily.
    
10. Put your lantern over a flameless / battery-operated candle and you're ready to display your little lantern! Note: please don't use real candles with your paper lantern, that's a recipe for disaster!
     

Are you making any Halloween crafts this year? Leave me a comment and let me know!