How to Make Paper Lanterns

November 22, 2010March 17, 20185 Comments

The days here in the north are growing shorted. By dinner time the outdoors are immersed in complete darkness, and when we wake in the morning the sun is still nowhere to be seen. And the days are growing shorter still.

To celebrate the light that shines within each of us (even during these darkest days) the children and I made paper lanterns and carried them out into the darkness for a bedtime walk. The lanterns represent the brightness we bring to the dark, and the positive effect our bright spirits bring.

The process of making the lanterns is more simple than you might imagine. We loosely interpreted the pattern for Martinmas lanterns from this lovely book (another recommended read) as our jumping off point. I have shared our version of the lanterns below.

Supplies

Watercolor paints

Watercolor paper (ours is approximately 14" x 20", purchased here)

Ruler

Scissors

Pencil

Craft knife

Cutting mat or board

Kite or tissue paper

Glue stick

White glue

5 spring-type clothespins per lantern

Yarn or wire for handle

Hole punch (optional)

Fireproofing spray (optional)

Instructions

1. Create a simple watercolor painting. Allow to dry completely. (You will have enough paper for two lanterns from each piece of paper.)

2. On the back of your painting carefully mark the following measurements with pencil and a straight edge:

Divide the painting in half with a horizontal line. To simplify, you may cut your paper into these two long thin strip now. (Our strips were 7 1/2" tall and almost 20" long)
Parallel to your original cut mark two lines: one 1/2 inch down from the top and a second line 2" up from the bottom. These will form the top lip and the bottom of the lantern.
Perpendicular to your original line, begin at the left and measure in 1". Mark line. This will be an overlapping piece used to form the lantern during the final steps of the project.
From this 1" mark, measure five 3 1/2" panels and mark. These will be the five window panels.
Cut off any excess after your last 3 1/2" panel.

3. Score all lines using a straight edge. (This will make folding your lantern easier.)

4. Cut tabs for the top and bottom of your lantern by cutting all lines above and below your two long horizontal lines. (Confused? See two photos below for a visual of where you cut.) These tabs will overlap and form the bottom and the top lip of the lantern when you glue the lantern together.

5. With a pencil, draw the shapes you desire for windows on the back of your paper strip. Think simple forms – circles, stars, even rectangular "windows".

6. Use a craft knife (X-acto type) to carefully cut out the windows.

7. Flip over your painting and admire your work! Add additional details if desired with hole punch or craft knife. I used a small circular hole punch to embellish ours.

8. Cut kite paper windows the size of your main panels. Glue into place with glue stick and smooth.

(Note: the next step requires a teeny bit of patience. At least it did for me. The lantern has a propensity to spring open while you are encouraging it to stay closed. Hang tight! You are almost done, and you are smarter than the glue.)

9. Fold your lantern carefully into shape, creasing each scored line firmly. Observe where the flaps overlap on the top, side, and bottom. Apply a thin layer of white glue on each overlapping point, then refold the lantern pressing the glued panels together. (These will be triangles of glue on one end of each flap.) Be consistent with the end you glue (all on the left, for example) so that you can neatly close one flap after another and end up with a firm secure bottom.

10. Use a clothespin at each overlapping point on the top of the lantern to hold the tabs together until the glue is set. Before the glue is all the way dry remove the clothespins. (This way you don't accidentally tear the lantern when you remove the clips).

10. Cover the hole in the bottom of your lantern with a scrap of watercolor paper approximately the size of the base of your lantern. Secure with more glue.

11. Punch two holes in the lantern's top rim and string through some wire or wool yarn. Knot yarn securely and add a tea light candle, securing to the bottom with poster putty (if you, like me, lack poster putty gum will work in a pinch, and adds a minty smell to the whole event.) (One thought: for those of you with young children or a concern of you little one holding a paper box with fire inside, battery powered tea lights are a good choice. I believe that the responsibility of holding a lantern with a candle inside is wonderful for a child, but perhaps that should wait until they are 4 or 5.

12. You are done! Now just wait for nightfall and take your lantern with you to spread a bit of light into the darkness.

The Next Three Days.

October 25, 2010March 17, 201812 Comments

Our trip has been a journey on so many levels. An experiment that felt larger than its surface reality before our departure. And in some ways, I guess it is.

There have been challenges (as the friends I have spoken to since leaving will attest). Solo parenting with no end in sight. Living with less (I'm testing that four outfit theory I posted about here). Hour after hour of road time with two children and a broken Ipod cord. And more dramatic challeneges like that windstorm that devoured our tent and the gray clouds of mosquitoes decending upon our camp. But we're fairing the bumps along they way – and recognizing how minor they truly are. Today we are entering week three with smiles on all faces. And that feels wonderful.

Overall there has been a whole lot of magic. The kids right now are playing contentedly outside ("We're best friends, mama. Go away." Word.) There have been far fewer meltdowns here than at home (only one for me – as the tent was begining to implode in the wind – and just a few each for the kids.) I truly believe that less stuff is part of that magic.

Yesterday we moved into our final "home" in the islands – a cottage that I scored for the price of a campsite for the next three days. It is open, comfortable, and quiet. We have beds and a bathtub and a kitchen and are just three blocks from the beach. It's dreamy.

From here we'll roll back through Ashevlle to spend a few days with our kind friends there (and celebrate Halloween together), and then we'll motor back up the road towards the chilly winds of Wisconsin. Until then you can find me barfoot on the beach with some knitting in my lap. I'll be smiling.

Love,

Rachel

Sand Between Our Toes.

October 23, 2010March 17, 20186 Comments

I am loving:

1. The seamless adjustment to a rhythm-of-the-road lifestyle for the kids (and me).

2. Fresh seafood.

3. Sunrise, seashells, sand, sea, sunset, sleep.

4. Being unplugged from the internet with time to knit, sleep, and dream.

5. Creative play that exists only in the space that is free of toys and free of time.

6. Porpoises.

7. Lupine calling the jellyfish "peanutbutterfish" – just for fun.

8. Night sounds at the ocean.

9. This brief moment alone while my mom takes the kids on an adventure.

10. Knowing that we still have two more weeks to go.

Thinking of you all as we wander out way through the dunes and across the country. Wish you were here. Each of you.

Love,

Rachel

Letterboxing.

October 7, 2010March 17, 201814 Comments

As you know we are downsizing. Since I last posted about it I've filled three more bags. It feels so good to say "why is that here?" and put it in the "bye-bye-box". (That's Sage's name for the thrift donation box from when he was four.) But all this downsizing means that my former favorite treasure hunt (thrifting) is cancelled until further notice. Though I don't want the stuff I miss the hunt.

Yesterday, thanks to some of your suggestions and fine-tuning from a friend, we discovered Letterboxing. Letterboxing is a treasure hunt of a different sort. It's better than my former habit because 1) it is outside; 2) it requires use of your brain and body; and 3) it is free. The "treasure" is simply a rubber stamp imprint in a notebook, the hunt is finding the box.

The letterbox itself is a plastic box hidden in a public space that contains a notebook and a rubber stamp. Using clues from the internet and a compass, you tromp through woods and down trails until you find the treasure. When found you imprint the letterbox stamp in your notebook and leave your own stamp print in the notebook from the box.

Yesterday was our first find: "Uf Dah"! (My Norwegian grandma would be thrilled.) We found it after hiking some crazy steps to the top of a massive hill with a breath-taking view. Back at our car an hour later (our legs shaking for the hike up and back) the kids asked if we could do another one (or two) before dinner.

I think they're hooked. And me? It's my new favorite treasure hunt. Adios, Goodwill! You won't be missed.

For more info on getting started visit here or here. Then get out there!

A Plan is Made.

September 28, 2010March 17, 201818 Comments

I think this road-trip business had me momentarially out of my mind. Leave? By car? With kids? For most of a month?!

But with your wonderful suggestions and a few nights staring at a map I made a decision that feels so right. We're headed to North Carolina!

I broke the drive down into approximately four-hour days which seem managable for the kids. It'll give us plenty of stops and time to explore before we drive on once more. We're aiming for Asheville, NC just in time for a kid-friendly three day music and arts festival (Two words: Indigo Girls).Because of the music festival we bumped the trip up to October, so in two short weeks we'll be on the road.

Bedtime and food norms will be suspended as we head down the road. I will learn to go with the flow and be in the moment and not be in charge of our journey. The journey will be in charge of itself.

After the festival we'll head to the Outer Banks for a week of camping and exploring the ocean, then head home with some detours through the mountains.

As for where we'll stay, I'm staying open and flexible. I was introduced to CouchSurfing which looks promising so I signed up right away. (We have often hosted travelers who wander through our town but CouchSurfing is a more offical version of this friendlyness.) I and have already connected with an amazing-sounding family who will host us for a night in Indiana and am hoping for a place to rest in or somewhere near Peoria or Chicago, IL Berea, KY, and Raleigh, NC.

One thing that made my weekend bright were the many offers for a place to rest or share a meal along our journey from all of you. Thank you for your generousity! I'm looking over the offers to see who lies between here and the ocean, and I hope to be in touch with some of you soon.

Traveling Dreams

September 24, 2010March 17, 201840 Comments

November is to me what February is to many. It's gray, cold, and a wee bit depressing. November arrives in a "woosh" of falling leaves before I've adjusted to the seasonal shift, and I tend to resent it and all of its cloudy-drizzly grayness.

This basic fact is compounded twice because:

1. November is normally one of our two busiest months of the year in our business, which equates to very little free time/family time while one of us works around the clock in LuSa (normally Pete) and the other tends to all family needs (normally me); and

2. Pete hunts and fishes so between weekends away at shows and long days in the soap studio he slips away to bow hunt, gun hunt, and steelhead fish. This leaves me on a purely domestic solo tract for most of the month, slowly going bonkers.

So this year I decided to do something radical.

Most of the work I do for LuSa can go on the road with me if I bring a laptop and a telephone. I have a new (to me) fuel efficient car, and two homeschoolers who aren't tied to a school schedule. What if we just… go?

I'm entertaining the idea of spending all or part of November on a road trip with my kids. And I need your help. We don' know where to go. I'm looking for your ideas. Before you begin, let me share some basics with you about our family and our needs:

1. My children do not enjoy hiking. We can go a mile but a proper hike leaves them both fussy and disagreeable (and therefore me as well).

2. Neither of my kids have ever seen the ocean. They are interested.

3. Neither of my kids have ever been in the mountains. Also interested.

4. They enjoy museums and the city. I enjoy the museums.

5. We live in western Wisconsin.

So bring it on. Where do you recommend we go for November? Give me the best-of-the-best suggestions for places you live or places you've been and we'll see where this takes us. The three of us can't wait for your ideas!

Love,
Rachel

Delighting in Learning.

September 17, 2010March 17, 201810 Comments

A note: Your comments on yesterday's post were amazing. If you haven't done so already, I encourage you all to read through what was shared by those of you who posted. You made me cry. Thanks for your openness, your love, and your gratitude. I'm so thankful for this place and for each of you.

Love,
Rachel

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

This week was a week of learning on so
many levels. Here is a favorite moment from our homeschooling journey.
Have a joyful weekend!

First Ballet Class.

September 15, 2010March 17, 201818 Comments

She's been waiting for almost year.

Last fall Lupine heard about ballet from a friend who was taking a class. Dresses? Dancing? Fancy shoes? My girl was obsessed. She wanted to take a class – right away. We decided to wait a year. (To me even three and a half seems young for taking a class. I wanted to make sure she really wanted to dance before she hurried off into anything.)

But she didn't stop talking about it. She even made up a song that she sang with gusto, called "I Want to Dance Ballet." A year later the passion hasn't faded a bit.

Yesterday it was finally time.

Amidst a group of strangers plus a couple of friends, Lupine finally got to dance ballet. (And tonight? She's already thinking about next Tuesday.)

On Timing and Trust.

September 8, 2010March 17, 201812 Comments

We sometimes move slowly around here.

This summer I invited Sage to learn to ride and care for horses at a local riding camp. He made it clear that he was not ready
so I let it go.

Fast forward three months, and Sage chose to spend his
birthday riding at a stable near our cabin. I'm
not sure what changes occurred between May and August, but they were profound
for Sage. He asked to spend this most special day riding for the first time, and then he spent the rest of the week
dreaming of our country home, complete with horses galore.

Why the change? Perhaps because we didn't push. Perhaps because he had time to grow and stretch and align with the idea. Perhaps because it was right all along but he had time to grow into the truth. And now? We're signing up for riding and horse care classes at the local stable for the fall. We'll be there in the barn each week dreaming our big dreams.

Its all about timing and trust, isn't it? Trusting them to know their own truth, and letting it unfurl as it will, when the time is right.

Art Outside.

August 20, 2010March 17, 20185 Comments

The kids and I take a weekly adventure to an undisclosed place. It is a chance for us to get us out and exploring an old favorite place, visit far-away friends, or explore new locations. (I introduced you to our "Mystery Trips" here.)

Yesterday's Mystery Trip took us to one of our favorite parks, fifteen minutes or so from town. We swam, played frisbee, and
frolicked in the water playing with rocks. Cold, quiet, and just right.
And then – like magic – friends happened by. Way out in the country,
miles from town. When no one knew we were there. These mystery days are each magical in their own way.

I sometimes bring a homeschooling activity along on a Mystery Trip to do at the end of our adventure. Yesterday I packed some tiny art notebooks, watercolor paper, painting boards and watercolors.

After our friends left we spread out the supplies on a picnic table. Alongside the river, soaking up the late summer sunshine the three of us painted in mostly silence, each of us engrossed in our own work.

After a rough morning with two tired, sweaty kids, it was the perfect way to cool off and unwind in the afternoon. So simple, but so profound for all three of us. We are always transformed by time spent so well as this.

We'll be back on that picnic table before the weekend is through, I suspect. Sage is begging to come back and set up a tent here for a night or two this weekend. After our experience there yesterday I think he'll get his wish.