Hot Air Balloon Lanterns

While the floors are still being cleaned at my school I've been forced to focus on the walls, and the ceiling!

I've known I wanted to have continent named desk clusters since I started with my traveling theme but wanted a cool way to hang them!

One day, while searching pinterest aimlessly I found these adorable lanterns made into hot air balloons. I was hooked! I loved the design and colors.

I ended up making my own baskets from paper (so they would be lighter) and got inspiration from these leather baskets.

Here's how the little baskets are put together: 

Materials:
Scrapbook paper (I used 12x12 sheets)
Exacto Knife
Tape
Stapler
Ruler
Cutting pad
Pencil

I started by cutting my 12x12 sheets of paper into 6x6 squares

I then measured out a 3x3 template square for the base part of the basket
To make sure the square base was in the middle, I measured 1.5 inches in on two sides and lined up the smaller base square.

After aligning the small square I scored the edges. This is for later folding as well (seen below)

Then, I used my ruler to cut from the outer square's corner to the inner and repeated 4 times:

Then, following the scored edges, opposite ends are folded upward and their points meet. At each intersection of points I taped and stapled. 

Now: Attaching the basket to the lantern

Materials: 

Twine

Scissors

Lantern

Basket (made above)

Exacto Knife

Ribbon

Make small holes in the corners of your baskets

Cut two pieces of twine that are around 50" each. Make them the same size, whatever size you choose.

Match the ends and find the middle of each piece.

Loop the middle parts onto the top metal piece in the lantern

Wrap the twine pieces evenly around the lantern, dividing each section into quarters (roughly)

Then, string one piece of twine into each corner and tie to each other inside the basket. Make the twine go from the outside to the inside so the ties are hidden.

Add a piece of ribbon or twine to tighten the strings above the basket. I stapled the ribbon to the twine so it wouldn't move about. 

And here's how it turned out! :) I also added the continent names for my table groups found for free here! 

Here's how they look in the room!