Arts and crafts are fun during any season, but if you want to liven up your family’s Thanksgiving table this year, here’s a cute craft project you might enjoy making.
For this project you’ll need leaves (real or silk), mason jars, Mod Podge, a foam brush, white tissue paper, burgundy or brown tissue paper (or construction paper), orange and red construction paper, googly eyes, scissors, a pencil, tealights (real or flameless), and optionally, twine.
To start off making these lanterns, cut strips of white tissue paper to about 1.5 inches to 2 inches wide and make them a little longer than your jar. Then, cut a small triangle from the orange construction paper to be the beak of your turkey. Use the red construction paper and cut out a hook shape for the skin under the beak. Cut out small circles and larger circles of burgundy or brown tissue paper to be the heads and bodies of the turkeys.
After you have everything cut out, head outside to the nearest tree or craft store to pick up some pretty fall leaves to glue onto your jar. First arrange your leaves to how you would like them to look. Once you have achieved your desired look, set them aside to glue on later. Then grab your Mod Podge and foam brush and apply a thin layer of the Mod Podge onto the entire jar. Mod Podge dries clear so do not worry about the streaky, white strokes. While the glue is still wet, take your white tissue paper strips and start placing them side-by-side on the jar. To create a cleaner look on the bottom of the jar, you can also cut out a square or circle and glue it on top of the leftover lengths of tissue paper. Then take some more Mod Podge and spread another thin layer over the tissue paper. After letting it dry a bit, take the leaves you arranged and glue them onto the jar the way you want them to look. Paint some more Mod Podge over the leaves and start to put together your turkey.
For your turkey, take the big circle and glue onto the jar. Brush Mod Podge over it and then stick on the smaller circle for the head above it so that they are slightly overlapping. Paint another layer of Mod Podge, and then glue the eyes, beak, and skin. This time, only apply Mod Podge over the beak and skin under the beak. Let it dry and then flick on your tealight and place it inside the jar. If you want, you can also tie some twine around the neck of the jar and voilà! Your very own turkey lantern that you can place on your thanksgiving table at Thanksgiving dinner.