Description
This design idea kept me awake at night for at least a week. I knew I wanted to create a Lantin with a wintry village inside it, but how to make it look extra special? I would lie in bed at night trying to figure it out, and then one day it came to me, and I made the prototype, and I was able to sleep again!
This is a small Lantin measuring around 10cm square, and being so small it’s pretty fiddly to make.
What makes it extra-fiddly is the 3D Christmas tree I’ve made to sit inside it. To make this, I cut four Christmas trees into pearlised dark green card, scored and folded them vertically, and glued them together. I then glued little red diamantes onto three of the four faces of the tree – that’s 12 gems in total. I then wound some red quilling paper around the tree’s base to make a stand, which helps it to not fall over once glued into position inside the Lantin. Finally I added an AB-coated glass star bead to the top of the tree.
The ‘sky’ (which includes the insides of three of the tin’s sides as well as the inner back area) is made from a gorgeous shimmery pearlised navy blue card, onto which I’ve attached glow-in-the-dark northern lights, stars and moon.
The background to the scene is made from stiff white card with a pink/green (depending on the light) iridescent sheen; I used this to cut mountains at the top of the piece of the card, then made some folds and cuts to make it sit in the bottom of the tin so it becomes the floor of the village scene.
Next, I cut two houses – one from rose gold pearlised card, the other from pearlised baby blue card – and onto these I attached snowy roofs, made from the same card as the mountains and floor. Then, with the help of some card offcuts, I was able to attach to the back of the houses little fir trees which I’d cut from glittery white card; the offcuts enabled me to make the trees stand back a little bit from the houses.
I used the ‘snowy’ iridescent card to cut a small snowdrift which sits just above the bottom point of the heart aperture in the Lantin’s face, which is cut from a pearlised lilac-coloured card.
The USB-powered LED lights in this Lantin are multi-coloured, so when it’s lit up it’s very colourful. When the lights are switched off, the northern lights, moon and stars glow in the dark. The entire Lantin is presented in a branded cotton bag with a 1m extension cord to give you some extra length between shelf and socket.
Note: you will need a USB plug (such as is used for charging a mobile phone) or a USB battery pack – neither of which are supplied with the Lantin. While my Lantins will undoubtedly be attractive to children, please exercise caution and keep the Lantin and its cables out of reach of tiny hands.
