DIY Frosted Candlelit Lantern for Halloween

Make a Frosted Halloween Lantern

 

I know Halloween is still a good distance off, but if I share this too close to Halloween, you may not be able to find one of the “ingredients” I used.  So, bear with me if I share some things with you a bit in advance.

I’ve been itching to try my hand at making a frosted lantern with Krylon’s Glass Frosting.  Have you ever used it?

Krylon Glass Frosting

To make a Halloween lantern, you’ll need a few basic supplies:

Glass jar (large pickle jars work well)
Glass Frosting spray (bought mine at Ace Hardware & it’s available online)
Fun cutouts (can find them online or at Dollar Tree)
Small amount of sea salt, sand or kitty litter (any one of these will work great)
Contact paper (or any adhesive craft paper)
Scissors
Masking tape

Frosted Candle Lanterns

 

You can find lots of cut outs online, or if you’re artsy, create your own.  Artsy, I’m not, so I decided to use these silhouette cutouts I found in Dollar Tree about a month ago.  They are pretty much a perfect fit for a large pickle jar.  I bought them in various shapes and decided on a bat shape for this Halloween lantern.

Frosted Candle Lanterns

 

Place your cutout on top of your contact paper and trace around it.  You can buy/use “adhesive stencil film” by our favorite crafter, Martha Stewart, but it runs around $10 for a small roll.  I purchased contact paper for just $3.99 at Ace Hardware and as you can see in the pic above, it’s a pretty large roll.  There’s lots left over for future lanterns/projects.

Frosted Candle Lanterns

 

After tracing your shape on the contact paper, cut it out carefully keeping all the tiny bits (like feet) intact.

Frosted Candle Lanterns

 

Remove the contact paper backing and apply it to your jar, smoothing out any wrinkles or lumps.  I had three jars and I decided to use the most challenging one to start with, which was the smallest one with bumps around the top and bottom.  My cutout did overlap a bit onto the bumpy parts of the jar.   Ideally, you want the surface you’re applying your shape to, to be flat. When I make lanterns from the larger, smooth jars I’ve saved, I’ll share how those come out, too.  They should be even easier since they are smooth.

Frosted Candle Lanterns

 

Before I sprayed my jar, I wrapped the rim in masking tape.  I also placed masking tape across the top (since I no longer had the lid) to keep any frosting spray from getting inside my jar.  If you still have the lid, you can just wrap the making tape around the rim and then screw the lid on.   I didn’t want to get any frosting spray on the rim of the jar…just wanted a nice, clean separation.  If you’re not worried about that, you could just screw the lid on and spray without wrapping the rim with tape.

Frosted Candle Lanterns

 

It was nighttime when I made my lantern, so I sprayed it outside in the garage.  To spray it, cover an overturned bucket with a garbage bag and place your jar in front of a surface that you can protect/cover with a bag.  Then just rotate the bucket to spray each side.  Or, place it inside a good-size box that’s turned on its side.  That would work well, too…as long as you have enough light to see inside the box.  Make sure to spray in a well-ventilated area.  Follow all the directions on the can of spray to be safe.

You don’t want to apply the frosting spray heavily, a lighter coating looks better than a heavy one.  You just want to give your lantern a frosted appearance.  The frosting spray dried in about 20 minutes, then I brought it inside and began peeling off the cutout shape.

Frosted Candle Lanterns

 

Sprinkle a little kitty litter, sand or sea salt into the bottom of your jar.  That just gives you a place to nestle the candle and adds a decorative aspect, too.

Here’s how it looked with a white votive candle inside.  Actually, a jar with a decorative pattern around the top or bottom would be pretty for a lantern.  It definitely looks best if you can fit your silhouette cutout totally onto the smooth part of the jar, though.

Frosted Candle Lanterns

 

When you display your candle lanterns, be sure to place them on a surface that won’t be damaged if the candle melts all the way down.  I try to always place mine atop a book or with a small coaster underneath.  These are super easy to make.

Make a Frosted Halloween Lantern

 

Halloween is coming…have fun getting ready!

Make a Frosted Halloween Lantern

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Comments

  1. Lori Mitchell says

    I love this but what is the sea salt for?

  2. This is so cute and oh so simple. Love it! Thanks for sharing.

  3. Very nice! Great way to use all those jars in the recycle bin. I wonder if it would work with some of those foamy cut outs, esp on a small jar . If I try it I will let you know. I have to get the spray.

  4. This looks like fun! Thanks for sharing!

  5. Super cute! Quick question…could you put the lid on the jar to protect rim and interior? Or would that cause a problem? I love re-using things!!

    • Hi Nettie,
      You could definitely store it away that way to keep dust out, when you are done. But you couldn’t burn a candle inside with the lid on…the candle would go out quickly because they have to have oxygen to burn. But that’s a great idea for storing it.

      • Oops…I meant during spraying!

        • Oh, gotcha. You could do that, but if you want a clean line where the rim meets the jar, you will still need to tape off the rim area, I’m guessing. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to tape around the rim and then screw the lid on, too…if you still have it. I no longer had the lid for two of the jars since I had saved them from a while back, but if you have it, that along with the tape would probably work great.
          I didn’t show it in this tutorial but you can also add a little wire handle to the jar by wrapping wire around the rim…another reason I didn’t want to spray the rim.

          • Oh that makes sense! I do have lids so that would make it a little easier with a quick taping first! I think the handles will be cute, if I am feeling brave I will try that too 🙂 thank you again!

  6. Cute idea. Especially cute in the bath.

    Judy

  7. Susan, That is just to batty cute !! Thanks again for a wonderful craft !!
    Paula

  8. Love it….great idea and wonderful craft Susan!!…Great for any season…

  9. this is so cool…one of those things thaat seem so simple it makes you wonder why you didn’t think of it on your own! I’m def gonna have to try this for halloween. my kids will love it!

  10. Great tutorial, Susan! I used Epson Salts last year at Christmas to anchor some candles and fill half way with ornaments. It is pretty and sparkly looking. A big bag is cheap also.

  11. I had no idea that the glass frosting even existed! This opens up tons of ideas inside my crafty little head! Thank you for this info. Love the candles!

  12. Very cute idea. Definitely not too early for Halloween, stores already have Christmas items on display. And if I’m going to make crafts for Christmas I probably need to start now since my projects seem to be moving at snail speed lately.

  13. This is really a cute idea, Susan, and I love the crow that accompanies the lantern!

  14. great idea and looks easy to make, thanks for the great idea.

  15. I love your lantern, and the idea of making a handle with wire is so cute! I can’t wait to try it!
    Thanks for getting me in the spirit of Halloween!

  16. Not a Halloween girl, but I am thinking snowflakes and holidays.

  17. Love this idea!! I’m thinking I would love to do some with jack o lantern faces 🙂

  18. Dorinda Selke says

    Hi Susan – Love the craft and your tutorial about it – I’m definitely going to make some of these for my front porch for !!lloween night!! Thanks for such a great idea! Hugs, Dorinda

  19. My kinda project here..cute and simple!~ Makes for a cute vignette with the crow.

  20. For the ladies who have Cricut machines – this would be a quick project!

  21. Hi Susan. my friend and I did this for a Christmas Party with stars and gold paint and the wire handle also had dangling stars. Love that you chose a bat and not a spider!! 🙂

  22. LOVE this idea!! I’m seeing snowflakes for Christmas, too! What a great way to upcycle my jars!! Thanks for the great idea!

  23. Would make very cute gifts for teachers, girlfriends, mail/paper delivery person, etc., too!

  24. Ellen in Oregon says

    Love this inexpensive project. There are many free clip-art sites online where you can print out lots of simple seasonal designs that could be used for this project. You can adjust the print size so the cut-out is just the right size for your jar. I get a lot of my applique designs off of free clip-art sites and what can be better than free! Just Google free clip art Halloween and see what you find.

  25. Hi Susan,
    I love this project!
    Your tutorial is very clear and I think I just might do some frosting for Christmas decorations. Thanks for the idea.
    Have a good week
    Barb from Australia

  26. Such a cute idea, Susan. Thanks so much for the tutorial. I’d never heard of that paint before, but now I’d love to try it.

  27. What a neat idea! I’ve never seen that type of paint before.

  28. Terri Horn says

    I’m going to use this idea for Christmas luminaries. I am going to use smaller stencils though.

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