Customizing Basic Cafe Lights with Paper Bags and a Little Bit of Time

Hey guys, who's in the mood for a party today? We're going to customize a set of basic cafe lights with paper bags and a little bit of time. I'm not about to blow my budget on a tiny strand of novelty party lights, so today we're taking these inexpensive paper bags and turning them into adorable paper lanterns with just a few folds.

To get started, you'll need the following materials: string led cafe lights, small paper bags, bone folder, small hole punch, and scissors. If I'm throwing a party, I am not about to blow my budget on a tiny strand of novelty party lights, so today we're taking these inexpensive paper bags and turning them into adorable paper lanterns with just a few folds.

The first thing you want to do is cut the bottom of your paper bag off with a pair of sharp scissors. You just want to cut right along the seam in a straight line. Now your next step is to take your flaps at the top and bottom and fold them down in towards themselves. Use a bone folder to get a nice clean crease throughout the project, repeat on the other side.

Now your paper bag should look like this - it kind of makes an "I" when you look down at it. Now it's time to open the bag up any fold that's pointing inward we're going to turn outward and again smooth flat with your bone folder. Your paper bag should now look like this, all of your folds should be pointing out from the middle of the bag.

Our next step is to put an inward crease in between each outward pointing crease. Do this by bringing the two folds together and smoothing flat again with your bone folder. So now you should have a nice accordion pleated paper bag. Next, we're going to punch holes at the top and bottom. To do this take your small hole punch and doing two or three pleats at a time about a half inch down from the top, punch your holes.

Okay, we've done all of our pleats and punched all of our holes so now we are putting a crease through the middle and this is where our lantern is going to kind of pop out and take shape. Flatten out your paper bag and fold it in half and again use your bone folder to get a nice crisp crease down the middle, fold it the other way and crease one more time.

Now it's time to add the string. Take your string and simply thread it through the holes at the top and bottom once you've threaded the top and bottom, it's time to tie your knot. Now you might feel tempted to cinch this in really tight but you want to leave about a golf ball sized opening at the top so that your cafe light will fit in. Just tie a simple knot.

Now it's time to pop our lanterns out just stick finger in each end and gently push up towards that center crease unfolding the accordion pleats as you go, you've got your first lantern ready to go on your string of lights. I'm going to make a few more all right, we've cranked out a whole bunch of lanterns now it's time to pop them on our lights.

Just a reminder for fire safety reasons, you want to make sure you're using led lights so they don't give off any heat just pop the lanterns right over the bulbs. If you find that the opening is too tight, you may need to snip the string off re-thread them and loosen them up, and if your lights have clips on them use those to secure the paper bag a little better with just a little bit of time and not a lot of money.

I think we got a pretty cute light set here now we're just ready for a party. I'll see you guys next week!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys who's in the mood for a party today we're going to customize a set of basic cafe lights with paper bags and a little bit of time here's what you'll need string led cafe lights small paper bags bone folder small hole punch and scissors if i'm throwing a party i am not about to blow my budget on a tiny strand of novelty party lights so today we're taking these inexpensive paper bags and turning them into adorable paper lanterns with just a few folds let's get started the first thing we want to do is cut the bottom of your paper bag off with a pair of sharp scissors you just want to cut right along the seam in a straight line all right your next step is to take your flaps at the top and bottom and fold them down in towards themselves use a bone folder to get a nice clean crease throughout the project repeat on the other side now your paper bag should look like this it kind of makes a letter i when you look down it now it's time to open the bag up any fold that's pointing inward we're going to turn outward and again smooth flat with your bone folder now your paper bag should look like this all of your folds should be pointing out from the middle of the bag our next step is to put an inward crease in between each outward pointing crease do this by bringing the two folds together and smoothing flat again with your bone folder so now you should have a nice accordion pleated paper bag our next step is to punch holes at the top and bottom to do this take your small hole punch and doing two or three pleats at a time about a half inch down from the top punch your holes okay we've done all of our pleats and punched all of our holes so now we are putting a crease through the middle and this is where our lantern is going to kind of pop out and take shape so flatten out your paper bag and fold it in half and again use your bone folder to get a nice crisp crease down the middle fold it the other way and crease one more time now it's time to add the string take your string and simply thread it through the holes at the top and bottom once you've threaded the top and bottom it's time to tie your knot now you might feel tempted to cinch this in really tight but you want to leave about a golf ball sized opening at the top so that your cafe light will fit in so just tie a simple knot okay now it's time to pop our lanterns out just stick finger in each end and gently push up towards that center crease unfolding the accordion pleats as you go you've got your first lantern ready to go on your string of lights i'm going to make a few more all right we've cranked out a whole bunch of lanterns now it's time to pop them on our lights just a reminder for fire safety reasons you want to make sure you're using led lights so they don't give off any heat just pop the lanterns right over the bulbs if you find that the opening is too tight you may need to snip the string off re-thread them and loosen them up and if your lights have clips on them use those to secure the paper bag a little better with just a little bit of time and not a lot of money i think we got a pretty cute light set here now we're just ready for a party i'll see you guys next week youhey guys who's in the mood for a party today we're going to customize a set of basic cafe lights with paper bags and a little bit of time here's what you'll need string led cafe lights small paper bags bone folder small hole punch and scissors if i'm throwing a party i am not about to blow my budget on a tiny strand of novelty party lights so today we're taking these inexpensive paper bags and turning them into adorable paper lanterns with just a few folds let's get started the first thing we want to do is cut the bottom of your paper bag off with a pair of sharp scissors you just want to cut right along the seam in a straight line all right your next step is to take your flaps at the top and bottom and fold them down in towards themselves use a bone folder to get a nice clean crease throughout the project repeat on the other side now your paper bag should look like this it kind of makes a letter i when you look down it now it's time to open the bag up any fold that's pointing inward we're going to turn outward and again smooth flat with your bone folder now your paper bag should look like this all of your folds should be pointing out from the middle of the bag our next step is to put an inward crease in between each outward pointing crease do this by bringing the two folds together and smoothing flat again with your bone folder so now you should have a nice accordion pleated paper bag our next step is to punch holes at the top and bottom to do this take your small hole punch and doing two or three pleats at a time about a half inch down from the top punch your holes okay we've done all of our pleats and punched all of our holes so now we are putting a crease through the middle and this is where our lantern is going to kind of pop out and take shape so flatten out your paper bag and fold it in half and again use your bone folder to get a nice crisp crease down the middle fold it the other way and crease one more time now it's time to add the string take your string and simply thread it through the holes at the top and bottom once you've threaded the top and bottom it's time to tie your knot now you might feel tempted to cinch this in really tight but you want to leave about a golf ball sized opening at the top so that your cafe light will fit in so just tie a simple knot okay now it's time to pop our lanterns out just stick finger in each end and gently push up towards that center crease unfolding the accordion pleats as you go you've got your first lantern ready to go on your string of lights i'm going to make a few more all right we've cranked out a whole bunch of lanterns now it's time to pop them on our lights just a reminder for fire safety reasons you want to make sure you're using led lights so they don't give off any heat just pop the lanterns right over the bulbs if you find that the opening is too tight you may need to snip the string off re-thread them and loosen them up and if your lights have clips on them use those to secure the paper bag a little better with just a little bit of time and not a lot of money i think we got a pretty cute light set here now we're just ready for a party i'll see you guys next week you\n"