For this project, I used 2.5mm cardstock from the art store—it’s quite sturdy, which makes it a bit tricky and time-consuming to cut. That said, regular cardboard should work too and might be easier to handle.
In the video, there’s a part where I use wood filler—that step is totally optional, so feel free to skip it if you prefer!
The little scene inside the lantern should ideally be printed on vellum paper. If you don’t have any, thin regular paper works too. Just a heads-up: when printing on vellum with an inkjet printer, I found that using too much ink can cause smudging.

My best results came from setting the printer to “Plain Paper” and “Standard” quality—anything higher, like “Photo” or “High Quality,” tended to bleed and smudge.
And if printing directly on vellum isn’t an option, another workaround is to print on regular paper and trace the design onto vellum with a black felt-tip pen. 😊

Hope that helps and happy crafting!

PRINTABLE ELEMENTS – PRINT THIS ON VELLUM