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Do you include the Nativity as part of your Christmas decor? In our home, Jesus is the reason for the season, so the Nativity is the most important part. Here is a Nativity lantern DIY that you can adapt using whatever glass container and napkin that you have. I happened to find two of these at Goodwill and just had to have them. They were perfect for this project! 

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Supplies needed for this project:

• A glass container
• A napkin
• Mod podge
• Chip brush

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This glass lantern has a metal ring around the top, so I removed that first. 

All I had to do was unscrew the nuts on each side and it loosened up enough so I could slide it off. 

Isn’t this a pretty lantern?? I love the blue glass! That is what drew me to it. The Nativity napkin that I am using is from European Excellency. This print is unfortunately sold out, but she will be getting more in February for next season. She does have many more beautiful napkins though that you could use for this project. Use code DIANA for my discount when ordering from her website. She has some gorgeous napkins and rice paper! 

It is tricky adding a napkin to an uneven surface, so I recommend doing it a little bit at a time. 

Using a brush, add some mod podge to a small section. This napkin does not completely cover the lantern, so I positioned it to cover the bottom half of the lantern. You’ll see what I do with the top below. 

Once you start placing your napkin, use your chip brush to lay it down into the mod podge. Also, fair warning, you are going to have wrinkles with this project. It’s literally impossible not to especially with the uneven surface. But I promise, it’s going to look fabulous! 

Moving a section at a time, add more mod podge.

 Make sure to place your napkin into the center first and then use your brush to sweep out your napkin to the sides. This will cause folds and creases, but there isn’t a whole lot you can do to prevent this. It doesn’t look bad though.

Now, this napkin does not fit all the way around the lantern. But I have a solution for that. 

These napkins have images on all surfaces, so just add the other half of the napkin and line it up right next to where your first napkin stops. 

Once again, use your chip brush to lay it down. 

I don’t have a picture of this, but you can cut your napkin piece ahead of time but I didn’t want the napkin to fall short, so I just tore it where it met the other side of the napkin. The mod podge helped it to tear easily. 

So for the top where you have no napkin, I added the extra layers of the napkin. These napkins have three plies, so don’t forget that you can use these, too! 

Just line it up as you move around the jar. It will cause folds, but again, it ends up looking good still in the end. 

Using a brush is an essential part because it prevents rips. 

I had a gap here, too, so I did the same as above with some additional napkin. 

After doing so, I just ripped the extra off. 

This is what it looked like before I finished it up. 

I used mod podge to wet the edges of the lantern to be able to rip the excess here. 

See how easily it tears?

I decided to paint over the napkin at the top to mimic the sky in the main napkin. 

The color that I used was Ocean, Waverly chalk paint. 

It was a bit dark, though. 

So, I added some white paint to make it appear as a cloudy sky which toned down the overall brightness. 

Once the napkin and the paint was dry, I added a final layer of mod podge to seal it. 

I replaced the metal ring at the top and tossed in a tea light! 

Look how pretty it looks with the glow of the candle inside! I love how the light is shining right through baby Jesus here. I don’t believe in coincidences. God is good y’all. <3 

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