Paper lantern mobiles

We finally made it to Reverse Garbage today. If you haven't been, it is a not-for-profit co-operative situated in Marrickville, Sydney, that sells industrial discards, off-cuts and over-runs to the public for creative and practical uses, reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.

We wandered past old furniture, industrial size boxes, metal tubs and a vast array of fabric and old street banners. I loved the furnishing fabric samples for sale. I could imagine making fantastic patchwork cushions or a wall hanging.

It was too funny watching Alex and Jasmine high five the plastic mannequins. Even more funny when one of the mannequin's arms fell off on Jasmine.

There were some piles of weird polysterene shapes and an odd assortment of lamp shades. I must confess I was very tempted to have a go at decorating a lampshade for our living room but the thought of carrying it, together with the kids and other stuff back to the car, was a major deterrant.

So, we managed to stay focused on kids craft bits and pieces. We bought some cheap cards, paper lanterns, paint and decorative rocks. Jasmine and I enjoyed making pretty mobiles with the paper lanterns we bought. Alex was more interested in playing with the rocks. I'll tell you what we made with the rocks in a future post.

To make these pretty mobiles you will need:

• paper lanterns
• ribbon, string or lace to hang up the lanterns
• coloured, patterned paper
• stapler or sticky tape.

Step 1: Tie a ribbon through the hooks at the top of the lantern so you can hang the mobile up.

Step 2: Tie a strip of lace through the middle of the lantern.

Step 3: Cut out some paper shapes.

Step 4: Attach shapes to the lantern with a stapler or sticky tape.