September 29, 2025
Dear Liza,
I finally got the finishing touches on the haunted house-lantern thingee!
The windows looked so much better once the paper was put in. I used the thin paper that comes as wrapping in IKEA kits, but any tissue or deli paper would work.
It helps to cut a piece a bit bigger than the window hole, brush glue around the edges and mullions on the inside, and lay the paper down.
To make the tower, I re-purposed a toilet paper roll and cut a little window in it. A few swipes of brown and white paint and a tiny bits of paper for the window got it ready.
The fiddly bit was gluing the tower onto the roof. I had cut a hole already, and used the glue-soaked yarn to give it more adhesion. It worked!
I put a flat roof on the tower and, as a final touch, put some tiny lights inside. Photographed in a dark room, it looks great!
The fun thing about this project was making it all from junk mail and bits of leftover paint and yarn. Even the lights are re-purposed from a glowing jellyfish costume.
If I was to do it again, I’d make it prettier… matching windows, window frames, more careful siding and painting, and maybe even a proper gabled roof.
But as a proof-of-concept, this was very satisfying.
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 