Cheese Grater Pumpkin Lantern

Today I'm making a quick and easy pumpkin lantern from pieces in the basement. 

I had an old cheese grater, a wooden root, faux fall leaves, and Spanish moss and I'm putting them all together for an adorable Fall lantern. 

Take a look...

Like I said I began with an old repurposed cheese grater. This one had the handle cut off at one point for another project. 

Sometimes I take apart projects and put the pieces back into my stash for another  day. 

The best cheese grater for this project is actually an inexpensive cheese grater from the dollar store.

The penny stencil folding table they are sitting on is another beautiful Homeroad project. 

There are many cheese grater pumpkins of all kinds on Pinterest.  You can get some great ideas for variations to this project. Follow along with me on Pinterest while you're there. 

As you're reading through this post please pay attention to the bold blue links that will take you to more information and the products I used for this project. Also the READ MORE sections will take you to related Homeroad projects. 

Today, while I was thinking about creating a pumpkin lantern and what it should look like, I grabbed a few different options for bases including the piece of wood above. 

I started out by spray painting the cheese grater with a coat of orange spray paint. 

When the paint dried I was thinking about how to attach the stem on top. Originally my plan was to attach the cheese grater to a piece of wood so I would needed the top to come off to drop in a candle. 

I decided that a soft sanding sponge would fit into the top of the grater and be easily removed. I found a sanding sponge at the dollar store,  it would be perfect to attach my stem and it would be easy to remove. You may have another idea to attach the stem to the top. 

I cut the sanding sponge to the size of the top of the cheese grater with a pair of scissors. 

On the top of the sponge I hot glued Spanish moss from the dollar store. 

I fashioned a stem from an old piece of tree root that had a great stem shape. I attached a few faux fall leaves and wired pip berries to the stem and then to the Spanish moss on top of the sanding sponge.

I stuck the embellished sponge into the top of the cheese grater. 

Next, I was thinking about a base. One option would be to attach the cheese grater to a wooden block. A wooden block is easy for most people to find.

An attached base would let you carry the pumpkin lantern around if your cheese grater had a handle like most do. 

Here's a quick video: 

Another option for a base would be a wooden dish, there are many in the thrift stores. A small basket would also work. 

In the end I decided to leave off the base completely since mine didn't have a handle and I didn't need to carry it. I liked the way the lantern looked with no base at all. 

I covered a battery operated votive candle with the cheese grater pumpkin and the light was beautiful! These votives even have a remote to turn them on and off. 

This little lantern would be perfect outdoors at night or indoors on the mantel. 

The beautiful print on my mantel is the work of Karen Lind Art. She designs beautiful floral prints and great prices.  This print is called Oleander and Pee Gee Hydrangea in Glass. 

The wreath stand was a recent DIY project. 

Please pin for later --->> 

When it is very dark, this cute little pumpkin lantern gives off a beautiful light through the cheese grater holes and makes a pattern on the wall.

READ MORE: DIY LANTERN PROJECTS

I hope you like my version of the pumpkin cheese grater lantern. Which would you do? A base or no base? 

READ MORE: CHEESE GRATER PROJECTS

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