Fancy Dress Pinata Tutorial

I know, I know... after the Pirate Ship Pinata 

I swore I would NEVER make another pinata again.. EVER.  But then this sweet little face looked at me

 and said, "Mommy, can we have a pinata at my party?" and I just couldn't resist!

So here is a proper tutorial on

HOW TO MAKE A PINATA!

This on just happens to be a dress.. but you could make any shape!

Ingredients

Cardboard

Razor Knife

Masking Tape

Paper Bags (from the grocery store)

Paint

Lots of Patience!

Start with your cardboard and cut it into two equal pieces.

Make your pattern on an old grocery store bag.  Then trace it on to both of your cardboard pieces.

Take your razor knife and cut around your template.

Now you should have both halves of your pinata!

Then cut strips from your leftover cardboard that are all even in width.

Grab one of your sides and start taping the strips to the outside edge (I hold the piece between my knees to give me use of both hands, one for ripping tape and one for taping it on).

Do this all the way around.   You may have to cut some of the strips to fit into the odd angles of your pinata.

Now add the other piece to the top and repeat taping all the way aournd, until you get to the top and then fill with all of your goodies! (mine is filled with swedish fish, sour patch kids and rings)

Then if you are paying attention, you would have added a hook .. but um yeah.. I forgot this step because I was in the middle of cooking and baking while I made my pinata.  Thankfully Mr. Pinkapotamus was nice enough to come to my rescue and cut a hole in the top and the back and rig a rope through it for easy hanging.. He's soo handy to have around.. think I'll keep him!

Now grab your extra grocery bags! 

And glue them all the way around your pinata, making sure to cover the seams well.

When it's done and dry, now comes the fun part.. decorating it!

I had my direct orders that I was NOT allowed to do this.. so I handed the paint brush over to my mini boss and let her create!  Here is her MASTERPIECE!

Now if it's not perfect, trust me, no one will care.. Because they are just going to BEAT the STUFFING out it anyway!

So grab some willing participants and get WHACKING!

I will say that this Pinata is made REALLY well and it won't break easily so if you have BIG kids it will stand up to their punishment and laugh!  If you are making it for little kids you might want to leave out some tape at the bottom corner while you are glueing just so that they don't lose interest.. although mine were at it for 20 minutes!

Never a dull moment at my house!

Oh and by the way, about ten seconds after this moment

we had a torrential downpour, just saved the cake and ran in the house..  and then my sillyheads decided that a RAIN party would be great!

Kids are sooo FUN, arent' they?
I am sharing with

Love,

Pinkapotamus

Pink Hippo Party #89!

Happy Monday PINK Hippos!  Whew.. what a crazy, busy weekend we had here in PINK Hippo Land!  I hosted a family (and close friend) 10th birthday party for my daughter!.. and you KNOW what that means, shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning and of course crafting (not quite as much as I would have liked)!

Here are a few small highlights!

The Birthday Princess!

And of course

The Dress Pinata which doubled as a centerpiece!

Now onto this week's FEATURES!

First up are these totally Decadent Turtle Brownies from Kimberly  at http://www.mypinterestreality.com/

p.s.  NEVER blog hungry!

Next up is Michelle from http://www.creative-outbursts.blogspot.com/ who refinished this Gorgeous desk and chairs!

I'm LOVING the turquoise and damask!

Then we have  Melissa at http://vintagemellie.blogspot.com/  who upcycled some old cabinet doors into this BEAUtiful Damask Jewelry Holder!

I totally want one.. of course I would have to make myself some jewelry cause I don't have enough to fill that!

And last but not least is Karima at http://www.karimascrafts.com/  who created this LOVEly fabric leaf picture!

 

Now... let's get this PARTY started!

Link up, Grab a Button, BE a FOLLOWER and just have fun cause I'm just tickled PINK you're here!

Love,

Pinkapotamus

Calling All Blog Followers!

Well, I just realized that I have been blogging for 2 YEARS!  Yup.. um.. I missed my own blogiversary.. kinda sad, huh?!?  Well, that means I have 2 GIANT events to celebrate.. my blogiversary and 700 followers!

So I am asking for your HELP!  I need some crafty and bloggy volunteers to join in and donate some super fun stuff for my blog followers.. it could be anything.. free adverstising on your blog, something super fun from your ETSY shop or even just something cool you made! 

IN exchange for your generosity I will do a feature post on your blog or shop, BOTH and Post your button to my blog's sidebar for 1 month!

INTERESTED?

email me at amieirwin (at) yahoo (dot) com

I'd be tickled PINK if you'd HELP!

Love,

Pinkapotamus

Under 300 Followers Blog Hop #12

Happy Monday Pink Hippos!  It's Thursday and you know what that means.. it's time for another exciting edition of

With your Hosts Amie (that's ME), Amanda  

and Lelanie

and of course today's Featured Guest, Amy, because Amie's are awesome.. any way you spell it!

I'm Amy, from While Wearing Heels.  That's me below. 

In efforts to give my friends and family a break from emailing them my latest projects, I started to blog about them and force them upon the rest of the world. 

Most would describe me as a craft/DIY blog because I share things like how to turn a baby blanket into monogrammed art: 

Or how to make your own steampunk art

How to build a HUGE ornate Dollhouse for you little girl

And of course how to throw a Rockin Baby Shower

So, though I like to share DIY projects, I also like to admit that I am a real person.  I love to laugh at life and myself and try and share that in my blog as well.  You'll see an example of that in posts like how I diagnosed myself with Crafter Attention Deficit Disorder.

If you like to laugh and maybe learn something in the process, I'd love for you to STOP BY   and say 'hi'...and I promise, you don't need to wear your heels, unless you want to :) 

AND, a big thank you to Amie for being the kind of blog and blogger that always inspires me.  Thank you so much for sharing your space with me today. 

So now, let's get this party started!

GRAB a button, FOLLOW your hosts and Featured guest, HOP around and make some new friends!

<a rel="nofollow" href="javascript:bloghop()"><img src="http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/citygirl101/under300followers.jpg" /></a>

Love,

Pinkapotamus and Friends! 

Allison Pearce Knockoff .. with a Twist!

I Love, LOve, LOVE this painting from Allison Pearce..

 and at $12 from art.com it's a steal.. but I have a few problems with it..

1.  It doesn't match my daughter's room.

2.  I LOVE to create things!

3.  It's a print and I love REAL paintings.

So this is MY version of the painting that I created for my daughter's BIG girl room!

To make this I started with a scrap piece of wood

which I Mod Podged with Book pages.

While the glue dried I cut a pattern and created this dress from two fabrics, ribbon for the belt and tulle for the skirt and top.

Then I painted my wood canvas with strips of paint in two shades of pink and white

which I then dragged down the board with a piece of cardboard

to create the desired effect.

Once dry I painted the bottom half green  and blotted with a paper towel while wet so that the pink still showed through.  Then before the  paint dried I added the lighter green scrapbook "tiles" which I created on my Cricut and then Mod Podged over to seal them.

Next I cut out the shape for the dress form

and the table

 out of cardboard and painted them black.

Then I took black thread and made a thicker piece by cutting lots of pieces and tying them together to form the dress stand.

Then I Mod Podged both the table and the dress form onto my canvas.

Then I stamped a lamp onto the table.. sorry couldn't find a chandelier or a candelabra stamp so this was the next best thing!

Then I tapped the dress into place over the canvas which was still wet with Mod Podge.

So now, I have a sweet dress form painting that is a knockoff with my own twist of adding texture, dimension and the colors I needed! 
My little lady just LOVES it and it matches her room perfectly!

And here's a few close ups.. of the dress

and the table.

I am sharing with
http://www.aglimpseinsideblog.com/







 
Love,
Pinkapotamus