Summer Break: Day 35

I was consumed with party planning yesterday, & then a late game-night filled with charade-like fun. (Guesstures!) So, I didn't quite make it on the ole blog to update the day's summer fun. But here it is!

I combined a fun thing with a need-to-do thing, so I killed 2 birds with 1 stone. Or as Mr. WhiMSy love would say: I killed a bird with some stones.

We made a piñata for Pazely's birthday party, which is this Sunday. Well, this is PART 1 of the piñata-making fun anyway.

These will probably be the most boring photos you've ever seen, but I wanted to be able to explain the steps visually. I've never made a piñata this way before. Usually I use the whole balloon technnique, as with THIS piñata.

But this time we built a design out of cardboard. We recycled 2 moving boxes. First, you'll want to cut out your shape twice. We used an ice cream cone design. You'll also want to cut out a strip about 3" wide that will be sandwiched between both ice cream shapes. It needs to be long enough to go around the entire shape of your design. I took the strip & bent it between my fingers so it would be more pliable.

Next, you'll want to take some painter's tape, or masking tape, & adhere it all around the outer edge of one of your shapes, leaving half of it hang over.

It should look something like this:

Now flip that tape-covered-shape over so the sticky side of the tape is up. Take the strip of cardboard & outline your shape. The reason you did the tape in the previous step is to make THIS step easier. Once your strip is laid down, simply push the tape over this edge as well.

This is what it looks like so far:

If your strip is not long enough, you can add pieces to fill in the gap, like I did here:

Now lay the 2nd cutout shape on top & tape it to the strip of cardboard. You'll see here, that it doesn't match perfectly:

That's OK. Seriously, piñatas are so forgiving. I cut 1" slits along the parts that didn't fit so that I could bend them in & tape them easier.

In this photo, you can see the completed cardboard base. The pink duct tape was used only because I ran out of blue painter's tape.

Now, get your supplies ready for paper mache! Pazely & I tore long strips of newspaper about 1-1 1/2" wide. And I've always used flour mixed with water as the glue. Just make it the same consistency as paste.

And here is a rare shot of me in crafty action. Pazely & I had paste all over our hair & face & clothes.

It is a MESSY project so work in a mess-able zone or lay out a tarp or cardboard to work on.

We laid our paper-mached piece out to dry & by the next morning it was ready for the next step---which will be completed today!

Click HERE for PART 2.

♥