Surfboard Signs and Train Piñata

Finally finished! 

My mom and I spent one more day last week finishing our surfboard name signs. 

These surfboard signs felt like a never-ending project and at times our eyes went a little cross-eyed, but they were well worth the effort and we loved the result. My kids, niece and nephew loved them, too...which is most important since the signs are for them! They were all very specific about what they wanted on their signs and I think my mom and I did a great job at personalising them to perfection!

I also completed another homemade piñata. This one's a train piñata for my nephew. 

He asked me to make him a piñata for his birthday and I could not say no to his big puppy eyes and sweet smile. So, I made it on one of my last days in California. I kept wondering why I waited to the last minute to make it, but surprisingly finished it in one afternoon/evening. It took about 8 hours to make inclucing a few interruptions like dinner and bedtime for the kids...much less time than the donkey piñata and star piñata! I was very careful to keep it small...but also made sure to fill it with loads of candy! My nephew was so excited when he saw it the next day. He jumped up and down about ten times, saying "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

I'll have tutorials for both of these up soon, so stay tuned if you'd like to make either one for yourself! 

☼

Mas de Piñatas

Just for fun while I'm on this piñata kick, I thought I'd share a little bit of what I found through making my star piñata.

If you want to be entertained for a few minutes, read this blog post from Something a Week. I was seriously laughing out loud and thought it would be especially entertaining to do the same thing where I live in England!

Source: somethingaweek.wordpress.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I also discovered that Death Star Piñatas are almost as popular as Mexican star piñatas.

Source: papiermache.co.uk via Jessica on Pinteres

Interesting.

  Source: meghanandmark.blogspot.co.uk via Jessica on Pinterest

And if I ever have the time and patience, I'd love to give these a try...

                

Source: sheknows.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Star Piñata Tutorial

Okay. My star piñata tutorial is ready for anyone else who thinks they might want to make one! 

Trust me, making a star piñata is a ton of fun. I enjoyed it even more than the donkey piñata. I'm already trying to think of the next occasion for which I can make a piñata...hmmm...perhaps the Queen's Jubilee.

What you'll need to make your own star piñata:

My Scribbled Dimensions in Inches

• Lots of cardboard (the best kind is from used boxes...mine was from boxes in which our wine, nappies, and other items were delivered or bought)
• Lots of crepe paper (red, yellow, green, purple, pink...or colours of your choice)
• Lots of packaging tape
• Lots of candy or other small items to fill the piñata.
• Wire for hanging
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Exacto knife
• White Glue
• Paint Brush for brushing on glue

Here is how to make a star piñata:
(beware...there are lots of steps!)

1. Trace a circle for center of star.
2. Cut first circle out of flattened cardboard box. Use it to trace a second circle.
3. Cut second circle from flattened cardboard box. You should have two circles.

4. Reinforce any bends in cardboard by taping rectangular cardboard pieces perpendicular to bend.

5. Cut as many strips of cardboard you'll need to go around the circle. Make sure they are the same width and that they'll overlap by a few inches when wrapped around the circles.
6. Stick pieces of tape all around the circle. Make sure the sticky side is facing up. Make sure the reinforced bends are also facing up so that they will end up inside the piñata.
7. Curve strips by squeezing along the ridges.
8. This will cause the strips to match the edge of the circle more easily.

 9. Place strip along the top of the edge of the circle.
10. Pull pieces of tape up to secure edge.
11. Tape inside and outside of any overlap. Leave a gap for candy filling (See number 13).
12. Flip the circle over and tape along the entire edge. Make sure this is very secure so it can handle the weight of the candy or other filler.

13. Make sure there is a gap in the side so that you can fill the piñata later.
14. Prepare the other circle with tape the same way you did the first.
15. Set first circle on the second and pull tap up to secure.
16. Flip it over and tape the entire edge. Divide and mark edge into 6 equivalent sections. Make sure the markings are in the same exact place on both sides.

17. Prepare triangles for the points of the stars. Fit them as close together as you can on the cardboard to use it efficiently.
18. Cut 12 triangles.
19. Match corners of triangles with marks. Tape the bottom edge of triangle to circle - 5 on first side.
20. Tape 5 on other side. **Save last two triangles for the gap where piñata will be filled (see 24).**

21. Cut 6 rectangles. These will edge the points of the star.
22. Bend the rectangles in half.
23. Tape edges to triangular points on both sides (minus the one with the candy filler gap)
24. Fill the center with candy or other filler. Tape closed and add last star. This will be the top point. Check all stars by wiggling them. If they move, tape them down more until they are totally secure.

25. Mark the top star point in the same spot on both sides.
26. Cut a hole on each mark and thread wire through. Tie and tape ends together.
27. Tape the wire completely down on both sides.

28. Cut 3 inch strips of crepe paper. Fold it up and cut repeatedly into one edge to make a fringe. Mix half white glue and half water.
29. Brush glue along the edge of points and stick on some uncut crepe paper. I used red, but would use a lighter color like yellow or pink next time.
30. Brush glue along the top of star point, all around, and place the first fringe on the glue so that it goes around the entire point of the star.
31. Brush another line of glue just below the edge of the fringe and stick on another fringe.

32. Continue layering the glue and crepe fringe. 3 layers of red. 3 layers of yellow.
33. 3 layers of green.
34. 3 layers of purple.
35. 4 layers of pink.

36. After each star point is covered, place piñata on a stool or box to raise it from the ground and continue with layering the fringe. Follow the shape of the circle as you fill each side of the piñata. You can see that I put yellow down here before I started the layering.
37. 4 layers of pink. 4 layers of yellow.
38. 3 layers of green. 3 layers of red.
39. Finish the center of the circle by folding the yellow over on itself around continuously until the center is completely covered.

40. Take strips of crepe paper, gather them randomly together. Fold down twice and staple in place.
41. Glue strips on the very tips of star points. I totally forgot this step until a couple hours before the fundraiser, so I used a hot glue gun. Next time, I think I'd do this step before adding the fringe layers.

You should now have one brilliant star piñata ready to be enjoyed...and then destroyed!

If you make it through all those steps and make a star piñata, I'd love to see it!

Feel free to share a picture in my flickr group Share with Sunny Stitching.

Star Piñata

My latest creation is this semi-traditional Mexican star piñata...

I'll be posting a tutorial on how to make this star piñata soon. 

A few months ago, I made a donkey piñata (see it here) and was asked to make another one for a Doce de Mayo themed fundraiser (Cinco de Mayo was already booked). I thought about doing another donkey...or a sombrero...but couldn't resist the vibrancy of the star.  I used a picture from Google images for inspiration and a guide to the colours and then got to work cutting, taping, and gluing. It took some time, but was fairly easy and loads of fun to make! I love how bright and cheerful it turned out. It ended up being raising quite a bit at the fundraiser which made me really happy! :-) 

Homemade Piñata

This is my homemade donkey piñata that has no name. I really felt like giving it a name because we spent so many hours together, but could not think of a good one and also thought I might get a little sad if I named it and then watched it get destroyed. So, I made it with the full knowledge that it wouldn't be around for very long. This was especially helpful when I started to think about the details. I wasn't too picky about the glue showing through or the stripes being equal widths. The pointy ears look more like horns and seem a little small, but I was okay with that. They'd just be knocked off later. I did have fun with two details, though. 

Mainly the flowers and the eyes. A donkey must carry something, right? So this donkey's carrying flowers. If I ever make one of these again, I'll definitely make the flowers larger, and more of them.

The eyes were cute when I first glued them on, but they became pretty when I added eyelashes. My three year old daughter really appreciated the eyelashes that made the donkey a girl. I must admit that I think the nose is pretty funny looking. My little helper insisted that the donkey have a nose, though.

One mistake I made was forgetting to make holes and string the rope through before I covered the piñata with crepe paper. But, it worked pretty well to just tie the rope around the middle, so I wasn't too bothered by my mistake. 

Overall, it was a success. What started as a cardboard box transformed to a colourful piñata. It was loved...and then destroyed. Actually, it wasn't completely destroyed. Only the head fell off, so I might be able to repair it and use it for another fiesta!

¡Feliz Cumpleaños a mi amiga!