Artworks: DIY Mini Piñatas!

Yesterday, we crafted one of our most favorite summer bucket list items yet: mini piñatas. Mom loved them because they used up some of the party supplies taking over our house. We loved them because we got to eat gummy bunnies, which mom pretty much considers candy and dispenses sparingly. Win-win.

We basically followed One Charming Party's tutorial, subbing some of the party supplies we already had on hand. The first one took a bit of finagling, but once you get the hang of it, they come right together. They'd be so, so cute for a birthday party or in red, white + blue at a July 4th BBQ as a "firecracker" piñata. Happy Summer Bucket listing, everyone!

To make our mini piñatas, pull together :
- paper party cups (we used polka dot because that's what we had -- white or another solid colors would give you a more professional look, if you're going for that);
- fringed streamers (we had some pre-fringed leftover garland from another party, so we used that. if we were doing it from scratch, mom would likely cut the streamer in half lengthwise first. it's easier to layer shorter fringed pieces);
- cardstock, cut into 2" circles and hole-punched twice (see photos below);
- string or twine;
- glue;
- a hammer and small nail;
- 5" square or circle of tissue paper; and
- treats! 

1. Having a parent help you, make two small holes in the bottom of the cup with your hammer and nail. Loop a small strand of string through the two holes, tying the ends together inside the bottom of the cup. 

2. Fill cup with treats. Take a 2 foot-long piece of string and loop it through the 2" cardstock circle, and tie string flush against it. Place cardstock on top of your treats, with string ends tailing out the top. 

3. Make small hole in middle of 5" square/circle of tissue paper. Run the ends of cardstock-tied string through it and out the top of the cup. Place a small amount of glue around outside top of cup, fold tissue paper over the sides, gluing down as you go. Let dry for a few minutes.

4. Glue fringe on in layers, starting from the tissue paper covered end of the cup. The more you overlap the fringe, the more coverage you'll get. We could only be patient enough for 3-4 layers. What can we say? We wanted the gummies! 

5. When it's party time, tie piñatas up or have a friend hold one. Gently pull on bottom string and ENJOY!!!

{you can re-use the pinatas by adding more treats, replacing cardstock circle, and taping up the bottom tissue paper a bit}

In Home Entertainment: A Mitzvah Story

Over winter break, my school sent home directions and supplies to make a "Mitzvah Story" book. In Judaism, the term mitzvah means an act of human kindness -- a good deed. Mom unpacked it all, noted what a nice idea it was, and then put it on our kitchen counter where it sat for two weeks. Upon returning to school after the holidays, we realized we forgot to put my story together! So we sat down together to find photographs illustrating the various mitzvahs highlighted in the directions (helping family, helping friends, helping the neighborhood, and taking care of nature). I was all for that part and even helped stretch our imaginations a bit. Then mom asked me to help fill in the blanks for the question prompts and I decided I didn't want to do it. I "didn't like helping people" and I "felt nothing" when doing mitzvahs. I have a knack for being a real PITA when I decide I don't want to do something. So mom said fine and put it away.

A few days later I asked for an art project and mom asked whether I'd like to make the cover for my mitzvah book. I was into that and wanted to do a collage with bleeding art tissue paper. Fortunately the board book cover of my mitzvah story was pretty sturdy and I modpodged on, peeled off, and reglued a whole bunch of tissue paper. Only then was I excited to bring it in to school and share it. Mom said (paraphrasing here) something about "you gotta look like you don't need it and then they give it to you for free." Whatever that means.

I think she really just thought the book was a concrete way for us to realize all the nice things I do for people even if I don't think of them that way and how I could think about continuing those acts. And I did. For the next week I came up with good deeds, large and small and that generally somehow also benefited me, and kept asking "that's a good mitzvah, right?" And, as it turns out, yes, sometimes cupcakes for everyone are definitely a mitzvah.

In Home Entertainment: Stained Glass Pumpkins

It was recently my family's turn to have Shabbat at school and I insisted on doing an art project. I really wanted to make something "spooky," but given that we were focusing more on the general fall season at school, mom steered me towards making pumpkins. I then said I wanted to make marbelized pumpkins, but mom thought trying to get 12 preschoolers marbling at one time was probably not a good idea. I've been "painting" with bleeding art tissue paper a lot lately, so mom thought we could do a take on our Hannukah stained glass project from last year.

Mom found an outline of a pumpkin online, altered the shading and gradients a bit, printed them onto black paper and cut them out. I tore up orange, red, yellow and green tissue paper and helped cut up contact paper and we were all set. We placed the tissue paper onto the sticky contact paper and then brushed over it with water, letting the colors swirl together. When it was dry, mom glued the pumpkin outline on top and cut around it.

We also made one on watercolor paper at home (by brushing the tissue paper on with diluted glue), which really gives more of a painted look, but doesn't let quite as much sunlight through. Both are pretty cool and my friends seemed to enjoy making them, too!

Summer Sun: Pop-Up Stained Glass

Our new outdoor acrylic easels just might turn out to be the biggest hit of our summer.  We love them because we naked art with them, we take our time by alternating making art and playing with our water/sand table, and, well, we naked art with them.  Mom loves them because they are easy to use in our minimal outdoor space and the "pop-up" nature of a lot of the art we create with them allows for easy clean up and minimizes the amount of artwork piling up in our house.  And we've all been a little bit under the weather this week, so they've come in handy to get us outside without requiring a significant undertaking.

One afternoon we gathered up our scraps of bleeding tissue paper and made some temporary "stained glass" on the easels simply by brushing on the tissue paper with water.  Kane seemed interested and wanted to dip the paper in water and stick it on that way, but he was still wasn't feeling great and bowed out early.  I took turns "painting" with mom and playing with my new dora and boots mermaids (i think i'm getting the hang of this potty training negotiating).  It looked so pretty with the summer sun shining through it as we worked on it.  And when we were all done, it just dried up and brushed right off.  Easy peasy temporary art.

Three Little Birds: Upcycled Bird Feeders

Our nature walk last week prompted us to try and bring real nature a little closer to home.  We've had our eyes peeled for a good birdfeeder, but haven't seen any under $100 that we like.  So we decided to use old milk and juice cartons to make our own.  For several reasons, this project turned out to be mom-intensive.  Despite asking to paint the carton over and over again, when it came time to do so, Cam wanted absolutely nothing to do with this.  I wanted something to do with it, but had entirely different plans.  That being said, this project is entirely kid friendly, so give it a go,  Here's what you'll need to make ours:

- an empty and cleaned milk or juice carton
- an exacto knife or sharp scissors
- white paint
- bleeding tissue paper
- paint brush (we found sponge paint brushes worked best to fold the tissue paper around the carton)
- white liquid glue (watered down to "paint on" tissue paper)
- mod podge
- stick
- string

Mom first cut the large opening and then painted each one with two coats of white BioColor paint -- sort of as a primer (as you'll see below, this isn't a necessary step).  Once the primer dried, mom tore up small pieces of bleeding tissue paper and gave us each watered down glue to use.  I started out "painting" the pieces of tissue paper on nicely, but then decided I wanted to take them off, which was a cool idea because the tissue paper leaves behind color anyways (and we've done that purposefully before).  But then I wanted to tear the primer off.  And then I wanted to tear holes in the carton.  Mom was attempting to remain hands off and let me do what I want (even though she was muttering, "good f'in thing i primed that sucker twice.  and, btw, i don't even like birds.")

And once I saw that she really wasn't going to intervene, I lost interest.  Mom covered hers with the tissue paper and then I decided I actually did want to do it, so she helped me with mine also.  Even without the primer, it looked cool.  Once they dried, mom put two coats of Mod Podge over them (to help keep the rain from totally destroying them -- we'll see if it works).  Once that finally dried, she cut a hatch mark with the exacto knife for the stick (on both sides of the carton so it went through the front and out the back a bit).  She then made a small hole on either side of the top of the carton and ran some twine through.

We filled them with birdseed and hung them on a tree over our back deck.  Now what's the over/under on how long it takes squirrels to wreck these?  Ahhhh, city living.

Oh, one final thing -- when putting the tissue paper on, I pasted some on my face (right between my eyes) on accident (hey, I get into it).  Although I took a long bath that night, we somehow overlooked making sure it came off.  The next morning I peeled it off.  And I peeled off some of my skin, too.  And the scab after that.  And the scab after that.  Which was AWESOME because we had family pictures and school pictures right around the corner.  Fortunately (or unfortunately), our family pictures got rained out and mom forgot about the school pictures and sent me to school on Monday in a dirty (literally) pirate shirt.  So the front and center scab at least kind of worked with the shirt.  And even though it's not the coolest way to get injured, if you ask, I'll tell you what daddy told me to say: the first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club.  In any event, we suggest NOT pasting tissue paper onto your face if you can avoid it.

Scroll to the bottom for links to bleeding tissue paper, Mod Podge, and BioColor at DSS! 

Yo:  We are now Discount School Supply affiliates and the links below to DSS are affiliate links.  If you click on any of these links (or the general DSS link on the right hand side of our blog) and make a purchase, we will receive a small percentage of the sale from DSS.  So do us a solid and help support our arts and crafts habit -- if you are going to buy something from DSS, do it through Not-So-SAHM!

primed and ready

put it on

take it off

"do you think this looks cool, mommy?"

"all finished"

here's moms

all Mod Podged up

ready for some seed! 

done

and done

20 x 30 Colorations Premium Bleeding Tissue Paper - 100 Sheets Our premium art tissue is perfect for making arts and crafts projects of all types.

Mod Podge - Gloss - 16 oz Create groovy crafts in a flash with this 3-in-1 glue sealer and finish! Quick-dries clear on decoupage collages and albums for a glossy polished look. Glues to a variety of surfaces. 16 oz.

BioColor Paint 16 oz. BioColor does it all! It's so versatile - use with brushes spatulas or our paint accessories. It spreads and adheres easily to paper plastic wood metal cardboard. It shines brilliantly when dry and won't crack or fade with age! Use for fabric painting sticker art and marbling projects or make multi-colored putty!

Heart of Glass: Tissue Paper Stained Glass Valentines

After making our valentine's note cards, we had a pile of almost tie-dyed looking bleeding tissue paper that was too pretty to toss.  Mom saved it and we used it to make our valentines for our friends -- we simply pasted it on some waxed paper using liquid starch and let it dry.  The sheets of colored tissue paper make pretty stained glass in and of themselves, but mom sandwiched a small piece in between two heart cut outs for our valentines.  Super simple and cute.