Weekend Makes

No big secret that we like any excuse to party! Although since we somehow missed celebrating both National Zipper Day and National Shrimp Scampi Day this week, we feel completely justified in celebrating Cinco de Mayo. So here you go!

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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}

I Got Five On It: Cinco de Mayo Pottery

Mom is still in arts and crafts recovery after my second birthday party (you can see below that most of the decorations are still up!), but with Cinco de Mayo coming up this weekend, we pulled it together to make some (very) loosely Mexican-inspired pottery.  We found what looked to be a relatively easy recipe for making clay -- here's what you'll need:

- 4 cups flour

- 1 cup salt

- about 1 3/4 cups water (you'll likely need to add more when working with the clay)

Combine the flour and salt.  Then slowly add in water while stirring.  Shape into whatever you like.  Then cook pottery pieces at 200 F for 10 - 20 minutes (NOTE: we ended up cooking ours for several hours, leaving them out over night, and then putting them back in the oven the next day --- and they still weren't completely dry).  

After mom mixed the clay up, she told us we were going to try and make two different kinds of bowls -- pinch bowls and coiled bowls.  Kane said "um.  no, i'm going to make volcanoes.  pirate volcanoes."  Mom at least convinced him to make a pirate ship, which sort of resembles an oblong bowl.  But he then insisted on making a "pirate island" and some small "dinghies."  I helped mom make some coils for the coiled pots, but I really wasn't that into it.  

But we were both much more into painting the pottery once it had FINALLY dried.  Mom gave us red, green and white BioColor paint to use -- we were trying to keep it somewhat related to Cinco de Mayo.  I asked mom for pink paint about 7,000 times, but she didn't cave.  Once I realized that I was stuck with the colors I had, I actually really got into it.  And I spent much more time painting carefully, holding the pieces in my left hand and painting with my right, than I do when we just paint on paper.  Kane painted his pirate ship and made a hole for the mast.  The island got a nice coat of green paint and he painted water swirling around it on the table.

We're letting the paint dry a bit more and then mom plans to give them a good coat of Mod Podge (btw, have you seen this blog devoted entirely to crafting with Mod Podge? awesome).

These aren't the prettiest pieces of pottery we've ever seen, but we had fun and it was our first foray into clay.  I have a feeling we'll be trying out some new recipes, too -- we had a hard time getting this to dry (although a lot of that probably had to do with our construction) and it's pretty lumpy.  Oh well, hopefully daddy will still put one on his desk as a Cinco de Mayo paperclip holder!

Want to give them a go yourself?  Scroll to the bottom for links to BioColor and Mod Podge at Discount School Supply!

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!

no, not going to roll it into a ball to make a bowl.  i'm making an island.

try a little fingerpainting first.

the Cinco de Mayo pirate ship.

dinghies

these colors will go with everything, right?

BioColor Paint 16oz. - Set of 11 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!

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.