Cracking a Christmas piñata

For Christmas 2014 I decided to make my young niece and two nephews a bauble-shaped piñata. My inspiration came from a dear friend of mine who made one for a Christmas party she went to. As I was on a budget I thought it would be a fun activity for the kids on Christmas day.

My friend made her's following the steps on this website. Which was my starting point. This was my first experience making a piñata, but I have a bit of experience with papier-mache so thought it wouldn't be too difficult.

I used a balloon as the mould. As I couldn't find proper papier-mache glue, I made my own by mixing water and flower. Tearing newspaper into strips took considerably longer than I thought, but it was rather therapeutic.

I deviated slightly from the website instructions and covered the whole balloon in layers, including the top. I think I ended up with about five or six layers, leaving each layer to dry thoroughly before starting the next one.

Once the mache was completed, I popped the balloon and gave the piñata a lobotomy; slicing off its lid. I filled it with sweets, toys and tiny pieces of paper of different colours (which I tore by hand!).

I also made a hole in the lid and bottom of the piñata and and threaded through some heavy duty twine (I wanted to make sure it was strong enough to hold the heavy piñata up). I intertwined the twine with some tinsel to make it more Christmassy.

Then I fixed the lid back on and paper-mached it to the body. I also reinforced the base to make sure it was strong enough that the twine handle wouldn't tear through when the piñata was hung.

My piñata wasn't looking more pear-shaped than round (tip: actually use round balloons!); so I made a shallow cone with cardboard and fixed this to the bottom to give the piñata a more tapered appearance. This also served to hide the knot of the twine handle.

It was now ready to decorate. I decided against using strips of tissue paper to decorate the bauble as I thought it would be too fiddly. So I decided to spray paint it gold and then decorated it with a message to my niece and nephews.

I also added a crown to the top, to make to look more like a bauble I made this from cardboard which I spray painted gold; adding a strip of back paper behind the 'teeth' for added effect.

It was ready. Probably about four hours work all up (plus drying time).

On Christmas day I hung it up on the clothes-line. And everyone gathered around to watch the destruction.

It took about 9 minutes to crack open. A few adults had a turn as well; it proved to be quite the stress reliever! It was great fun watching everyone try to crack it open. Quite a highlight of Christmas day in my opinion.

In hindsight; the piñata was probably too thick. The layers of paper with the thick flour glue made the walls of the piñata more like thick cardboard than delicate paper. Hence, it took quite some effort to crack open. But then again, that just prolonged the fun.

Ugly doll for Xmas

Finished doll with the pattern.

Before Christmas I hand-sewed an Ugly Doll for my nephew, who was about 8 months old. The felt is pretty cheap to buy at Spotlight - something like $7 per m. I think I just got some half-metres, and also some small packets of black and white that have adhesive backing for the eyes

Cut out with the bits placed on - sewed them first, then turned him inside out to sew up the outside. Stuffing was through the head.

With his face and pouch on (he's a marsupial monster). The pouch is not centred - a mistake - but hey the kid can't talk to criticise.

Even with the stick-on felt. I still stitched around the eyes and mouth though, because infants tend to chew on everything.  Stuffed with cushion stuffing.

Finished little dude.

Design tips - don't make so much of a 'neck' as it a place where the stuffing will shift around and the doll will fold.  The body was a bit too tubular which made stuffing the feet a bit tricky. He's meant to look goofy not scary - I think it worked!

Ruffles ahoy!

This year, I've been sewing a bit more again. 
It started with a colleague lending me this book:

I chose a few patterns, bought fabric, then took a while to get around to making something, but I did in the end! More on that in another post....

Then I found this book - the equivalent pattern book for girls:

It has stuff that is appropriate for toddlers, little girls and 10-year-olds, so I thought it might be good value. First pattern to try: this A-line pinafore.

 
 
 
It's a size 6 so should fit her a while. I used leftover fabric from a wraparound skirt I made a few years back. The hardest bit was the contrast panel at the bottom. I didn't have quite enough fabric to make the full length, so I thought I'd cut out a few inches of the swirly fabric to see on the bottom. That turned out to be more complicated than I had thought it would be (as it's an A-line dress, not a tube), but I made it work somehow! Other than that, the hardest bit of this pattern was sewing in the shoulder straps while the whole, double sided bodice was inside out.

Next, the reason this blog post is called "Ruffles Ahoy", I made a blouse for my niece. I asked her what her favourite colour is, and she said pink and orange! Ok then!

All was going well, then I stuffed up and forgot to add a seam allowance to the bottom of the blouse, so it would have been nearly 4 cm too short. I didn't have enough fabric to cut it out again. Then I thought I could add another ruffle at the bottom. After much basting and trying to get the ruffles even on what seemed like Kms of the bottom panel, it's done, and ready for her birthday, which isn't until after Xmas! I'm proud of my effort - I even sewed a button loop at the back and the bodice is lined

I tried it on my daughter and it's a little big - more like a dress. Maybe my niece can wear it first as a tunic with a skivvy this winter, and it might fit her better in subsequent NH summers...?
I'm going to make another for my daughter in the same size, in different fabric, sans the bottom frill.

'You mustn't eat the dough...'

...is what the adorable 3 year old said to me as she ate it, on this super fun crafty day with kids. Using salt dough to make Christmas tree decorations using simple cookie cutters and acrylic paint. Trying my hand at working with kids, and starting small wit some pre-Christmas babysitting / craft workshop for friends' kids.

Utility vest for boyz

Promise I'll post something other than knitting next time. Here's a zip-up vest I knitted for my little boy! Complete with pockets! Very snuggly and practical too. I worried about how I'd attach the zip, but ended up just sewing it on using a sewing machine, as others I'd seen on Ravelry had done.  Pattern is a Debbie Bliss pattern that Mum found in a women's mag.

Ravelled here.

amigurumi panda

So I've been mucking around with scrap acrylic yarn and a crochet hook a bit lately... I looked in a book I already had and what do you know? there was a pattern there using exactly the same colours I had! black and white. The result: Morris the Sensitive Panda, taken from the book "Meet me at Mike's", collated and edited by Melbourne's Pip Lincoln, which has loads of simple sewing, knitting and crochet projects within. 

(Ravelled here)
It's far from perfect - I should have used a smaller hook, but didn't think I should rush out and add another crochet hook to my collection just yet, being new to the art of it. It's wonky too. And the eyes are just glued on - a big no-no when giving it to kids as they can chew them off and swallow them. However, I think my kids may be old enough to know better.
And the kids seem to love it - Morris has been in hot demand. The nearly 2 year old has been carrying it around all afternoon going "Pandy Pandy!" and trying to feed it "Yummy" crackers. And showing it fish in the fish pond. And the nearly 5 year old made it toy sushi and tea.
This is my first attempt at an amigurumi figure. Very enjoyable and quick! May do more, such as a Totoro, soon - great way to make toys that would otherwise be hard to come by!

Elastic waisted skirt

Teddy is modelling it, as real wearer is having her nap.

Ali may recognise the fabric - she gave it to me a few years ago... I realised it was just enough to make my daugher a short skirt (finished, it's about 18mm long, ok for a 12-18 month old). Very snazzy fabric, and not pink too!

Was really simple and quick - cut out a width of fabric 2x her waist, and the desired length plus hem allowances. Sewed the sides together to make a tube. Pressed and sewed the bottom hem, then pressed and sewed a wider waist band, keeping an opening for elastic. Threaded elastic through, and presto! Done.

Options are endless - you could alternate panels of fabric to use up scraps.

Dusting off the sewing machine...

I haven't sewn in eons, yet necessity has forced me to get the old Bernina out and sew up a fitted sheet attached to top sheet thingy for when my son as a rest/nap at his new child care centre, along with a draw-string bag to match. This sort of thing was all included at the old centre, but here you either are given a pattern and sew your own, or fork out $45 for someone to make one for you. There don't appear to be any 2nd-hand ones on offer, and I really didn't want some fabric I had at home to go to waste, so decided I'd have a go at sewing one

Of course, I ended up stuffing up things at the cutting out stage, and freaked out a little, because I thought I'd have to go and buy some fabric after all. However, my dearest better half reminded me that we had lots of old sheets (some of which belonged to a previous bed), and I realised that this was not only an economic solution, but brilliant, as it would save me having to sew 2 hems if I cut the size of sheet I needed from one corner!

So the end product? Not worth taking a photo of, with slightly ugly colour combinations and his name written neatly on the bag in fabric texter, but it's functional and should do the trick. I made a small draw-string bag as a warm up to sewing the sheet set to make sure I could still sew in a straight line (and I could!), and think I might do a few more. One can never have enough when you have kids - for all those little sets of blocks and things that don't have boxes. And I just might make some little elastic waist skirts for my daughter next, now that she is walking well (crawling with a skirt is hardly practical!). Or maybe something a little more adventurous.... I have some baby girl sundress patterns somewhere...

It feels good to be making something, AND using fabric that would otherwise be just sitting in the cupboard.

happy holiday houses

I stayed a night in a lovely quirky holiday house in Brisbane a few weeks ago while up visiting family. Hayley is a friend of my mothers has a series of them that she has done up each in a different theme - she calls them Quirky Cottages and unlike a lot of places they are very kid and pet friendly - as in there are actually ducks and chooks wandering around the gardens, and there are lots of fun details that kids would love. They are not your stock standard high gloss character-less bed and breakfast with mismatched floral bed spreads. Her aesthetic which is very whimsical, a little DIY and lots of fun. She mosaics and ecah one seems to have at least some mosaic - at Lochiel where we stayed there is a whole wall underwater scene with in blues and mirror. She uses a lot of found objects and creative reuse to furnish them.
For example, the photos here are from a multicoloured boat themed house, where even the deck has been made to be pointy like the bow of a ship. These are the kids beds she has, in old row boats. I love also the colourful toys stuck to the wall as decoration. Some ideas there for kids room decorations for the parents out there, inspired me to think outside the box a bit more with decorating living spaces.

Dress-ups and birthday cakes

Well in this household, June-September is party season, as a lot of kids we know have birthdays during this period.
There were 2 parties recently that required costumes - firstly, a space party, where my son dressed up as an astronaut, and my daughter an alien! Astronaut costume is a grey tracksuit, plus packaging painted white with detail and attached to a back pack to make an oxygen tank thingy, with a helmet made from paper mache moulded from a balloon. Full credit to my husband for making this costume with my son helping. Alien costume was a green dotty tutu plus shrek ears (both purchased).

Birthday cakes - again, made by my husband. One year I will muscle in and do the birthday cakes, but he has done all of my son's birthday cakes so far!! This year, he experimented with roll-out (fondant) icing, which looked really neat. I like how smoothe you can get this icing to look. The 4-year-old got a rocket, and the 1-year-old the moon:

Finally, last week, there was an Arty Party, and our son went as an art critic! Everything was sourced from our own wardrobes - black cap, skivvy, & black pants - the only thing we did was "colour in" black a pair of unused orange kid's sunglasses, and remove the lenses.

What fun!!

xmas stockings

Finally, we are spending a christmas at our own home, and our 3 1/2 year old is old enough to get excited about christmas. I planned to make something more intricate and beautiful than this, but in the end, there is limited time between putting the kids to bed and feeling too tired to sew... and when the 3.5 year old is awake, he is always at my elbow asking me what I'm doing and trying to press or turn knobs!
And so what we have is functional. Maybe I can embellish it in future years. A benefit of making your own is you can control the size...
Firstly I cut out a template in baking paper, and pinned it to a doubled over bit of red felt, and cut it out.
Secondly, I glued a strip of white felt over the top using craft glue, and pinned a loop of ribbon at the top of the boot.
Thirdly, I sewed around the edge, and trimmed the uneven edges.
Finally, I stuck on the christmas tree.
Voila!

What I'd do differently: I bought the felt a while ago. You could easily recycle red or green pillow cases or whatever to make these. You could do patterns with applique, which would be more sturdy than glueing on felt.

Jolly little fellow and sea horses

Paintings (well oil pastels and collage) I did for Miss Astrid and Mr Ethan. Click on the image to get remarkable larger than life detail.

Note to self - oil pastels also need time to dry - not nice as a gift when sticky!!

Kokeshi dolls: friends for life, not just a summer or a spring...

Sorry for cheesy title.

Spotted a Kokeshi doll kit in a toy shop when I was buying my nephew his birthday present, and thought it looked like a fun project. The dolls came blank, and the kit came with paint, brush, and varnish. I thought it would be a nice present for #1 child to give to #2 child when they're born.

Detail was fiddly to do with the arms stuck on - would have been better to have the wooden bits, paint them separately, then stick them on once painted. But it was a fun exercise, and they look cute!

very bunny

This little softie is the completed version of one I posted earlier while still in progress. She is a funny little bunny, with button eyes and cotton thread stitching, with recycled bed linen straight from the 1960's.

woof woof

This little felt puppet is not something I made, but thought I'd share anyway. Felted by hand in Nepal, but designed in Australia, aiming for fairish trade. One of a few enterprises doing that with Nepalese feltmakers I think. It was a present for Master Fitzk on his first birthday a couple of weeks back. Website in photo below.

Quiltelicious

Just for completeness I thought I'd post pictures of the quilt that mum made out of the fabric squares I painted some while back. Nicely paded and snuggly looking I thought, and the touch of colour she added to make the pics match the backing fabric and sheets also cool. Clever quilt making mum!

Zero zero zero zero zero zero one*

This creation isn't mine, it was made by my lovely Mum for my baby brother (who is modeling it). A very cool use of a cardboard box, some old air conditioning hosing. He loves it and happily put it on to show me when I was visiting at Christmas time, bless his little binary heart.




*(That was the robot song chorus from Flight of the Concords in case you missed it)

Big Softie

Now that I've finished and posted this little monster in the top right(literally posted - in the actual mail), I can post this picture of it 'in progress' on here. This one was for PJ in Adelaide.

These was the first soft toyish creatures I'd ever made. In fact it required dusting off my lovely aqua sewing machine and actually sewing - something I hadn't done unassisted for years. The fabric is soft, vintage bed linen. I did eyes and mouth in satin stitch in multicoloured silk thread (not pictured - at this stage I was still thinking buttons, but decided not to for safety). The arms are knitted from superfine Italian merino. And it's stuffed with that fluffy Dacron stuff. No bits that can fall off (hopefully) and thoroughly chew proof (ditto - hopefully!). I think she's kind of cute and looks a bit like a friendly bubble flower monster.

Pics for 'zac

Made these for friend's baby. They are ink and oil pastel on recycled rag water colour paper from India.

Knitty gritty

Having family in the northern hemisphere is handy for getting knitting projects finished in time for Christmas!
Above is: a 2x2 rib scarf (still in progress, but 3x the length) for Yugo-chan (5 years), Blue stripey hat for Tomo-chan (2 and a bit), and a pom pom hat for baby-to-be (due Feb).

Coming soon - some recently completed beading projects!