Tag Archives: paper mache

Lady Bug Piñata

Lady Bug Piñata

As much as I’m not an advocate of distributing candy to children I cannot resist a good old fashioned Piñata.

A fun ritual I think for me to make and for the kids to destroy.

For Zeenah’s 4th birthday she had picked the perfect theme to design a Piñata for. I would actually dream about what the “Ladybug” Piñata would look like and couldn’t wait to start on it during the planning process.

Let me walk you through what I did for Zeenah’s Lady bug Piñata.

One of the most important things when making a homemade Piñata after the Paper Mache recipe is the base.
Sounds complicated?? Not really!!

The base consists of none other than a plain ‘ole regular balloon. PM-Balloon

It’s not the balloon that makes the piñata it’s how you design it after wards that makes it fabulous.

The first thing I did was attach two balloons.

The large 3′ balloon was t make the body of the Lady bug and is the part to be popped after completion to add the candy into.

The other balloon was a regular 18″ latex balloon that I used as the head of the ladybug.
 

I used red balloons just for fun but the color really doesn’t matter because it’s all going to be covered anyway!!

The next step is the REEEEEELLy messy part.

The dipping of the news paper strips into the Paper Mache past and gluing on top of the balloons.

The important part is to make sure you leave an opening at the top in order to be able to fill the piñata with candy.

PM-Newspaper
 
 
After you finish putting the first layer of newspaper strips is to leave it to dry before putting another layer. I always wait at least a day before putting the following layer.

I like to put 4-5 layers of Paper Mache strips to make sure that it’s strong enough.

The entire process usually takes me a 5 days between paper Mache strips and drying time.

Now the artistic part begins!!!

PM-crepe
 

I bought red and black crepe paper to cover the body and head of my “ladybug”.

This was such a tedious and time consuming task because I insisted on making the crepe paper ruffled.

It would have been much easier to just glue it on without the extra designing but then again it’s me we’re talking about and I love making life difficult for myself!!

The body was covered in red crepe paper and I had covered the head in black.

I kept the balloons intact and decided to pop it at the end to make sure that the Paper Mache is completely dried and stable.

You also have to remember to make sure you keep the opening at the top of the piñata uncovered with crepe paper to be able to pop the balloon and fill with candy.
PM-spots

 
 
 

I used my 2″ round punch to make the spots of the lady bug by making circles out of black construction paper.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
PM-with spots
 

I then stuck the spots onto the body of my ladybug. The hardest part in this process was to glue the spots randomly. I’m such a uniform person that I found a few spots that were aligned with each other.

But towards the end I tended to stick some of the spots closer to each other jus to get the random look.

PM-eyes
 

 
 
 
With regular white construction paper I cut out the outline of an eyeball and drew the pupil with a black marker.

I think this was the easiest part in the whole piñata project.

 
 
 
PM-withface

 
 
 
The final part of the piñata design was to stick the eyes onto the ladybug head.

I also made a little smile using white construction paper to make the lady bug look a little more friendly.

 
 
 

 
 
 
PM-antlers

 
 
 
 
 
Using several black pipe cleaners I had made antennas for our little bugger.

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Drum roll please for my piñata masterpiece!!!
 
PM-complete
 

The final task is always left for my husband, I create but he’s in charge of implementing my visualization.

After filling the piñata with candy and turned out to be extremely heavy and I left him with the challenge.

This is what it looked like in our garden!!!

PM-garden

I made a mess in the process of Making Life Memorable and I enjoyed every minute of it!

Paper Mache

Paper Mache

There is something fascinating about getting your hands dirty and being messy while doing some craft or arts project. I’m not talking about just for kids but also as an adult.

Maybe it’s the feeling like you’re a kid again and reliving your childhood but I never realized how thrilling it was until I actually got my hands dirty.

Part of planning my girls’ birthdays is making the piñata. An easy yet long process because of drying time, especially if you want to make it into a specific shape.

The key to making a good piñata isn’t just the design but also having a really good Paper Mache recipe.

I would love to use professional Modge podge but unfortunately it’s not sold in bulk and isn’t cost effective for big destroyable projects.

Many recipes use Elmer’s or white glue as an adhesive which also falls into the same category as my former statement.

I’m all for saving a Fils (or more) in everything I do and I would rather save the money for something that’s more lasting than a piñata that’s going to be beaten to death and thrown into the recycle bin.

Hence I present to you a fabulous Paper Mache recipe that’s easy to make and fantastic to handle.
Paper Mache
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mix the following ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
4 Cups Water
2 Tablespoons Salt (optional, prevents rotting)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

All you need now are newspaper strips, dip each strip into the Paper Mache paste and get dirty!!!
paper
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Have fun Making Life Memorable extra messy!!

See hoe you can use this recipe in my LadyBug Piñata Post!