Piñatas for Kids

Howdy! It is a blustering, rainy day in the middle of January and I am hiding away, pretending it is the season I love... winter. Admittedly, it is hard to do when the rain is pouring down. Sigh. However, I am bound and determined to enjoy my plus 5 winter day, so let's talk about something fun.

In the past, I developed the tradition of making piñatas for each of the kid's birthdays, Christmas', year end class parties and moving away parties. Recently I have revived this tradition for my husband's three little nieces. I am enjoying the process of making a shape of their choosing, filling it with chocolate and getting everyone at the party to decorate loot bags for the fun things I bought and the chocolate from the pinata. It has been fun watching the older ones get into it and the youngest one trying to understand why she gets a toothbrush from her unicorn instead of riding it like she was doing after she unwrapped it. For the kids who have everything, this is a blast on both ends of the giving and receiving.

I used to make the piñatas using wallpaper paste powder that I could buy in bulk and use when needed. In this new day and age (lol.. makes me sound very old) I have been unable to find wall paper paste except in an already made paste that is too small of an amount and much too expensive. So... I have started using flour and water which works wonders to hold the shape together but not so wonderful at being strong enough to be whacked with a stick more than a few times. I have been playing with the amount of water and white glue ratios and will hopefully come across a mix that is strong enough to withstand the strength of the girls as they get older and stronger.

In any case, here are the ones I have made in the last year and a half except for the clown. I can't find pictures of it : (

 
 
 

Part of the fun for me is getting the kids to pick their shape. Yes, the oldest of the three wanted a pineapple. I made up the grab bags for this one, as I was not going to be in the province to attend the party and do crafts with the kids.

As you can see, the youngest one's unicorn was big enough to ride and I had fun braiding the tail and painting it her requested purple. I am amazed at how I can go from hating it (it never looks good at the wet paper or dried paper shape stage) to OK... it'll do, after the painting and decorating stage.

I will have to wait until fall for the next request. We shall see what they want this year. It should be interesting though, as what the youngest wanted for Christmas was a pickle and to be a pickle and her middle sister wanted a real live donkey. I can't wait!

Rock Painting Fun

Good  morning. It has been ages since I have done a post, mainly because I wanted to figure out how to make my pictures smaller first. Well, this morning I was shown by Zoo and my wonderful Hubby, and so here goes. I played around a little bit with picture size in Paint and they are a little smaller and I can get a couple side by side but will need some practice to get them so I can put two or three side by side.

About me and rocks...I have been collecting rocks since I was a small child. I had many, many, many of my parents' old tobacco cans lining the basement staircase filled with rocks and rock dust. I would break the rocks open to see what the inside looked like, I would crush rocks to dust to see the differences of each kind. I took a geology class in university and loved it. I married a geologist. Suffice it to say that I have always loved rocks and that my house is full of them to this day.

So when Zoo's sister came out to paint rocks with us last year, I was thrilled. She showed us how to do a pour and then we went to town painting away.

 

 
This past winter I was sorting one of the pails of beach rocks I have in my craft room and decided to try out some dot painting. Turns out I love it and was surprised to discover that hours had gone by when doing so. These are my first ones with a big bug that I had a blast painting to go along   with it.

 

 I used a can of ancient Spar Varathane, that my Husband had out in the shop, to protect these latest rocks. The can said that it may 'yellow' the surface and in fact it did. You can see it in the picture to the left,  where the varathane pooled in the dimples of the rock. It took forever to dry between coats but I am curious how it will survive outside in the garden. The kids and I painted some rocks years and years ago and the varathane (I think it may have been indoor varathane) we used then wore off within a year or two and then the paint chipped and flaked off. I am hoping this stuff will last longer, as it is used on boats and other marine things.

 Below...On my latest trip, a couple months ago, to Zoo's, we once again had her lovely sister out to paint more rocks. I once again worked on mandalas, this time using the dowels from Zoo's house and a beginner YouTube video. I will do a post on dot mandalas next, as I don't have her link on me now.

Well. I am finished for today. I see on the preview that the picture still do not line up the way I had hoped but I will work on it again another day. Hope you are having a fun and relaxing day like myself. Happy Spring!