LEGO Piñata Tutorial

Little Man, as previously mentioned, is obsessed with LEGOs. It helps that his daddy (my favorite Irish hubby!) loves them, too. Those boys play LEGOs for hours! So, when Little Man decided on a LEGO themed birthday party, I was all in. I love getting a birthday theme together and going all out, but in simple, affordable ways.

A piñata is obviously a party must for young kidlets, so I knew I would have to attempt one. I hadn't seen much LEGO anything in the party stores, with the exception of LEGO Star Wars (which was our theme last year--Star Wars). So, I knew I'd have to make the LEGO piñata.

I haven't made papier-mâché since 4th grade and was a little nervous to tackle this project, for fear of it not being perfect (I have issues. There. I said it.). I actually didn't even tell Little Man about it until I knew it was cute enough. (Again with the issues!)! Luckily, this project was super easy, ridiculously quick and the price was right (practically free!)! Three things I love in a project!

To start out, you'll need to make your papier-mâché "goo." I scoured the net and landed at Family Fun (which, btw, is a FAVORITE magazine of mine...such cute projects and ideas for kids and families). They listed their favorite recipe here and it worked perfectly. Make the papier-mâché:

Papier-Mâché (courtesy of Family Fun)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups cold water, divided
3 TB sugar

Bring 2 cups of the water to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and reserved 2 cups cold water in a bowl. Add the flour mixture to the boiling water and bring up to a boil, whisking as needed to combine. Once it has come to a steady boil, remove from the heat and stir in the sugar. It will thicken as it cools, then it is ready to use. Store in the fridge after use; it will take about 2-3 days of separate coats of papier-mâché to build your piñata.

 While your Papier-Mâché cools, get your fancy, high priced tools. Just kidding. You need:
-2 cereal boxes of the same size (Little Miss Pink loves Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
-tape
-fruit and nut cups, or dixie cups with the top lip of the cup cut off could work, too
-knife

-lots of newspaper
-rope to hang your creation from at the end

 Lay your cereal boxes on their backs and stack on top of each other. On the long sides of the boxes (where the nutritional information that I ignore is listed...!), cut a rectangle (I used an envelope to trace the shape) out of the cardboard with sharp knife.

Repeat on both long, skinny sides of the boxes. Then, cut a larger rectangle out of one wide sides of the boxes. You will leave one wide side, and both box tops and bottoms intact.

See, the goal is to create a frame for your Papier-Mâché to go around. If you left the boxes fully intact and then did the Papier-Mâché over the top, the piñata would be practically unbreakable!

Now, tape the box tops closed and then tape the boxes together at the top and corners where the rectangle holes aren't. Does that make sense? We want to tape our frame together. I used painter's tape, but masking or box sealing tape should work just as well.

Next, cut a hole in the top that you'll use to insert your candy later (I did end up papier-mâché-ing over it, but it was easy to re-open at the end). Also, get your rope ready and put that in place, too. I put the rope at the top, as well as the candy slit. I taped the rope into place so it wouldn't wobble around.

Now, for the "LEGO" part. I consulted the household LEGO expert (aka my husband) and he said that, for a rectangle LEGO of this size, I should have 8 little knobby parts (who knows what those are called!?!) on top. I used Fruit and Nut cups from Michael's. See?

They were the perfect size and proportion for the LEGO I was building. I taped them on using Scotch tape. It was looking more like a LEGO already!

Then, I cut lots and lots of strips of newspaper in various widths, from 1" up to about 3". Lots and lots of them.

By now, your "glue" or Papier-Mâché should be cool. Mine wasn't quite cool, but I'm tough as nails and wore latex gloves (which I HIGHLY recommend...this stuff is messy. I also wore an apron!) and couldn't feel the heat of the not-quite-cooled Papier-Mâché. Must be the Norwegian in me.

This is the fun part! Run a strip of newspaper through the Papier-Mâché, squeegee it off with your fingers and apply it to the box frame.

I did all sides in one sitting, then hung it up to dry overnight. Notice the gloves, apron and plastic cover on the table...I recommend all of these! It is messy, but fun. 

Cover the Papier-Mâché tightly and refrigerate overnight until you apply the next layer.

I ended up applying 3 coats, but the LEGO was really tough for the kids to break. I think 2 layers would've been perfect.

Repeat the layering again. I did it this time in front of the TV! So easy! The second and third layers went on in less than 5 minutes.

Once the layers have dried, it's time for paint. Alternately, you could apply colored tissue paper to the top, but I thought paint would yield the truest color result I was looking for in a LEGO. And it was free, since I already had the acrylic craft paint. Tempera would work, too.

It took about three coats of paint, which dried very quickly between coats.

  I re-cut the opening for the candy and stabilized the rope with blue painter's tape and painted over the top again.

I let it dry overnight and it was ready to join Little Man's Sixth Birthday Extravaganza! First, it was on the table as a centerpiece...who doesn't love a gigantic LEGO?

Then, once the kids had arrived, we headed outside for the piñata fun!

All in all it was an easy project, the kids loved it, and it was practically free! A hit all around. My only complaint was that it took too long to break (which is especially problematic in Minnesota when it's cold and getting dark at 5:00pm...less of a problem in the summer, I'm sure!). But other than that, this project was great! I hope you'll try it!

I will post some more details of the LEGO party. I've already shared the invitations here and here, and a sneak peak at the party in pictures, too.

Christmas Cookies in a Jar

We are so very blessed to have teachers in our kids' lives that care deeply for them and do a great job of teaching them. At Sunday School, the boys have 3 teachers who work diligently and passionately to teach them about the love of Christ and His life. At preschool and kindergarten, they have 4 great teachers who are kind, fun, and all around great! As Thank You gifts for our Little Men's teachers at school and for Sunday School, we decided to make Cookies In A Jar this year. Their everyday school teachers are getting another gift, too, that I'll touch on another day. I wanted to give gifts that were handmade and, hopefully, useful and special, too.

This project was very quick (under an hour) and totally kid friendly, with the exception of a bit of cutting.

To start off, I got 1/2 a yard of Christmas fabric at Wal-Mart. I love that I can go there to pick up fabric, chocolate chips and (if I needed them) truck tires. I am a big fan of only getting in and out of the car once, especially when it's -2 like it was when I ran out the other day!

I wanted to cut circles of fabric to go over the finished jars. In true Mostly Mom style, though, I had to mess up 2 times before I found the right size for the circle. The final product ended up being a circle about 6" in diameter. I cut as many as I needed, and 1/2 yard was the perfect amount for 9 circles.
I used a regular pair of scissors, but pinking shears would've been even cuter!

Next, gather your recipe ingredients and quart sized jars, spoons, etc. You'll need granulated sugar, brown sugar (light or dark), all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oats, dried cranberries, and white chocolate chips. For spooning/pouring ingredients, I grabbed a flexible deli container (to mix and pour the flour, salt, and baking powder/soda), a spoon, my espresso tamper, and a wide-mouth funnel for canning.

We just did these assembly line fashion, with everyone (even Little Miss Pink) chipping in. They loved it!

Layer in the white sugar and tamp it down with an espresso tamper, or use a small ladle.

Then add the packed brown sugar and tamp it down again.

Next, in a flexible (ie bendy, so your kids don't dump the ingredients when they try to pour it in the jar!) container--like a clean deli container--mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Tamp it down. Gently, or flour will poof in your kiddo's faces! This step takes the longest. If you were super efficient, you could pre-measure and mix each portion of the flour mixture and have it ready for your kids to dump. But I think learning patience is a virtue. And I didn't think of that first!

Now comes the really fun stuff! Add in the oats, followed by the dried cranberries (try to keep your kids from eating most of them!).

Finally, the white chocolate chips go in!

Doesn't that look lovely?

 Place the jar lids on top and then the fabric circles. Next comes the labels with the instructions for baking. Don't be like me and realize the labels need to go on before the rings! Or skip the labels I did and do a separate tag.

After the jar lids and fabric were on, I placed this cutie pie label on top, listing the mixing and baking instructions for the cookies. I used Post-It Shipping labels, but you could easily print on cardstock and tape the circle to the fabric, too. If you'd like me to email you my PDF, post your email in comments.

So, lids, fabric and label are on, then come the rings. And voila!

Hello, Holiday Cuteness!

I added some ribbon for a final touch, and am thrilled with how they turned out. The boys love them too. And hopefully, their teachers will enjoy these tasty treats, along with a handwritten thank you from the boys. I hope they know how grateful we are to send our Little Men off to teachers who care for them so much! THANK YOU TEACHERS!!!

Christmas Cookies in a Jar, adapted from Taste Of Home (makes ONE quart-sized jar)
18 Servings

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup dried cranberries (I used Craisins)
1 cup vanilla or white chips

Additional ingredients (list these on a tag, or email me for the PDF of the label)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Using a quart sized glass jar, layer (use a canning funnel!) the white sugar, followed by the brown sugar. Tamp down between each layer to create a clean line. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour gently into jar and tamp down gently. Layer in the oats, cranberries, and white chocolate chips, tamping between the oats and cranberries. Cover and store in a cool place for up to 6 months.

To prepare cookies (provide these instructions to the recipient!): Preheat oven to 375. Pour cookie mix into a large bowl, stirring to combine. Beat in the butter, egg and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2" apart onto un-greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes until browned, cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Cutest Little Breadbox turned Organizer!

I have a degree in elementary education, though I never taught beyond my semester as a student teacher. I'm a nerd at heart (well, all over, actually) and as a teacher I loved to correct papers and put stickers or smiley faces on them, to write the weekly updates, and to send the classroom newsletter home.

Kind of ironic, though. Because as a parent, I confess that I.Hate.All.That.Paper.

I love that my Little Men love school and love showing off their work. But do I need 2.4 million  (um. hyperbole) reminders every day of how well Little Man can trace a number 2? Or how expertly Littlest Man can glue cotton balls onto a piece of paper? Not to say that some of the paperwork that comes home isn't important---but do we need so much of it? And where to put it every day when it comes home but before I've gotten a chance to sort? I hate piles!

So, I found this little cutie to stash the paperwork in the kitchen when it arrives.

What? She doesn't take your breath away? Despite the fantastic and fun fungi? Can you imagine what the world was like when mushrooms were a hip kitchen theme, not roosters or vino?

Even with the fine job she does at cleverly concealing bread and whatnot? She doesn't take your breath away?

Okay. I'm not leaving her like this, I promise. I love retro as much as anyone, but shrooms don't really work with my decorating sensibilities. I imagine if they did, my life would be much more trippy and cool. Alas.


 I can imagine that a happy family pulled loaves of Wonder Bread out of this girl for years and years. In fact, when I started, there were still crumbs inside (eew).

The forms, the notes, the masterpieces. They can live in here until I have a chance to sort, save, and send to the circular file all the reams of paperwork that come home with the Little Men.

To start our project, this little breadbox needed a cleaning. I used Windex.

Then, I sanded her to prep the surface for the spray paint. I removed the knob, too.

Once it was sanded, I wiped her down again and then primed her well.

 After drying for 20 minutes or so, I started applying the main spray paint.

I  used Satin Black because I like it, though, I was tempted to do bright red gloss, too.

After 2 coats and a couple once overs to catch the spots I missed, the project looked like this. Let me remind you to be patient and wait between coats---it makes for a much better project! I'm not very patient, so I had to really force myself to avoid watching the paint dry! It is fast, though, and so easy!

With that tackled, I just wiped it off, reattached the knob and VOILA!

The Cutest Little Breadbox Turned Organizer!

 

Sneak Peek!

Have A Very Happy Halloween!!

  Just a little sneak peek...of my little chick!

A Variation on a Theme of Gift Giving

photo courtesy: http://www.freefoto.com

I know that Halloween has yet to come and go, but, unless you're living in a bubble (or stuck at home with your sick kidlets!), Christmas has arrived in full force. The retail world is already overloading us with reminders of the fact that we are behind when it comes to Christmas preparations.

Over the summer, I discovered a fantastic idea for Christmas gift giving on a blog I love--Dandee. She revamped her Christmas gifting to include four, and ONLY four, gifts for her kids. I realized that I needed to do the same thing. We have SOOO many toys around here, so many that they are often unappreciated, overlooked and mistreated! In fact, if the toys in this Nursery came alive (see this previous post for more on that!), they would certainly be working to form a union to protest unfair work conditions, gross abuse, and overall malcontent.

photo courtesy: andrea reubens

Check out Dandee's idea here, but it boils down to this. She and her hubby give their kids four gifts, one from each category:

• Want - duh. An item your child desires to receive, like a light saber or a babydoll.
  
• Need - Maybe this could be athletic equipment, like new soccer shoes or perhaps a new duvet cover for his or her bed
  
• Wear -  Captain Obvious again. We too have a tradition of giving pj's and shoes.
  
• Read - I think this calls for a search for a fantastic book, not just Star Wars or Scooby Doo.

What a fantastic idea, no? It's a great way to slimline the shopping process, make us appreciate what we receive and find time to discover the true meaning of Christmas, which involves the best gift of all.

I will be formulating my list of "want" and "need." I think it would be fun for my fave Irish hubby or darling kidlets to pick out the other things!

I hope you'll consider paring down the crazy of Christmas and getting back to what is most important. And think how much easier your shopping will be! I'm looking forward to it.

Cutest Little Chick I Know!

Little Miss Pink is going to be a Spring Chicken for Halloween. I had a very hard time deciding what she'd be. Her brothers decided early on (and somewhat to their mama's chagrin) to be Bumblebee and Optimus Prime of Transformers fame. I had visions of the threesome going as a cute little coordinated trio of costumed fun. Like last year.

Littlest Man looks positively unhappy in this photo. It's hard to get 3 kids to look at the camera and smile, especially when one is an infant. I assure you, he was pleased as punch to be Yoda. Especially with a somewhat authentic green face! I promise!
Also, to clarify: It's Anakin Skywalker, Princess Leia and Yoda. :)

Alas, such fun wasn't in the cards. The Little Men wanted to choose their own costumes, which was bound to happen eventually! And they're pumped to be going as Transformers (and the same costumes as their favorite cousins to boot, which makes for even more fun).

But what to dress Little Miss Pink in? A ballerina? A princess? Little Red Riding Hood? I scoured the blogosphere and the web, Family Fun Magazine and, finally, Martha Stewart. I should have started there. I saw this little nugget (no pun intended!)of cuteness and knew I'd found the costume.

Image courtesy of Martha Stewart  

So, I set to acquiring the items needed for such fluffy, adorable fun.

• 2 Feather Boas ( $4.99/each at Saver's)
• 2 long sleeved onesies (I already owned-why buy leotards when we already own these?)
• a white hat (that proved difficult--$10 at Target since I didn't have time to order this one)
• 2 red felt sheets for the comb (less than a buck for both, though I only needed one)
  
• A pair of yellow rubber gloves for the feet ($1 for 2 pairs at Dollar Tree)
• Yellow Rit dye for a pair of Little Miss Pink's tights--the photo doesn't show yellow chicken legs, but we live in MN and she'd freeze without pants or tights! ($1.50)
  
• Batting (less than a bagful that I already owned)
  
• Needle and thread, my arch enemies. Just kidding, but almost not.

Note the lovely bear, who served as a compliant, quiet model.

So, I got to work with the first step, attaching the onesies together with batting in between. I found it much easier to use Quilt Batting, rather than the loose batting. I just used tacky glue(this stuff -not referring to faux pas glue) to attach it to the inner onesie, wrapped it around twice. It made for a lovely, puffy base for my chicken.

Then I put the outer onesie on top and hand stitched around the leg holes. I didn't close up around the neck hole, since there wasn't loose batting to worry about.

Now, onto attaching the boa. Again, I differed a bit from Martha's plan. I tried first pinning the boa, but the puffiness of the feathers made it difficult to keep track of my pins. I ended up simply sewing and tacking the boa on as I went along, just making sure that it was fairly evenly-spaced across the body of the onesie.

This task, the attaching of the boas, was the most time consuming. And the messiest. I had feathers ev.er.y.where. I think the $4.99 boas weren't the best ever quality, but I'm not expecting this costume to be a family heirloom, so I'm fine with that. I looked all over for boas and found them ranging from $5-$30/each. I wanted this costume to be reasonably priced, so I went for cheap.

Next, I had to figure out some sort of hat to attach the comb to. I looked high and low for a white hat; all I found was off-white. Also, Martha's instructions called for 2 pieces of red felt for the comb and I only needed one. I didn't use the copier to enlarge her PDF, I just drew the comb freehand. I'm a rebel like that.

I cut the comb and made sure it kind of followed the curve of how the hat would sit on Little Miss Pink's noggin. I placed the hat on a size 3 soccer ball for comparison. My kids have big heads!
Then, I got to stitching it closed, using a 1/4" seam and a basting stitch. Okay, I have no idea what a basting stitch is. But it sounds good. I'm pretty sure it was a basting stitch, or just "tacked" closed. Does that sound right? Except, not all the way closed. I left about a 3" opening to stuff the comb.

Once it was finished, I turned the comb inside out so the seams would be neat and tidy. And then I stuffed it with some of the remaining quilt batting from the onesie project. Not too full, just a handful or so of batting.

With the comb stuffed, I sewed the little opening closed with more simple basting stitches. Now I have googled that term and am 85% confident that it is what I did. Promise.

Kinda looks like a comb, no? Excuse the darkness. The photo was taken at 11:30pm or so, when the house was quiet except for coughing, sneezing, and snoring. Ahh, the sick ward. Gotta love it.

In the light of day, I tackled the next step. Plus, I had to have Little Miss Pink try on the hat to get proper positioning of the comb. Once I figured out where I wanted it to be, I looked for the hot glue Martha told me to use in her instructions. I couldn't find it. Plus, I didn't want to ruin this hat forever and hot glue can be so messy. And hot. So, I thought I'd just tack the comb into place (look at me, throwing sewing vocab around like it's nothing!).

It worked perfectly. This shot is an extreme close up. Kind of useless, actually, except for the purpose of showing you what a horrible seamstress I am. I made the stitches fairly far apart so that the comb will be easy to take off if we want to reuse the hat.

And here it is finished. Little Miss Pink didn't want to model it for you until the costume was complete. She has to really get into character, I guess. It's part of Method Acting. Or, she was busy putting things in her purse and taking them out and wouldn't come near me or the camera. Believe whichever you'd like.All that aside, I'm very pleased with how the hat came out!

Onto the tights. I needed to dye them yellow, which was no big deal.

I haven't used this stuff since making tie dye shirts in high school. That, and the debacle I'll call "Trying to Dye My Duvet Color Red." I prefer to forget that one. Let's move on.

The shoes for the costume, or the chicken feet. Chicken feet conjure up yucky thoughts for me, for some reason. I just did a Google Images search for "chicken feet" and decided not to conjure up yucky thoughts for you by posting it. You can thank me for that. But I promise you that these chicken feet are not at all gross. They are cuter than cute, fashioned from a pair of my daughter's shoes stuffed into yellow rubber gloves, the fingers of which have been stuffed with a bit o' batting. Cute! The process is pretty self-explanatory, but I took a few pics.

 

And I know it's kind of cruel, but I'm not going to post a pic of Little Miss Pink in all her Spring Chicken glory until after Halloween. The reasons for which are three-fold: 1. The feathers literally molt right off this baby, so I want there to be some feathers left on Halloween. 2. I am not confident that my "tacking" abilities will hold up for more than one wear. I said it. It's true. 3. I just want to save the cuteness for Halloween. Is that too much?  So here's another picture of Martha's cute model. I'm sure my little model will be cuter. Because I gave birth to her and all. I'll let you be the judge come Saturday! 

P.S. You really, really should thank me for not posting pics of chicken feet. I'll probably have nightmares about them. If you're super brave and not grossed out by these types of things, you could click on, but I wouldn't if I were you!