Camera Dump and Christmas Projects - three months late!

I'm a bad blogger, and I'm sorry.  Yes, my last post was in October.  I can explain.  I've been busy.  I got a part-time job (Any guesses where??? That's right, Trader Joe's!).  We had our Halloween party (Next year I'll post some how-tos for that.).  We did Christmas.  I made some projects and cooked a lot of food.  I've made some new recipes, mostly from blogs I found on Pinterest.  But nothing original, although I have lots of ideas spinning in my head.   Life happened.  School, work, doctor's appointments, blah blah blah.  And then I'm trying to deal with the sad fact that our church that we've been going to for almost 15 years is crumbling right before our eyes.  I haven't felt like blogging.  And I feel guilty for still having Thanksgiving pictures on the camera and not having done anything with them.

So here is the camera dump:

I was a sugar skull for Halloween, and I did my makeup with the help of some temporary tattoos.

We made our Hexenhaus at Christmas, and some glue snowmen that dried weird so I may try again next year to get them right.

The handmade portion of DD's Christmas gift was a set of play teabags for her tea set and this cute little bracelet purse.  I got the inspiration for the teabags from here, and the tutorial for the purse here.

For DS's gift, I made him a stuffed penguin (yes, still the penguin thing!) loosely based on this chicken, and this cool two-sided superhero cape I upcycled from a thrifted P.E. shirt.  The shirt was already two colors, and I added felt appliques with a tight zigzag stitch.  

All in all, I paid hardly anything for these gifts, because most of the fabric, except for the muslin for the teabags, was already on hand.  I felt pretty good about making some cool toys for next to nothing.  

 Of course, the kids liked each other's presents, maybe better than their own, and DD is off to save the world.

I will try to be a better blogger this year, but that means I need to do some original things that are worth writing about.  Hmmmmmmmm...

Party, Karamu, Fiesta, Forever,...

Now that I have that song stuck in your head, let's make a piñata.  This was my inspiration, but of course, I had to invent something penguin-ish, so I improvised.  I will say this, though:  I will never buy a piñata again.  I used some junk I had around the house, and saved myself about $15.  It didn't take much time, as you can see remnants of breakfast are still in the background.  All in all, it was an easy project, and I didn't worry about being too exact because a bunch of 3-year-olds are just going to flog it to death in a couple days.

First, cut a penguin shape out of a corrugated cardboard box.  The beauty of this is that you can make it large or small.  This party is only going to have 6 kids, so mine was on the small side. I freehanded the drawing, cut it out, and then traced my cut out to make the other side of the piñata.

Now, this penguin shape is also the universal symbol of Darth Vader and the Space Shuttle.  In fact, I almost bought the Darth Vader cake pan at A.C. Moore (about $8 with a coupon), but then I realized that I really had too much on my plate for this weekend, and I ordered a cake instead of making my own.  However, for those of you with more time on your hands, a small investment can fuel at least 3 boy birthday parties.

Next I cut the side of a cereal box and used it to make more strips of cereal box the same size (I also cut off the end tabs).  You could make the strips wider to make your piñata thicker, but again, it was a small party, and I didn't feel like measuring.

I used masking tape to build up the sides of the piñata.  You don't need to make it super sturdy, as you want the 3-year-olds to bust through it eventually.  In fact, I even deliberately made some weak spots near the bottom.  Shh, don't tell.  If you are making this for a party of beer-guzzling males, make it stronger.

One place I did make it sturdy was at the top where I was going to put the hanger.  I cut an extra piece of cereal box and taped it to where the opening flap was hinged (where you put the candy in - don't forget to leave this opening!) and poked holes for the hanger on each side of the fold.

I glued tissue paper around the whole thing.  This doesn't need to be beautiful;  it just needs to hide any cardboard that might otherwise peek through the crepe paper.

I glued two strips of crepe paper all the way around the outside.

Next, I glued the crepe paper concentrically on the front and back.  Just keep going around and around, mushing it into shape as you go.

 I added features made from construction paper, and I drew the eyes on.

A wire tie is a good hanger, or you can twist some coat hanger wire into a loop.  Looky at all the candy inside!!!

I glued the flap shut (Keep in mind that this was two days before the party, so the glue had time to firm up.) and then masking taped it, adding a strip of crepe paper to cover the seam.  Done!

Pinteresting Travel

We're going on a road trip soon!  I want my kids to remember road trips as fondly as I do, so I needed some fun things to do in the car besides eat beef jerky.  I got some ideas off of Pinterest, and I actually made them happen!  First, I made a little travel art box from the idea I got here.

I mostly had these materials on hand, although I did splurge on the 97 cents for a new box of crayons to go in it.  I cut apart some sheets of stickers to add to the kit.  Now I will have stickers and post-its all over the car, but that is the cost of travel sanity!

Also, I made one of those fabric marble maze thingies.  There are several blogs about them circulating, but here is my inspiration.  My maze is about 9 X 11, and I used a scrap of an upholstery fabric, and a scrap of flannel to make it even more tactile.  

There are buttons for start and finish, which I should have sewed on BEFORE I put the front and back together, but I forgot.  SO that took longer than it should have.

 Oh, and I used one of those glass blob aquarium jewels instead of a marble, because I was having a hard time finding a marble.  It slides along just fine, and is maybe even less cumbersome than a marble, so I am happy.  And now I have a whole package of glass blobby things to craft with!!!