Hitting the burlesque wet spot.

A friend of mine recently had her birthday at the wet spot in the Wardrobe. When I called the manager to ask if it was possible to take a piñata he told me that if I could get a piñata past his security guys then I was welcome to take one. He didn't sound very confident.

Here of the pictures of it after it got kicked in. Right next to the mens toilets in the basement!

Babushka

You might wonder why I've included a Russian doll in with the Christmas/winter piñatas. I grew up with a melting pot of cultures and I happen to have a soft spot for Babushka.

The very short version is that when the 3 wise men came knocking at her door and invited her to come with them to deliver gifts to the new king she put it off. When she realised what a mistake that was she began delivering presents to every child hoping that one of them would be the Christ child.

There are so many different versions of this story but I think its a lot more preferable than the story of some dodgy tubby geezer dressed in red that likes creeping around in kids bedrooms to deliver presents with no real explanation. Plus the coca cola Santa looks like he's got a drinking problem and I'm not sure he's fit to be driving a sleigh - especially one that can fly.

If you're wondering where my issues with Santa originated from - we had a Swedish troll that looked like Santa and still comes out to lurk on my mums mantelpiece every Christmas. I'll try to get some pics next year!

Stag night pinata

This stag night piñata is for http://www.iamstaggered.com/ and is my first corporate piñata. The staff at Staggered are well informed and lovely, I'd recommend looking them up if you're organising a stag do. There's loads of free and useful information on their website for the groom to be.

This is more of a pulpture style piñata as I wanted to experiment and see just how close to perfect I could get all the details. I haven't actually used pulp this is all made from layered paper, mostly newspapers recycled from local business's.


http://www.facebook.com/mediaset/?set=a.345639192133736.86788.234857009878622&type=1- here's a link to the 'making of Cameron' album. He is over a meter tall.

We needed a new laundry basket in a rush so I decided to knock up a quick one. Its an old printer box covered in a few layers of papier mache. This is a very simple design and doesn't have to be so garish! The kids seem to like it.

Modern Santa pinata

Here's a more traditional and more modern Santa made from balloons. They make fantastic decorations in the run up to Christmas and are a fantastic way of entertaining the kids and working off those seasonal frustrations!

They're mostly made from balloons and old newspaper.

1st anniversary

Today was the end of a very long and complicated case I've been working on. Its also my first anniversary as the piñata lady (or pimp as I'm known in my home town - apparently it suits me better... but lets not go there).

I made a giant neon pink willy with oversize balls. It was the first and only one where I used wool for a more 'realistic' effect. I was really worried it wouldn't sell and when it did it only went for 99p. Not remotely worth if for the 6 hours work that went into it.

Over 100 piñatas later I still don't have a proper website (long story), I'm at least starting to get the hang of the sales side of things and I'm still thoroughly enjoying my gluing habit.

My 50th piñata was the camper van (my favourite) the 100th was probably the red heart. I don't really know where I'm going with this I just felt like I should write a post today if only so that I can look back on it next year and see how far I've come. Now I'm more confident with my piñata making skills I'm going to spend a couple of months organising paperwork and stock before focusing on the business side of things and building up to something special. Hopefully next year we'll have a big party somewhere and celebrate in style.

I do have a celebratory bottle of tequila stashed but I drank too much of that last weekend and don't even want to think about it at the moment! Maybe I'll save it for next year.

I love my day job and I've worked really hard to get where I am, and I love the crafty projects too. I do know that I need a proper website but we're still ranking 1st on a lot of searches.  I decided before I started that I was going to take it slowly over the first two years to see how it went. Its starting to feel like a proper little business, even though my methods are sometimes a bit unconventional! I've not quite got over the point where this seems like a hobby that's got out of hand but we have been chatting about having a proper little shop a few years down the line and I'm itching for a publicity stunt and branching out so we'll see what happens...

Marble pot.

I'm itching to make papier mache furniture. This is my first project made entirely from paper pulp (and marbles). I used some 'antique' and some modern marbles (140ish) as something interesting to set into the mush.

I was a bit impatient and managed to squish the first layer. It still needs painting. Both of my children, one of whom was two at the time were involved in the making of it.

Sorry this picture is so ropey there was a giant inflatable pink unicorn trying to eat out of it at the time. Out of literally hundreds of pics this was the best. One day I'll bring myself to take some more!

I built the base first and then built up the sides a layer at a time. I really wouldn't recommend this as a first project with pulp! I got to this point and decided it would make a nice ash tray and that I never wanted to see the blooming thing again.

Russian doll pinatas

Not only are there piñatas that look like Russian dolls,

we can also make one piñata that slots inside another!

Or seven in this case. I'll add more photos and information when the flower tower is finally complete.



I had to stand on a chair to get a picture from above it's that tall!

Funky flower pinatas!

These are made from fastening several balloons together. Its a lot easier with a helper, otherwise I find as you fasten one down another pops up!

This is an old post I've only just published. Some of the first piñatas I ever made.

A whole lot of love on my dresser.

At 5 am one morning I was woken up by a rustling downstairs. I expected to find a stranger stood there in the darkness, my heart was pounding. Turns out it was all of the heart shaped piñata bases turning into mush as their balloons deflated prematurely.

After a lot of repairs and rebuilding here we are.

Now there's just another 20 odd heart and flower piñatas to do for upcoming weddings!

Penguin and snowman pinata.

 Great little winter piñatas.

Christmas tree bashing

Its finally snowed so despite being full of cold, preparing for round two of my youngest's birthday party and being a bit shattered and groggy already I'm up late knocking up a few Christmas piñatas so I can take pictures out in the snow tomorrow.

Its hard to resist the urge to nip out now in my slippers and dressing gown in case it's not there in the morning.

Here's a few random pictures of the smashing up of a Christmas tree piñata at a friends house.

The lad in the picture above was the lucky birthday boy.