Saturday 3 August 2013

Miniature Pinata DIY Tutorial


   Tiny Pinatas! What more could you want?
   I was looking at Vivid Please's DIY tutorial for a Space Invader pinata, day dreaming but knowing I could never afford to fill it up adequately, and my waistline would just kill me afterwards if I could go as far as I want to, and I just started thinking about smaller scales. Smaller pinatas would mean you could fill it up with less, and smaller still would take even less. They wouldn't be as fun, of course, but eventually I decided that if they were teeny tiny, they would be just as good as the big ones, but their awesome fat factor would be replaced with a cute one.

   I've only ever had one pinata in my life, and it was at the birthday of a 7 year old. I was about 18 and I was so incredibly jealous. But they made stupid rules for it: you had to line up, and when it was your go, you'd only get one hit before having to line up again. And pinatas are tougher than I expected. Yes, of course I had a go. I think I hit it 3 times before it finally broke, after about 8 other kids had had about the same number of goes.
   These little cuties measure about 5cm, and are made up of thin cardboard, tape and tissue paper. I filled them with cake sprinkles. Back in the old days, Hundreds and Thousands and other such sprinkles weren't just cake decorations, they were general confectionary, so you can get a nice touch of the old days by filling them this way, too.
   They might seem a little too small to be fun, but then you'd be wrong. Kids would just love to get a tiny pinata filled with small sweets in a goody bag at the end of a party, and I'm pretty sure adults would, too, given how whimsical they are! One particularly good idea I had was to fill them with sprinkles and break them over cupcakes with soft icing as a little party activity. Most of the sprinkles would miss, but that's part of the fun!



You will need:
Cardboard
Scissors
Tape
Narrow double-sided tape
A range of coloured tissue paper
Sweets/sprinkles


1. First of all, draw your animal similar to that below and cut it out. Draw around it onto a piece of card board. It doesn't matter what colour the card is or anything like that, so it doesn't matter if you forget to flip the animal template for the second piece. Be sure to cut a hole out of the middle of both animal pieces. These do not have to line up, it's just to aid in the breaking of the pinata. Once you've done that, assuming that your animal measures no more than about 5-6cm and you're using a standard piece of A4 sized card, cut a strip from one side to the other. The thickness of the strip depends on how wide you want the pinata to be.

 

2. Once you've got your cardboard pieces cut out, take one of the animal pieces and the strip and fold it so that it follows the line of the legs. Once you've done that, tape the first animal piece to the strip, then the other. Continue to fold the strip around the animal and tape it in place.


3. Take your tissue paper and cut narrow strips. Fold them length ways almost in half. Make sure that one side is longer than the other, then start cutting notches into it to make it feathery and ruffled. Using double-sided tape, apply it to the cardboard animal. Make sure not to cover the holes with tape. The best way to do this is to begin applying the tissue paper from the front or back of the animal, so that you can wrap it across the hole, covering it, without having the contents sticking to the tape, or the tape making the hole unopenable.

4. Continue step three until you have almost covered the holes, then empty the sweets into the pinata. Once this is done, continue step three until the whole pinata is covered.


5. Feel free to draw a face. I gave them eyes. The pinata I destroyed had eyes.

6. You have several options now. You can add string to the top and hang them up; you can stand them on cakes or at cake decorating stations; you can add them to party bags or you can decoratethe party table with them. It's up to you! Alternatively, if you didn't fill it, you can use them as decorations, keep them, string them up and make a permanent mini pinata garland - the choice is yours!




During 2016's NaBloPoMo I also made a mini reindeer pinata and a Christmas pudding pinata!

http://www.ablackbirdsepiphany.co.uk/2016/11/miniature-christmas-pinatas-diy.html




10 comments:

  1. I just want to squeeze these, they're so cute! oh my goodness! how adorable and what a precious idea!

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    1. Thank you! I have them all lined up along a shelf, they make such cute decorations!

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  2. I love this idea! I came across it on pinterest! I recently started a blog and placed this item in my “Top 5 Must Haves For A Cinco De Mayo Party” post because I think it is awesome! I gave you credit on my page here is the link Top 5 Must Haves For A Cinco De Mayo Party

    Please let me know if this is ok!
    Happy Crafting!

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  3. These are really cool there the perfect size for mice im planning on making them an filling them with seeds thx for the idea

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  4. These are gorgeous! I'm making them in double size to give as gifts filled with wrapped lollies and stuff like that. What did you use to make the eyes? Thanks!

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    1. The eyes are just drawn on with a black felt-tip pen! If you're making them larger, you could use little black circle stickers, paint or whatever you have on hand.

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  5. I love this. I am making this as a card to send to my best friend of 50 years. We send a $10.00 bill (the same one) back and forth to each other over the last 5 years. I am going to put it inside. I do wish you had a template that people could download. Fun and creative idea none-the-less. Love it!

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  6. Hey what type of cardboard did you use for this project?

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    Replies
    1. It was a cereal box, I believe! Any thin cardboard would do - even old birthday cards

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