How to Make a Zombie Pinata

First of all I'd just like to say, I'm not an expert on making pinatas.

Second, give yourself at least 4 days, I made mine in 3 and it was cutting it close.  

Third, this was just about the funnest pinata to make EVER!!!

Ok to get started, I  taped a balloon to the top of a cereal box to get the basic shape of a head and torso.

TAPE IT VERY, VERY WELL!!!!  

I wish I would have chosen a more "head like" shaped balloon.

One that isn't so round.  If that makes sense.

Second mix up some paper mache paste.  

1 Part Flour to 2 Parts water

so 1 cup flour 

2 cups water

I also added some salt maybe a teaspoon, I heard it helps keep it from mold.

I just added it for good luck!

Mix it up with a whisk or fork.

Rip up newspaper into strips and dip them in the paper mache paste and lay them on the balloon and box until there is maybe 2 layers and then let it dry.  

Takes about 24 hours.

Next I came in an layered on another layer of newspaper, this time make eye nose, mouth and ears.

I just took my strip of newspaper and ripped a hole in each piece and when I laid it down, I shaped it to look like an eye hole.

The nose I just kind of bunched up the newspaper and the mouth I did the same way as the eyes.

Ears the same as the nose, just kind of bunched up the newspaper and place it in a "c" shape and then covered it with a flat strip of newspaper so the "bunchiness" wasn't as noticeable.

This doesn't have to be perfect, it's a zombie for goodness sake, the weirder the better right?

Let this dry.

Repeat a third time.

The last layers I added a ton of newspaper around its neck.  At  one point I took a wad of newspaper, dipped it in the paste and wrapped it around its neck like a....neck brace!! Then added a flat piece over the neck and up onto the face and down onto the body to "hide" the bunched up newspaper.

Lastly paint it. 

Place your candy or goodies inside the box, fold in the flaps and tape it up.

This would have looked better with a black duct tape or something not so noticeable.

Once the head came off we tied it up by its torso and the fun continued.

Felt Feathers for Thanksgiving

Here is how I made the felt feather for Lilly's NATIVE AMERICAN HEADBAND.

You'll need need a pipe cleaner and 2 different colors of felt.  I cut my pipe cleaner in half.  My feather measures 6 inches.

1) First cut out 2 pieces of felt in any color in a feather shape.

2) Cut notches into the sides
3) Fold in half lengthwise and cut 4 small slits. (To thread the pipe cleaner through)

4)  Thread the pipe cleaner through, leaving enough at the bottom of the feather to tuck into the head band.  Start at the bottom from underneath the feather and go up, then down and then up and then down, ending on the underneath side.

5) Use a hot glue gun and glue the second smaller piece of felt on top of the pipe cleaner that is threaded through the bigger piece of felt.  You're all done!

Tuck it into a head band made from 3 scraps of fabric braided together.
I had to bribe Max with candy to get him to let me take pictures of him....and he still made a nasty face.  Oh well.

No Sew Fabric Streamers

I can't lie.  This was not my idea.  But when I was looking at Walmart for some crepe paper to hang streamers for Max's birthday (and they didn't have ANY...in any color)  I remembered that I had seen someone do this.  It was easy, fun and used up some of my leftover fabric...(although not nearly enough). All you need is a ribbon and some fabric scraps.  Cut the fabric into strips of varying lengths (most of mine were about 1 inch wide by about a foot long)  there's no need to measure or be exact, in fact it looks better if you don't.  Then just tie the scraps onto the ribbon.  Easy peasy.  Then you can save it to hang up every year for birthdays.  Although I think I'll need to make a more girly colored one for Lilly.

Yoga Top Skirt

I'm really excited to share this fun skirt I designed and made.  Inspiration came from HERE and HERE. It is super easy to make, and has a fold down knit top (made from a t shirt) so it's really comfortable too.  Kind of like a pair of yoga pants.   This skirt took me about an hour to make.  (Not including the petals those took about an hour as well). I used an old t shirt and a rectangle of fabric that measured  18 inches by 36 inches.
First measure your hips, or where you want your skirt to sit.  I like mine on my hips so that is where  I measured.  Then take that number and divide it in half and that's how much t shirt to cut.   Because the T shirt is double fabric.
So for example my hip measurement was 35 inches, then divided in half is 17.5  So I measured 17.5 inches long and then 11 inches tall.  I wanted the finished height of the waist band to be 10 inches (5 folded down) so I cut the fabric at 11 inches to allow 1 inch for seam allowance.
This picture below is the shirt, you will cut through both front and back of shirt. So the 17.5 measurement will go from left to right and the 11 inches is from top to bottom (in the photo below)

Here is the cut waist band, from a tee shirt.  The fold is on the left and cut end is on right. 

 You will then turn the fabric right sides together and sew the short (11inch) side together with a zigzag stitch.  The zig zag is to allow the fabric to stretch. Then turn the fabric so wrong sides are together and the waist band is folded in half (so that it measures 5 inches) and raw edges are together.

 To figure out how long I wanted the skirt, I just measured a skirt that I like the length on.

 It measured 21 inches long so I will add 2 inches to that.  1 inch for the top and 1 inch for the hem. So 23 inches.  Or you could just measure from your hips to where ever you wanted the skirt to fall.

 I then laid the rectangle of fabric below the waist band and measured the 23 inches.  Sorry the photo doesn't show the 23inches.  Then I marked and cut the fabric.

 Here's how it looked after being cut.

Then I sewed a 1/2 inch seam along the top of the fabric (to gather it so it fits the waistband.) It's not sewing anything together, it's just for gathering.  I used the longest stitch on my machine.

Then take one of the threads and pull it so it gathers the material, until it reaches your waistband measurement which for me was 35 inches.  

I don't have a picture for the next step, but  you are going to sew the rectangle fabric together on the short side.

Now your going to slide the waistband around the top of the skirt. How it's shown below.  The waist band will slide straight down and around the green part.

 All the raw edges will be at the top. (Well in this case since it was from a t- shirt, the bottom hem is still on so that is why there is sewing and serging shown in the picture.)

 Make sure the waistband seam and skirt seam match 

 All the raw edges will be at the top and together.

 Here's how it looks with waist band slide over the skirt.

Sew together and serge or zig zag the edge.  I used about a 5/8 seam allowance.

Fold up the waist band and then hem the bottom of the skirt and your done.  

I cut out some shapes, mostly circles and half circles, from the same t shirt that I made the waist band from and sewed them onto my skirt inkind of flower patterns.

Oh and I was totally going to crop these photos so the swing set was not in them.  Oh well.

 Now go and make one of your own!  

YIPPEE!!!

Corn's Ready!!! How to Pick and cook Corn

 Remember when I planted my corn....way back on the last frost day?  May 10th!  Well Harvest time is here!  Look how tall it is now!  It's amazing how something so big can grow from something so small!  It amazes me every year how seeds just know what to do.  I love seeing all those tall corn stalks.  Plus they make a cool forest for the kids.

 To tell when you corn is ready.  (Now this is for Sweet Corn)  You want to make sure the ears feel full and plump (I like that word) and the silk that is exposed should be completely brown and dry.  If you aren't sure, make a slit in the husk with a knife or peel back the top a little and stick your fingernail or knife in one of the kernels and the liquid that comes out should be translucent not opaque or watery.
If your corn meets those standards it's ready to be picked.  The explanation of how to do this is more complex than the action really is.  Grab the corn and pull it back (away from the stalk) and down(toward the ground) in one motion.  I usually grab  the corn with my hand upside down thumb pointing down. Then to completely release the corn lift it straight up.


Now on to cooking these babies.  Fill a large pot with water and add 1/2 C. of sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Once the water is boiling add the corn and cook for no more than 8 minutes.  Remove from the water and slather in butter and salt!  Yumm!

How to Make a Mini Playhouse from a Pasta Box

 I was making a casserole this morning for a funeral and I was looking at the plastic covered window on the empty pasta box and thinking this would make a great window for a little house.  So I:

1) Drew a house shape (with chimney) on the box with a magic marker.

 Making sure to bring the house onto both sides of the box.

3) Cut out the house shape and down the side of the box closest to the back,leaving the side for flaps. Once I did this, the bottom flaps came loose from the bottom and I cut off the back entirely.

I left the bottom to use for stabilization so the house will stand on it's own.

4)  Next I cut a door (making sure to only cut 3 sides) and then bent back the door on the side that wasn't cut.  Then I place my "house" on a piece of construction paper and trace around it.

5) Decorate your house (ours is a "joker" house)

  6) Add curtains to the window by taping a small piece of fabric to the "wrong" side of the house