DIY: Pumpkin Painting

Essentially, this is the easiest DIY craft activity.

I did do this in the fall during CANADIAN thanksgiving (in October) with my son and two of my younger cousins. It's a lot of fun for the kids and it's an inexpensive way to decorate the interior or exterior of your living space in light of Thanksgiving.

All you need are pumpkins (I used mini pumpkins so it would be easy and quick for the kids), paint brushes, a painting tray (I used a Styrofoam plate), and acrylic paint for interior and exterior wear. I personally used Martha Stewart Multi-Purpose craft paint.

Anyway, wherever you choose to do this activity, make sure you keep your craft area clean and take preventative measure to ensure your area doesn't get dirty. My son's sweater was covered in paint, so clearly I did not take heed to my own advice, but to my own dismay; so you may want to learn from my mistakes.

Lay down a mat, newpapers, or something that will protect the surfaces you're working on, and then you can start.
All you do from then is pour the paint into whatever tray/plate/platter/other you decide to use to hold your paint. Then use your paintbrushes with a touch of imagination and paint away.

The kids had a lot of fun doing this activity, it takes a few hours for the paint to dry, but it will last outdoor weather. 

There really isn't more to this than that, but it is a fun and different- comparative to pumpkin carving. 

Anyway, enjoy!

DIY: Power Ranger Papier Mâché Pinata

Power Ranger Pinata Tutorial!

Okay, so many of you saw the progress of the power ranger pinata I made for my son's 3rd birthday party, however I never made an official tutorial for it. Finally, I have the time to post it up! Here it is. I know it's late in the season and the use for pinatas are officially over, but this is still useful for any future summer party plans in the next year :)

MATERIALS:

Balloon

All-purpose Flour

Water

String

Medium sized mixing bowl

Paper cut up into strips (A LOT!)

Craft brushes

Glue

Crepe Paper or Tissue Paper

Paint

CANDY!

Okay, you don't have to do this my way, but I decided to hang the balloon from a string so I could let the access papier mâché mix drip.

Anywho, this is an extremely messy project, so whatever space you use to do this, make sure you protect the surrounding surfaces, otherwise you`ll have one hell of a time cleaning up the mess. 

In a medium sized mixing bowl, pour one part water and one part all-purpose flour and mix it together until the consistency is somewhat like a goopy paste.

You can either brush the papier mâché solution on the balloon, apply your paper strip and then put another coat of papier mâché solution on top, or you can do what I did and soak the strips of paper in the solution and just put it on the balloon. When the balloon is covered in one layer, wait for it to dry.

Repeat this process to form another layer. I put two layers which was more than sufficient because to my dismay, it took forever to break the damn pinata!

Once the papier mâché coats are thoroughly dry, you can take whatever tissue paper or crepe paper of your choosing, cut them into strips and using a mixture of glue and water, apply two coats of this tissue paper layer until the layers are opaque.

You'll end up with something like this.
Wait about a day for the whole thing to dry completely.

Now you can begin painting whatever design you want. I chose to do the red samurai power ranger simply because that's what my son asked for, but you can honestly choose whatever you want.

 

Once the paint has completely dried, you can pop the balloon inside and fill it up with candy. Make sure you reseal the hole.

Anyway after this point all I had to do was hang it and make it look pretty. 

You end up with a decent home made pinata which acts as a good party game for the kids. My son and all my friends children and my younger cousins enjoyed it. Oddly enough they didn't dive for the candy because they just wanted to beat up the pinata, but whatever, everyone can enjoy this game no matter what your age.

That is how you make a power ranger papier mâché pinata on your own! Enjoy!
-czaR2D2