Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Mini Pinatas




These mini pinatas make perfect place settings or party favors for Cinco de Mayo. Plus they open up so you can actually hide candy inside!


But can you guess what I used to make them?



Would you believe they started out as plastic Easter eggs and scrap paper!



I knew I wanted to try and make some individual sized pinatas. But didn't want to have to construct them all from paper mache. I needed a little container to build off of, but had no idea what I could use. While scanning my supplies for possibilities I noticed a package of oversized eggs that we picked up after Easter for 50 cents. The regular plastic eggs would have been a little too small, but these oversized ones seemed just right. And at only 50 for the pack of six I figured why not give it a shot.


I made some small paper cones and taped them to the egg using regular old gift wrap tape.


Then cut half inch strips out of various colors of scrap paper I had laying around.


I applied a roll on permanent adhesive across one edge of the strip. Then used fringing scissors to cut the other edge of the strip to look like the frilly crepe paper edge you think of when you think pinata.


The fringing scissors are a must for this project, it would have been way too tedious to try and do this with regular scissors! (Believe me I tried.) But the pinatas are so small that the scissors were making a fringe that seemed too wide and out of scale. So I decided to double cut the paper. After cutting the fringe I'd slide the scissors over and cut again in between each fringe.

This is what the paper looks like after cutting once with my scissors. This is how it looks after the second cut.


This is how it looks after the second cut.



Once the fringing was done I'd wrap the paper around the pinata base, starting with the cones then covering the egg itself.


When you get to the middle be sure to place the strips on either side of the seam where the egg opens.


If you're making a bunch of these it's also easiest to add the candy to the egg at this point. Then finish covering the eggs. Once you cover over the seam with fringe it's fussy to close it again without closing some of the fringe inside.

I used regular scissors to trim down the length of my strips. And also to miter any edges that I needed to work around the base of the cones.


This isn't a difficult project. The first one was definitely a bit of trial and error. But after that I was surprised at how fast I could whip these up. Once you have the process down this makes a perfect T.V. watching project.

10 comments:

  1. Such a cute idea and those scissors are magical. :)

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  2. Thanks so much ladies! Yes Ann, love these scissors.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey,

    Great project...and easy to make too...

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  4. omg! How fun and festive! Those sciossors are crazy looking; never seen it!

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  5. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your party idea are being featured on Menu and Party Idea Round Up! http://www.ladybehindthecurtain.com/?p=28296
    Thanks for sharing your party idea with us at Cast Party Wednesday #38! ---Sheryl---

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks so much for featuring my project!

    ReplyDelete

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