Dinosaur Egg Pinata

Have you seen my latest sponsor Borealis Sea Glass? She has beautiful jewelry made from genuine sea glass. She also has predrilled pieces for you to make your own too. Did I mention it is gorgeous??!! But you should go check it all out for yourself here.

........................................................................................................................

So what is a birthday without a pinata?? I was running out of time so I couldn't do a dinosaur shape. It wouldn't have dried in time. I did the next best thing and did a dinosaur egg! Blow up a balloon and spray it with cooking oil to make it easier for it to pop and come away from the pinata once it has dried. (You can also use chicken wire to make the shape and cover it with the newspaper mache. But like I said, I didn't have time. Maybe I can feature that on another birthday when I start earlier!!) Rip strips of newspaper. Ripping allows it to lay flatter than cutting it does. I used about 1 inch by 6 inch pieces but no need to be exact.Then create the glue mixture. Use 2 parts water to 1 part flour. I usually would add a bit more flour too just to make it less runny. 2 cups water and 1 cup flour usually did about 2 layers for us. Dip a strip into the glue and then gently squeeze it off between your fingers like so. Thanks to my hubby for being the hand model.Lay the newspaper onto the balloon. I would do one layer of the newspaper going horizontally overlapping the pieces just a little to make sure the entire balloon was covered. Then I would do a layer going vertically. Then I let it dry overnight. I also used a small heater to help it dry faster because I was worried it wouldn't dry fast enough for what I needed. Here is what it looks like half dried and half not. Then I did 3 more layers and let it dry overnight again. So 5 layers of newspaper in all.Here it is all dried. I didn't get a great picture of the top. But once it dried, I popped the balloon. Then I spray painted it white and added brown spots to create more of a dinosaur egg look. Then I added the candy into the hole. I poked a small hole into the 'egg' on either side of the top and used a big needle to thread a double layer of twine into both sides so it could be tied to a board later. I took more newspaper and glue and covered the top and sort of put it around the hole with the twine to help reinforce it. After it dried, we put it into action. Pinatas are SO easy to make. Really...you should try one. The kids loved it and it was actually sort of therapeutic playing around with the glue!


***Don't forget to enter my giveaway going on now until Thursday!!

Linked up at:
Girl Creative, It's So Very Cheri, The Persimmon Perch, Between Naps on the Porch,
Making the World Cuter, Skip to My Lou