Mirror ball pinata

I was asked to knock up a quick disco ball piñata for a childrens party this week. I love mirror balls and fairy lights and although this one went down a storm and was truly appreciated by the lucky birthday girl I'm still quite upset to see it go. I think I'm going to have to make one for our house.

We did used to have a giant one in the kitchen but got rid of it in the interests of taste when we moved. Unfortunately I've reverted to my disco ball ways and spangley ways (especially after discovering mirror ball fabric) so we're now having a bit of a mirror ball theme in our piñata house. Rest in pieces mirror ball. I don't envy whoever had to clean up all the mosaic tiles afterwards (obviously not made of glass).

Paintings

My two daughters share a bedroom. One is 4 and the other is turning 12 in a few weeks. I'm very proud of both of them - they help out with piñatas from time to time and are very smart young ladies. Although sometimes the youngest 'helping' is actually more of a hindrance, sometimes she's quite brilliant and I don't know what I'd do without either of them!

The three of us have lived here for a year now and we're still unpacking and settling in. It's taken us that long to finally agree on a colour scheme for their room. It's difficult to find things that an almost teenager and a little one have in common!

I found a rug in Ikea (vile cattle market I enter under protest, although now they've started selling alcohol in the shop it's become slightly more bearable) which had a rainbow pattern on a black background and that's now the
theme of their bedroom. I've been working on a series of paintings for their walls and I'll be raiding our fabric bins for making them curtains. Buying them like normal people would just be too easy! We've been recycling the same curtains for years now - in fact a ridiculous amount of recycling goes on in our house.

Anyway, this is more of a personal post and it's not really piñata related, I just wanted to add pictures of the paintings I've been making. I'm not very good at it but I'm learning as I go along. Although I have managed to sell a few of the ones I've painted so far somehow. And the kids are pleased with them. Probably much more so than anything we could buy in a shop because they have a say in how they turn out. I hope that they'll both contribute to their room with some of their own projects - especially as our fridge and freezer are practically buried in their art work/prizes/merit cards etc.

Wedding heart pinata

This heart piñata was custom made for a Mexican themed wedding. The lucky bride and groom are currently on their honeymoon in Mexico. Where I'd personally like to be as the weather is starting to turn! It's the largest heart piñata I've made so far - measuring over a meter wide! 

The banner was designed especially for the lucky couple by Sally Lock. The red heart is made with hand marbled paper and the flowers are bespoke from a selection of our most vibrant paper.

Wedding card box

Another wedding camper van order. This one was sunshine yellow for a late summer wedding. The camper vans make a popular and creative card box for those of us who are fans of the VW camper van!

Shelter fundraising donation

Fujitsu recently had a fund-raising event for Shelter and I was asked to make a donation to the northern branch by an old school friend. The order included an old 80's style mobile phone, a bulky computer monitor, a piggy bank and the Fujitsu logo for people to smash up.

I wasn't quite sure how to do the logo as I find bubble writing much easier when it comes to piñatas so I feel I cheated a little by covering a cardboard box and putting it on but they seemed happy with it anyway!

I really should do something about the strippers in my kitchen though, they seem to be quite a permanent feature now!  I think if I do many more personal projects I'll have to ether sell off some of the old ones or organise some storage space somewhere else. I've already stuffed piñatas in friends garages and lofts! Which actually lead to a recent sale when one of them had a visitor but I'd grown quite fond of the Chinese dragon in question. In fact I'm not even sure if I have pictures! I've also got orders for a couple more so hopefully I'll get around to it this time.


 Anyway, I should get off and go to bed. I've got orders to get on with and I'm behind on several blog posts as usual and I've been distracted by painting butterflies and 'paper-clips' (as my children call them). I'll add them to my list of projects to write about even though they're not piñatas! One day I'll nag my web guy into finishing the website and I'll be able to use this blog as it was intended - for personal use!