Start A New Project Instead Of Finishing The Old Ones Syndrome

Okay, I totally stole the title of my post from my friend Bren. But I think she'll be okay with it, because she's cool like that. I have a bad case of the Start A New Project Instead of Finishing the Old Ones Syndrome. Today, I went to the discount fabric store and bought some new fabric. (How cool is it that my favorite local quilt shop opened a discount fabric store to house all of their clearance goods?) Anyway, that new fabric made me think that I should sew up some new bags, and I haven't had that urge in months!

However, the problem with that urge is that I know it is probably there because I have two unfinished projects sitting in my living room. One is a Godzilla pinata for Lil' Kay's birthday next month and the other is a prototype for my sort-of-top-secret new product. Since the one project is sort-of-top-secret, I'll tell you about the pinata!

Planning a Godzilla birthday party is not easy. I can't just run down to the local party supply store and buy Godzilla themed plates and napkins and what not. I decided that a pinata would be fun for a bunch of 6 year old boys to smash and started looking for someone to make one for me. Then I thought, "Hey, I bet I could make my own!" So I did some research. The hands-down best site I found was Pinata Boy! Lots of great examples and instructions and tips. It definitely gave me the confidence to give it a go. I started well over a month ago...

The first step was to attach two balloons together to make Godzilla's body. Then we wrapped it in newspaper as Pinata Boy recommends. The entire time, Lil' Kay is saying to me, "This doesn't really look like Godzilla." Skeptic!

Next, we cut a bunch of newspaper up into long strips using my paper cutter. It was just easier than trying to tear them, and I was able to do several layers at once. The fun part, of course, was the actual messy paste part. We mixed together water and flour to make a paste that was the consistency of thin pancake batter. I probably got it a little thick on the first layer. It took a while to dry. I thinned it down for the second and third layers and things dried much faster.

So, now I have a giant hollow papier mache peanut. I haven't gotten any further. I need to make arms and legs, a head and a tail, but my motivation has evaporated. Lil' Kay keeps begging me to fill it with candy and toys. "Child! It's a giant peanut! I can't fill it yet!" My hope is that by blogging this pinata, I will feel obligated to finish it. Or you just might get to see birthday photos of the kids beating the crap out of a giant peanut pinata.