The Lanterns!...

 I found a tutorial on how to make some lanterns... not that I didn't know how to paper machete, but it gave me an idea on how I wanted to make the lanterns for Rachel's party!

So, I rounded up some round and square items to make the lanterns...

 I ended up changing the big blue bucket for this... It will be the PINATA!!!

 To start I covered the containers with some freezer paper... slick side out! Note: if you try this at home, tape the paper on without taping it to the container so it will slide off... that's where I made my mistake... oh well!

 Then you mix flour, corn starch and water...

 Tear the paper into strips, dip it in the mixture and put in on the container!

 Make sure to get a lot of the excess liquid off...

 And this is what they look like all covered in paper machete... I decided to cover the tops which the tutorial didn't do, but I thought it would make them look more like the lanterns on the movie!

 Rachel, being the smarty pants she is, told me, "Um Mom, the lanterns are NOT white, they are YELLOW!" Well, I wasn't planning on painting them yellow, I was just going to paint the designs on them. So, I grabbed my spray bottle, put some yellow food coloring in it with some water, and went to town on them!

 Rachel even had a turn... I have been TRYING to let her help me as much as I can handle... after all, it is HER party!

 She did a GREAT job!

 The girls had fun playing in the grass while I was spraying them too!

 The last one is part of the pinata!

 Rebecca kept trying to help too, but I wasn't THAT brave!

 There they are... all YELLOW! I like how they turned out... it makes them look like they are glowing!

 And the side view of them...

 So, that evening, when the lanterns were nice and dry, I tried to get them off the containers... well, that is where I had the problem... The lady in the tutorial forgot to mention that you need to NOT tape the freezer paper to the container... and me not thinking, did just that... so, I had to CUT them off... I know! I wasn't too happy about it. But that is the good thing about PAPER MACHETE... you can just add another layer, and here is me adding that layer where I had to cut them..

 And the top I made for the pinata!!! I guess I forgot to take a picture of me putting it together...

 Then I re-sprayed them with yellow to cover my mess up! After they were all dry, I used the drill to poke a hole in them for the string...

 Then I tied the string in them!

 Here is the PINATA drying!

 Just another angle...

 Then I used my Cricut to cut out some flowers and Sun Medallion designs, but it didn't work so swell, so they look a little messy... I did one with Rachel's initials, and one with random lines because the stencil was frustrating me... I LOVE how they turned out!