Papier Macheniacs: Bad Piggy Minions!

Remember that time we made Bad Piggies' King Pig? Well, it was getting lonely at the top. So we decided to make the old, snorty royalty some faithful minions. And here they are.

You can make your band of mini piggies, too --as long as you have the balls for 'em.

No, seriously. You'll literally need balls.

In our case --and because the season kinda called for it-- we used these big Christmas balls.

Then, we sliced a long, empty tissue roll to make these cute snouts.

And glued on these cola caps for eyes. With some extra cardboard, we also added in some details. Like,  little ears and adorable headgear.

Regular Piggy Minion

Soldier Piggy Minion

Mechanic Piggy Minion

Papier mache time! You have no idea how relaxing it is to brush glue over tissue paper squares over a smooth orb. That sounds weird, but believe me, this exercise can be quite therapeutic. And cheaper than shopping. :)

Oh! We penned on features, too. Like that classic, toothy grin every Bad Piggy is known for. Well, when the Angry Birds aren't giving them a bad day, that is.

Before you know it, you got a litter of Bad Piggy minions at hand! Our King Pig has never felt more empowered! Neat, huh?

There are many different designs from the Bad Piggies game you can copy or draw inspiration from. Try making a couple. Heck, try making a bunch! It's pretty easy once you have the balls for it. :P

Papier Macheniacs: YO, KING PIG!

This project has been on our waiting list for like forever! Well, we finally found the time (and the ball) to get this project running --and so here it is!
EVERYBODY… BOW DOWN TO YOUR PAPER MACHED KING PIG! :P

Sculpting this guy was a blast. He's made out of common household materials. A plastic ball, an old sippy cup, a smaller ball which we sliced in two, and newspaper.

We wanted some 3D action going on so we used bottle caps for his nostrils, too.

The ball had texture and it was difficult working around that even during the teepee stage. But then we decided the spikes actually gave our pig a bit of personality.

After an overnight drying time, we painted this bad boy.

And before we know it, we've got our own Bad Piggie head honcho rolling around in the house --turned-up snooty snout, golden crown, and permanent angry shriek on his puffy mouth. Haha!

If you think this is a cool project, just follow our lead and make your own. It's pretty easy to make royalty, you'll see. :)

Up next: Tiny Piggie Minions! Darnit… we're gonna need more balls...

An Angrier Bird Birthday

Angry Birds here, Angry Birds there.
If you were to look up the list of trendiest kiddie party themes in the metro today, these gaming hot-tempered fowls will be perched ever so comfortably at the top most branch.  The theme is overused and abused to near overkill.

So what do you do if you really MUST have the Angry Birds as your child's birthday motif.  Surprisingly... go for the overkill.

The best way to pull off a concept is to the hilt.  And out of the three children's parties my boys went to this month alone, Bash's Birthday Bash was the most Angry Bird-tight.

In this party, decor was key.  I loved how the chairs were even dressed in the same cartoony colors of the popular game.

And there just wasn't any scrimping on the authentic birdy balloons.  Look!  Up in the sky!  It's a bird!  --why, yes... yes, it is.

The cake didn't chirp either.  It hooted!  Hooted an angry hoot!

And the photobooth was eternally flocked by kids delighted with the hefty array of Angry Bird plush caps they had to wear per snap. 

By the way, all the young guests were asked to come in Angry Birds t-shirts.  A dress code!  That splendid show of thematic organization adds a fine feather to your cap, Bash!
On the other hand (or wing), the bubbly 1-year old birthday celebrant wore an Angry Bird costume ALL THROUGHOUT THE DURATION OF THE PARTY.  Now THAT'S dedication to the theme!

No, this isn't him.  It's Miro, gone to the birds. :P

This blog's party tip on overused themes:  Push the limit.  Out of the bunch, be the most memorable.
Don't be Angry.  Be Angrier!

DIY Creative Manipulation

Yes!  My kids have a lot of those!  From Kenji's puppy dog eyes to Miro's well-rehearsed power of reasoning --these guys can manipulate the hell out of you.  Which now makes me wonder if we have politicians in the family tree.

But I digress.

I'm talking about a different kind of manipulation.  Image and Movement Manipulation.  My kids are so into this right now that I really, really have to speed up my support system.  I need to find newer creative programs.  Better technology to match their quick thinking.  So far, their imagination is beating my resources to a pulp.

Here's their latest Mini-Movie Manips.

SPONGEBOND

Now Kenji's Mr. Bender.  He loves bending an existing thing into some kind of childish parody.  He found a 007 gun barrel desktop pattern on the net and quickly hunted for a Spongebob in a tuxedo image.  There's one in an episode where the hilarious talking sponge had to be a fine dining restaurant waiter.  He cleaned that image up.  Got the 2 pictures together.  And then blended the colors seamlessly.  Ooh... and annotated.

ANGRY CLONES

Miro took a different approach.  He's Mr. If-You-Can-Do-It-So-Can-I.  He made these popular Angry Birds images from scratch.  Gave them movement.  Gave them the actual game's play-by-play.  With, of course, matching music.  Upon completion, he was rather smug in saying, "I did that in a few minutes, Mimi!  How long do you think the Angry Birds makers did theirs?"  Ah...

Next step:  Get these boys a better Mac (our old reliable is just too slow for this kind of creative barrage now), and maybe get them into a video game designing camp come summer.

Parental support may be so damn costly... but with this kind of output, I say, worth it.