Here is a fun little mini piñata project to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. It all begins with the Sizzix Dala Horse die by the Missouri Star Quilt Company and although it is a Swedish Dala horse, we all know that a horse is a horse of course. I have also included a Free Printable below that includes a template to make the gusset to turn the horse into a piñata. 

I began by die cutting two horse shapes from thick cardstock. Since I wanted to recycle, I used the cardboard that was part of the die packaging. Next, I printed the PDF template and hand-cut the two gusset shapes. There are a lot of little tabs but this just makes it easier to fit around curves.

Next I folded all of the tabs and the dotted lines on the gusset. Once everything was folded I began gluing the gusset around the edge of one side of the horse. I started with the section labeled Back Foot. Note that there are two pieces so I included Tabs on the gusset so you could glue it together where the ends meet. The easiest way to glue was to apply white glue along the edge of the inside of one horse working a few areas at a time. Work in small areas where there are a lot of curves such as around the face and ears.

This is how half of the horse looked after the gusset was adhered. Add glue to the edge of the other horse shape and sandwich everything together.

Next, cut a total of 16 folded strips of tissue paper using the PDF template below. To do this, I folded the tissue paper along the short end to create a narrow double strip and laid the template on top of the folded strip. This created a double thickness for each strip. I cut two each of four colors for a total of 16 folded strips. Starting with the first color {light pink in my example above} I applied a very light amount of white glue about an inch above the bottom of each foot. I wrapped one strip around each foot, trimming and saving any excess. I repeated this with the second strip being careful to overlap slightly. In the photo above, you can see how much I overlapped where the yellow strip overlaps the orange.

The yellow strip was first glued to the back gusset then glued along the body and glued to the front gusset. Trim as needed. Repeat on the opposite side. Turn the piñata so you are looking at the face and can see both sides. Make sure both rows of strips are aligned on each side.

For the back, I used the extra trimmed pieces of strips and covered the gusset as needed. I carefully trimmed around the face and ears as I worked. This is not an exact science so take your time when applying the strips to the face area.

For the eyes, I used two brads that I colored with a black Sharpie pen. I removed the back “arms” with a wire cutter and then glued them to the face. Again, turn the horse so that you can see both sides and align the eyes to the same height.

Here is the PDF template to make the gusset. {The Dala horse can be purchased as a separate die}
Pinata_gusset_template

Product List
Sizzix Bigz Die – Dala Horse

This is Linked to:
Blogghetti, Create With Joy, Denise Designed, DIY Showoff, Intelligent Domestications, Keeping it Simple, Recreated Designs and Sew Can Do