So, I’m tired. Really tired. It’s been a long week. A good week, but a long, busy one. Today’s the first day of summer for our family as my daughter finished up her school year last night with her school’s program and production of “Bugz,” a musical about a group of insects on their way to a picnic. So this is what I spent most of the week doing….
Dragonfly eyes!
Front View of the Picnic Cake
The picnic basket was chocolate cake covered in candy clay, and the fruit and flying insects were made of candy clay with fondant accents. The ants, the tablecloth and the grass were fondant.
So…yeah…I’ve been busy. Sandwich these things between school runs, practices, dental appointments and a little thing like three other children, and somehow the week just flew by. And wore me out.
It was fun though! The program was just precious. The kids did a great job, and my little dragonfly was wonderful.
The cake turned out pretty well, too, I think. Even though it had a little trouble during delivery, and what you don’t see in the photo is the fork that is propping up that basket from behind. I had to reassemble it when I arrived and put the little ants back in place, but surprisingly (or, rather, miraculously) I didn’t panic or get upset. No time for that this week.
I thought you might like to know how I made the dragonfly costume…just in case you ever need one. It was really simple and require NO SEWING, and here’s the way I did it:
- Scour the internet for ideas. Pinterest is a big help. (Follow me there…I pin craft ideas, recipes and more! What can I say…I hoard ideas.)
- Go to good ole Wally World and find fabric. Or, if you’re lucky to live near one, try a real fabric store. But, Wally World worked for me.
- Find a shimmery fabric for the “eyes,” a shimmery fabric that is sort-of see-through for the wings and tail, and a different color tulle for the tail as well. You’ll also need a headband, some hot glue and a glue gun, one Styrofoam ball that you can cut in half, some skinny little satin ribbon in a coordinating color and a wider ribbon for the wings. Oh, and elastic!
- Take four coat hangers and shape to form the wings. Glue the shimmery fabric to one side of each wing and then glue ribbon around the edges. I just glued it to one side all the way around then came back around folding it over and gluing it to the other side.
- Take all four wings and arrange them the way you like then glue them together and wrap/glue ribbon around the place they’re connected.
- Now, take your other shimmery fabric and your tulle and layer them. Find something to stuff in them. (I used Wal-Mart bags.) Create each section by stuffing and wrapping then tying a bit of little ribbon to secure. At the ends, I just tied a ribbon then cut the fabric and folded it back into the little bubble…if that makes any sense.
- Secure the tail to the wings with ribbon and glue and whatever else works.
- Add two loops of elastic that are long enough to slip over the child’s arms like a backpack. I just glued them and wrapped ribbon and glued until they were secure. (I did this at the same place that the wings attached.)
- To make the “eyes,” I cut a Styrofoam ball in half and stretched the shimmery fabric over it, gluing it down as I went. I covered a headband with ribbon then glued the eyes to it.
- To complete the outfit, she wore silver leggings and blue top that had light blue sequins down the front.
I don’t know if those directions make any sense to you or not, but if you ever need a dragonfly costume, I hope they help!