Eggcellent

Hi Everyone,

With only a handful of days left before the end of spring break, yesterday I was hit by a surging need to create. I figured since Easter was only a rabbit's hop away, decorating some Easter eggs would suffice. I don't come from a particularly religious family so growing up, I didn't really partake in any Easter traditions like Easter egg scavenger hunts or indulge in a big Easter feast. However, having taught as a Sunday School teacher before (2010-2012) and now that I'm currently dating a church goer, I've started to realize just how fun and festive Easter can really be.

I invited over a couple of my girl friends and threw an impromptu egg decorating party. I have to say, for having just thought of it as a way to procrastinate from lesson planning for the day, I thought it turned out really well! Here are the supplies that I gathered in preparing for the arts and crafty session.

• 3 dozen eggs (got them for $4 at the dollar store)
• decorative stickers
• assorted set of Sharpies
• grass
• mod podge (you can make a homemade version for a fraction of the price found here.)
• baskets
• shredded paper for nesting
• food coloring
• vinegar
• paint

It looked like a big hot mess on the table, but boy was it a ton of fun! Here are some quick tips for decorating Easter eggs. I would prep the eggs a day in advance. Wait for them to be at room temperature so there is less chance of them cracking during the boiling process. Once they have boiled make sure they are cooled before handling (unless you want to try decorating with a medium like crayons and want a nice melted wax effect prior to dying the egg). For an easy egg dye simply combine food coloring, water, and vinegar and dip your eggs. The vinegar is key! Did you ever do that science experiment in middle school where you put a hard boiled egg into a jar of vinegar and as time goes by the shell dissolves? Well without getting too scientifically technical, the acidity of the vinegar actually helps the dye bind to the protein in the egg shell. Neat huh? Thus, the longer the eggs stay in the dye, the darker the pigment will be. I got beautiful pastel colors to show on my eggs by dipping them for 2-3 minutes.

The eggs featured in the first picture were made by applying the mod podge to blades of grass. I pressed down on the grass against blue eggs and applied another top layer of mod podge once all the blades were set in place. I first came across this idea here but added my own twist by embellishing them with fun decorative butterfly and flower stickers to really make them pop. Place them in mini clay plant pots to create a simple yet elegant and festive display.

Here's my completed egg basket. My inspiration was spring and I have to admit, after decorating almost a dozen eggs, my creativity was juiced and my craving to produce something was more than satisfied.

As a side note, lately I've been very drawn to minimalism. As such, I decided to change the design of this blog and got rid of the very juvenile (not that there's anything wrong with that) template I previously had in favor of a more pristine and minimalist layout. I actually like it better. What do you think?

As always, thanks so much for reading and happy Thursday!