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Monday, March 26, 2007

Easter Tree

I just finished our Easter tree. This is so easy and so incredibly "cheep"

I didn't do a photo play by play, because I did this over a series of days. Anytime I needed an egg I would blow it and then sit the shell aside. But here are my tips if you want to make one for yourself. This is a great center piece to do anytime of year for a baby shower. You can tie all sorts of bows on the branches.

  1. pick branches that have blossoms just getting ready to bloom
  2. i found my container at Goodwill, you will be amazed at what you could find a thrift store to make your tree in. You could also just use a metal bucket
  3. when blowing eggs don't be afraid to make a bigger hole than you would think. I actually used a small screw. You will place a bead over the hole. this will keep you from getting a head ache when blowing out the egg. (Mindy I know this part will be tough for you, ask a neighbor... she gets grossed out by eggs) run a lot of water through the hollow egg before drying, get all that stinky egg out! I even sprayed with bleach to get it to run down in the egg.
  4. when dying eggs i use the egg dying kit PAAS that can be found in any grocery store. I double the water and add a tea bag to each color. I also dye a few with just tea and no color. The make the color more vibrant add a few teaspoons of vinegar.
  5. The eggs will be hollow when you dye them which means they will float. The get them to submerge place an ice cream scoop over the egg.
  6. last year I used a flat stretchy yarn to tie the eggs on to the branches and then tie a bow on top of each egg to cover the hole. This year I used a pink heavy thread 50g weight.
  7. I bought some flowered beads at the craft store and placed on at the bottom with a knot and one at the top. You can also tie a bow at the bottom to keep it from slipping through if you use ribbon.
  8. I taped two needles together to string the thread through because my needles were not long enough to get through the egg.
  9. I placed a another flower bead at the top to cover the blown hole. You could use all kinds of beads and even shapes of wool felt would be great.
Great project. My oldest daughter loves to blow out the eggs and I love seeing the tea dyed eggs, each one comes out so different.
Enjoy.

20 comments:

Unknown said...

taped two needles together...

ingenious!

Jill said...

That is such a cute project, but I'm totally grossed out by eggs and their stank. Perhaps I could tweak your cute idea somehow.

Anonymous said...

You could go to Michael's or another craft store and pick up the foam eggs. Coloring them might be tricky but you could cover them with cute fabrics and hot glue instead of dying them.

Jennifer (mom of four) said...

That looks so cute!!! I did that years ago but painted my eggs. I sealed my bottom whole with wax and made a loop with pretty ribbon at the top to hang on the tree. I also gave them as gifts to people. So much fun!!

Jennifer (mom of four) said...

ok I meant to say hole not whole. I did not check before I published my comment. yikes!!

carlo said...

oh how incredibly sweet!!!!!!!! love it. thanks for the teabag idea-- i love the darker but still pastel color.

amy gretchen said...

This is a great project. Man I would love to see you house on any given holiday I bet it is so festive.

Victoria said...

Beautiful and I love it!

Amanda :-) said...

Oops! I misread "tea dyed eggs" as 'tie-dyed eggs' and wondered how on earth you tied up an eggshell! Ha!

Kristi, do your girls actually leave this gorgeous, fragile creation alone during Easter or do they fiddle with it?

I used to blow eggs, paint and embellish them, and hang them from twisted willow etc etc before I had kids, but I'm wondering whether this year will be a disaster waiting to happen. Erin loves to errr...'rearrange' so many things!

Anonymous said...

This is so beautiful and sweet! I love the tea-dyed eggs. I love how the colors came out so soft and antique. And I love the bead flowers on either end of the eggs. Amazing!

michelle said...

How adorable! What a cute project to display. I blew eggs for a project about 3-4 years ago. My ears hurt so bad afterwards. I'm thinking I am whimpy. :)

Nikki said...

Ok, I am going to try to do this one anad let the kids try the egg blowing.

Thanks for sharing!!

~~Nik

donna said...

So cute:) I love it. I so agree with Amy M, I would love to see you house on every holiday!!! I bet it is so festive:)

Elizabeth said...

That turned out great. This is one of my favorite holiday projects. I love your container idea.

Laura B. said...

I love this!!! How do you have time to do crafty things like this?!

Barb said...

Thrift craft! My fav! I haven't blown out an egg since I was maybe 13. I went through a Ukranian Easter egg thing back then - I had a YW leader that taught it to me. I haven't thought about that in forever.

I also love the teabag colors. In the past I've described my color palette as muddy, but tea-dyed is a better phrase.

Anonymous said...

you're right--I don't think I could handle blowing out the eggs. Kind gets the back of my throat all frothy just thinking about it!

Jordan said...

Lovely lovely.

michelle said...

Beautiful! I love the tree and I am totally jealous of your Goodwill container. Thanks for the tips on dying with PAAS -- I usually get those but never would have thought of combining tea bags! Brilliant as usual.

shauna said...

Some craft stores (especially this time of year) sell wooden eggs. You could drill a hole through a wooden egg, thread a ribbon through it- after you decorate the egg (paint, stencil, embellish...)