Easter Eggies

That's right folks. Easter is around the corner. Well, this weekend actually. 

I'll be spending it in Florida, but I wanted to make sure the house was a little festive since I'm leaving Ryan behind. 

I went with a paper mache type of Easter eggs, but with embroidery thread instead of paper. Another Pinterest find.

Hit up your local craft store for some embroidery thread. I went with the pastels (on the right) and my crafting buddy, Molly, went with the green and blues color scheme (on the left). 

It takes a whole skien per egg so buy away. Trust me, it's hard to choose once you get absorbed in that store isle. 

The paste comes from liquid starch and flour. 

Recipe:

One cup of liquid starch to half a cup of flour.

Should look a little like this once you whisk it together.

You'll also need balloons. We went with water balloons (not the best choice as you will come to see). Regular balloons may work as well as long as you don't blow them up to full capacity.

 Don't forget the wine and snacks. Uber important.

Let me share what our water balloon issue was...

They are IMPOSSIBLE to blow up.

Okay, maybe not completely impossible, but super difficult.

Just look at that face.

We even got this guy involved. 

Then we discovered the secret.

I know you all have one of those exercise balls that were all the rage about 5 years ago. Go dig out the pump for it.

Works like a charm.

We chose to do 18 balloons each. Once they are all blown up, dip your embroidery thread in the starch goo.

We started this project with gloves, but just get dirty. Works much better.

Unraveling the thread and just piling it in worked best for us. There will still be frustrating knots, but that's what the wine is for.

Wrap the balloons in a haphazard manner.

Lay your wet eggs on wax paper to dry. Ours took overnight so be patient.



Once dry, pop the balloons.

I took a straight pin and scratched off the majority of the left over starch bits. I'm a pretty big perfectionist and still couldn't bring myself to get them perfectly cleaned, but they just have a powdery look to them.



Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Spring Wreath

I've been your average Martha Stewart in the garden these days. You can all relate, right?

I needed something to keep me busy after the sun went down. It's been awhile since I've tried my luck at a wreath. 

Check this baby out.

Naturalistic right?

Well, the sticky wreath part is anyways. I can't take credit for that. It was made by the gentle hands of some soul at Hobby Lobby. Probably Mexico actually, but we won't go there. 

I had a bunch of extra fabric just begging to be put to use. I decided on those fabric flowers which gave me the opportunity to buy some cute buttons and lace. Who doesn't love an excuse to buy those?

I bought a thick lace (2 inches) for the outside and a thin, frilly lace for the middle. 

You'll also need some scrap felt, scissors, thread and a hot glue gun. 

I made my fabric 1.5 inches wide. Then measured the fabric and two laces to about 10 inches.

Loosely stitch through your lace so that you can pull it tight to make a circle. The pictures will probably do better than that pathetic explanation I just gave.

Then, do the same thing with the next layer.

And the last...

Layer those puppies on top of one another.

Place your button in the middle and tie to all the way through, with a small circle of felt on the back, to keep it all together.

Repeat times 5 if you're cool like me.

Hot glue them to your wreath and you're done. 

No excuses for an unwelcoming front door.