egg hunting is easier

but this is much prettier i will admit. i call this the bronze egg. a step up from egg dyeing unless you do something like this and then, yeah, yours can be put my pretty to shame. 

as a kid i loved dyeing eggs. we didn't do anything crazy, just dumped hard boiled eggs in cups of food coloring with some vinegar. the best was eating a egg that was slightly green or blue! 

these babies are a bit more intense, but you can have lots of fun, and for those of you who are really into pottery painting and such, this is right up your alley (you don't even want to know how many hours i can spend painting one item at a pottery painting store... 

supplies you'll need: raw egg(s), needle, toothpicks, tweezers, glue, and an assortment of beads (i love this great bead holder i've had for years from crafts plus. any crafts plus stores still out there? i miss the one that was in walking distance of my house!) the first thing you want to do (and maybe the night before) is hollow out the eggs. there are great instructions here. i highly suggest using a needle thicker than mine b/c i ended up puncturing myself quite a few times. i used the toothpick to widen my holes b/c it's lung workout to blow the egg out. where's a saxophone player when you need a set of lungs?? i would let these babies dry out overnight b/c i had some water peeing out as i tried to decorate. 

some more of my pretty beads. if you have sequins or anything tiny and light i say go for it!

creating my bronze egg: i would say decorating took about 4 hours, most of that b/c i found out the hard way that a particular way of placing the beads (where the hole didn't face outward) was much heavier and tended to tilt so drying each section with the egg on the side a la top right picture was the only way to get the beads stay in position w/o droopage. i was definitely making up the design as i went, but there's tons of ideas online and you can spell stuff or make shapes. it's perfect for the creative side in you! 

for my bronze egg i did skinny side down (bad idea) b/c the smaller hole ended up on top, and the balance got thrown off, so make the egg bottom heavy. you can also see my little glue plate in some of the pictures. it takes some time to pick the beads up w/ the tweezers and not pop the bead across the room. then you want to dip the bead lightly in the glue (too much glue and the bead will just slideeeee down your egg) and stick it on your egg. i had to wipe my tweezers on my hand a lot as i got a lot of glue stuck on the tips. please excuse the difference in lighting. i was decorating in the middle of the night and my kitchen lighting isn't all that great. the completed pictures i took during the day with nice natural lighting.

this egg was definitely kind of like those people who can't stop getting plastic surgery and then take it one too far. but it was fun trying to make different flower shapes. i wish for this egg i had dyed the entire egg first and then decorated. would be much more whimsical and less white background.

s4 came home and i badgered her into decorating the last egg i had hollowed out. isn't it pretty! and it has an adorable heart on top. she probably took maybe an hour to do this one (including drying time) so it doesn't have to be super labor intensive. plus, she glued her beads on hole side outward so they didn't droop and slide down as much. now just have to make them egg holders and figure out what to do with them. although they would make a lovely centerpiece for the table:)

happy decorating! and happy spring break to those on it (esp w/ snow, in march, in maryland?!?!)