Use what you have Easter craft!

A few days ago I felt very inspired to make some decoupage Easter eggs. I ran around like a chicken with her head cut off (no pun intended) gathering eggs, paper, modge podge, trim and sat down to start my little masterpieces. I quickly found that modge podge does NOT stick to Styrofoam eggs. Bummer.

Thankfully, CVS had an enormous supply of those plastic eggs you can put treats in so I snagged some of those for 50% off and got to work!

I found scrap book sheets at Michael's I loved so much I purchased them to make these eggs but the really fun thing is that you can use virtually any sort of paper you like. So grab some plastic eggs and get gluing!

Here is what you need:

ModgePodge Glue (I recommend glossy unless you have a gloss medium you can put on after using the matte)

Gloss medium if using matte glue

Craft paint brush

Pretty Paper (try old letters, magazines (Anthro catalogues are GREAT for this), left over scrap book paper, wrapping paper.)

Fabric trim or ribbon

Small plastic Easter eggs

Stickers, acrylic paint, gems, and/or any ephemera that inspires you!

Glue gun

Steps:

1. Mix a little Modge Podge with a little water. The consistency should be like half and half.

2. Rip paper into dime, nickle and Quarter size shreds and lay strips in water/glue mixture.

3. Start pressing the largest glue soaked paper pieces around the center seam of the plastic egg (where the egg would break apart if you were to put a treat inside)

4. Gradually introduce smaller and smaller pieces of paper layering towards each end of the egg. Use the smallest pieces at the rounded "tips".

5. Allow to dry pressing down wrinkled areas intermittently. Paint on your gloss medium if you used matte glue and want a glossy finish.

6. Once dry, starting at one end of the egg glue ribbon or trim around the egg lengthwise.

7. Apply gems, flowers, ephemera, painted acrylic designs.

Tips:

*If you don't want to go to the craft store, dig through your closets and use what you can find. Buttons, old jewelry, fabric samples, and yarn could all be used to embellished these beauties.

* To give a little consistency to your eclectic collection stick to a color scheme or repeated motif. I chose scrapbook papers in similar tones with vintagy images on them. My trim was all selected from the dollar section of the craft store. Even though all my eggs are different they do have some commonality to tie them together as a group.

*Consider placing one at each place setting at your Easter brunch! Or set up a craft table with these supplies and avoid awkward conversations with relatives! No one can ask you when you are getting married or when you are going to have a baby if they are too busy crafting!

*Fill with jingle bells, sand or beans before covering to create a fun, musical, easter basket filler for kids (and fun adults).

*Part of the "charm" of this project is that it doesn't have to be perfect! Allow yourself room for the grace of creativity and your own intuition and your final product will be beautiful and unique!

On hanging dinner on the wall...

In our home I like to decorate with a strong out door element in every room. Branches, baskets, florals and plants abound...and where they don't I am working on it.

We are in the process of re-doing the dining room and I have been brainstorming for wall art.

I turned to Audubon prints to deviate a little bit from the botanicals that are an inspiration for every room.

It started with a pair of sweet little humming birds...

But then i decided that a delicate bird might be to flighty and feminine so some how I got onto game.

You know. Ducks and pheasant and rabbits and elk....

all prints from art.com

And after picturing these critters on my wall I realized that maybe I would be well suited to become a vegetarian.

I'm back to searching for bird prints featuring fine feathered friends that won't be joining us for dinner.

This also brings me to all the antlers and animal sculls we have been seeing recently. What are your thoughts on the antlers?

I actually have a pair my mother in law found in her back yard and they are currently hanging out on the coffee table. They intrigue me because I love their form and feel. We also lived at their house for a while and I used to see deer around all the time. They looked at me. I looked at them. It was special. The antlers have a sentimental authenticity. Not to say those who have embraced the deer head as a trend don't love deer---but a lot of the places they are showing up just seem odd to me. There are isolated cases where it looks good and works with the design (and I'm not going to say if I think the photo below is one of them.)

photo via we love domino @wordpress

As a trend, I'm over it. And I'm not sure I was ever really under it...

If you want to read a funny post or two on antlers go here and here. The second link listed has a post titled "Is this ram satanic?". It's pretty hilarious---especially if you go and read the blogger responses. My do people have opinions (I chimed in too! See if you can find my response.)

Good bye twenties!

Today I leave my twenties behind! Good bye, farewell, tata! Hellooooo thirties!!!

eh.

Yes it is my thirtieth birthday and I have to write about it because as much as I've tried to play it down in my mind I have walked up to this day with enthusiasm (love birthdays!!!) and trepidation (thirty!!? What!?). Thankfully on facebook (which makes a girl feel so special on her birthdays) people have reminded me that thirty is the new 20 (is it? oooh la la) and that it is exciting to be onto a new decade of my life.

And I guess it kind of is. After all I don't think I'd live a single day of my 20th year again---but I pretty much like my life right now just as it is. I certainly don't have things figured out but the confusion and discontent of my early 20's (Who am I? Will I get married? What will I do after college?) is gone and though I still have questions (Will I have babies? Will I work as a mom? What should I be doing right NOW? Is blogging a wast of my time?) I've learned a lot about patience over the past decade and about learning to be content with unanswered questions.

So how do I feel about being 30? It's a difficult question to answer, but I have a shopping analogy that should sum it all up: My last purchase was from Roxy (you know, surfer girl line for juniors) and I sort of got a thrill flipping through the most recent Talbot's catalogue. Yes. A thrill.

Do I feel young? Not really. Do I feel old? Heck no! I feel somewhere in between and sometimes it's good to be right smack dab in the middle.