Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Tutorial: Tissue Paper Decoupaged Easter Eggs


I love that every year we decorate a few more of our monstrous hoard of wooden and cardboard Easter eggs. I bought soooo many of these years and years ago, when the little kid was a tiny toddler and I decided that we'd start celebrating Easter (I think I decide to celebrate a holiday guided only by its awesome craft project potentiality). Plastic eggs offend me, and I think I was experimenting with veganism or something similar then, so hard-boiled eggs weren't an option.

Anyway, those eggs turned out to be a great purchase, as we've loved them ever since. One year we decorated some with Sharpies, another year we painted them with acrylics, another year we made mosaics on them, one year I felted colorful wool around some of them, and still every year when I bring out the stash, there are more plain ones to inspire us.

Last week, encouraged by how nicely the tissue paper decoupaged bookshelf turned out, the kids and I tried the same tissue paper decoupage technique on some of these wooden and cardboard eggs (the wooden eggs all came from Casey's Wood Products, and the cardboard eggs came from either a thrift shop or a garage sale--I can't remember now, but it was an excellent score). I set out a dish of Mod Podge, paintbrushes, tissue paper, and the eggs, and the kids and I listened to Jesus Christ Superstar while painting a patch of egg with glue, layering tissue paper over it, and then painting another layer of glue over the tissue paper:




On the one hand, this is a fiddly project because the tissue paper is thin and easily torn, and you have to be very mindful about where you put your hands while working so that you don't mess up a section that you've already completed, but on the other hand, fiddly projects teach perseverance and problem-solving, and anything that you mess up is repaired in seconds with just another layer of tissue paper.

The finished Easter eggs didn't look anything like I'd imagined they would, and at first I wasn't sure that I liked them, but the kids loved them from the second that they were done, and now they've grown on me, too.

The kids used up the last two giant eggs in our stash on this project (one of which had some toddler Sharpie scribbles on it--ah, the memories!), so next year I may actually need to buy more wooden eggs. Six years between egg purchases is pretty darn good!

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, road trips to weird old cemeteries, looming mid-life crisis, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

3 comments:

  1. Those look really neat, and I love the giant jar of eggs! My mother-in-law asked if we were doing anything for Easter and the hubby and I looked at each other and said, "Easters coming?"

    We could hear her shaking her head at us from over 1,000 miles away :0)

    I like the idea of celebrating Easter for the craft aspect of it. And I think we will start teaching Emma the reason for these types of holidays so she can understand the real meaning (even if it isn't what we believe). Not than most people who celebrate religious holidays know why the holiday is celebrated (other than to get a bunch of useless crap).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ugh, I know, the stuff! We don't do a ton of candy, but we do give some candy (mostly because Matt and I could never get away with eating a giant chocolate peanut butter Easter bunny without providing the kids the same), but after I think I went overboard with the gifts for Christmas, I've been swearing and swearing that I am NOT going to buy anyone anything for holidays this year. Handmade gifts or bust!

    Except... well, I bought those Indiana field guides, anyway, and wouldn't they make a cute Easter gift? And I was just given a children's natural makeup kit to review, and wouldn't THAT make a cute gift, too? I'm torn. Stuff is stuff, even if it's needed or free, but at the same time, presents are so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Presents are super fun, that's why I can never wait till the "appropriate" time to give them :0)

    It's kinda a joke in our house that if I don't do gift shopping right before birthdays, the birthday girl (or guy) will get an early present.

    And to go with that, we do a lot of "gift" giving throughout the year for reasons that are special to us. For instance, in November I partook in a self-defense seminar that enabled me to become certified to teach self-defense. However, I had to put in a LOT of practice to get my full certification. That meant dragging the kiddo to the gym just about every day so I could practice with other folks working on getting their full certification as well. I got fully certified in January. There is no way I would have been able to accomplish that without Emma being as awesome and patient as she was, so we bought her a Breyer model horse as a thank you gift.

    For us, that is way more meaningful then celebrating Easter or Christmas.

    And really, I shouldn't be allowed to post comments after 10pm as I tend to ramble.

    Must. Get. To Bed.

    ReplyDelete