Tuesday, April 19, 2011

DIY Holiday Home Decor-Blown Easter Eggs

I always loved dying hard boiled Easter eggs as a child but hated eating them! Not only am I not a fan of hard boiled eggs (unless deviled,) but I hated ruining my pretty creations! Then about 10 years ago, at Mom's suggestion, I tried blowing eggs and loved how they turned out! I haven't made them for a few years, so I decided that it was time to try it again.

The eggs with the sequins and words on them were from my very first try and with a little precaution, they've actually lasted. The 2 silver eggs I silver leafed a few years ago when some family had been visiting for spring break.

Blowing eggs is actually very easy, and if you plan to do this and decorate them with youngsters or group of people, I suggest doing the actual blowing ahead of time. (It's not the prettiest nor attractive part of the project, so doing this in front of someone you'd like to impress will likely turn them off...or maybe not...)

You'll Need:
Raw, uncooked eggs, as many as you wish to decorate
1 Pin
1 Bowl
1 Disinfectant wipe

First things first, you'll be putting your mouth directly on the egg, so as a precaution, wipe the egg down with the disinfectant wipe. If you plan on using the egg insides, wipe the pin with the wipe as well.

Next, begin poking into the end of the egg until you have created a hole about the size above, maybe even a tad bigger. This will be the bottom hole from which the insides come out and the smaller the hole, the harder it is to remove the insides.

Poke another hole at the top of the egg. This will be the end you put your mouth over. Sometimes the egg will begin to drip out the end, so make sure you do this over a bowl!

So here's the actual blowing part:
Take a deep breath, put your mouth down over the top hole, and blow! It may take a few tries and if this is seeming really hard, try making the hole at the bottom larger.

Yeah, this is a little gross.
Anyway, sometimes you need to blow a little harder to get the yolk to come out. You'll know when all of it is out.
At this point, I save the egg carton and put the blown eggs back into it, just to let them drain out a little. I give them a quick rinse and dry them before any decorating begins.

For the egg with words, I simply cut out phrases from different magazine articles and pasted them on with white glue that dries clear. Super easy. Oh and I covered the holes at either end with the paper.

The orange egg was dyed with (probably) Paas egg dye and then I just used a sequin confetti and glued each one on with white glue swirling around the egg, as I did for the plain white egg that's covered with gold sequins.

The silver leaf was something I had played around with in the past and just decided to try it. I used the traditional metal leaf size, a sort of "glue," let it dry for about 10 minutes then applied the silver leaf. This sounds a little intimidating but is really very easy.

For these two eggs, I actually had some stamps that I licked and put on the egg. I then simply went around the image and all around the egg with the twine and decorative rope, which helps hold down the edges of the stamps.

You could also just use an egg dye kit to color the eggs, run a string through the 2 holes and hang them making an egg tree. Or pick up a few egg cups like this...

(photo from crateandbarrel.com)
And use a paint pen to put names on them and use them as place holders for Easter dinner.

And since you're also left with this...
as long as you took care to not let any shell fall into the bowl, it's perfectly usable!
I made omelettes...
Mmmm!

J.