*UPDATE* Silk Dyed Easter Eggs

Yesterday, I wrote about these silk-dyed Easter eggs (originally from Our Best Bites).  I was curious if I could get my eggs to look even better.  So, today I did another batch and here's what I found:

- Instead of gathering the silk around the egg and tying it off at the top, I tried laying the egg on its side and rolling it tightly in the silk (right side still facing toward the egg).  Then I tied both ends off with an elastic.  The result looked a bit like a tootsie roll.  This method was easier for me to get nice and tight.

What do you think?  The picture on the left is from yesterday's bunchy bunch, the photo on the right is from today's tootsie roll bunch.  Both eggs were done using the same tie.     

The egg on the right has better color and the details from the ties design are clearer.  Also, the egg on the right has better coverage and fewer whites spots.

I think they look great!

Let me know if you try it, I'd love to see how yours turn out!

Silk Dyed Easter Eggs

I saw this idea for silk-dyed Easter eggs over at Our Best Bites and I immediately wanted to try it out with the kiddos.  It was so much fun to try something new!  Here's what we did:

- Empty the eggs by carefully poking a hole in the top and bottom of an egg with a safety pin.  Pick at the holes with your pin until they're big enough to fit a small skewer into. Put the skewer into the egg and scramble everything up really good. 

The ladies over at Our Best Bites had the brilliant idea of using a bulb syringe to get the insides out of the egg.  I didn't have one so I did it the old fashioned way.  Kind of like blowing up a balloon, blow all of the gunk out of the egg.  (My kids thought this part was awfully funny.)  Rinse the egg a few times.

- We picked out some of the ugliest ties that we could find from the D.I. (the local thrift store).  Make sure that they are 100% Silk.  Polyester ain't gonna cut it.

-This was another step that the kids loved.  Disassemble the ties.  I just snipped a few of the more obvious seams and then ripped it by hand after that.  When this part is done you'll be left with just the silk.

- Tightly wrap the tie around an egg.  The right side of the tie (the part that faces out if you were wearing it) should be touching the egg.  I used rubber bands and twisty ties to secure them.  They'll look something like this:

- Wrap each of the eggs with a piece of light weight, white fabric. (While I was at the D.I. I also picked up a white sheet.)

- Put all of the little bundles in a pot of boiling water and 1/4 cup vinegar.  They'll boil for about 20 mins.

- After they were done boiling I put them in a colander to drain a bit and cool down.  As soon as they were cool enough to touch I was unwrapping them.  Here's what we found:

Each egg was a surprise.  Some of the them turned out great, a few were a little blah.  It seemed that the reds and blues came out looking the most vibrant.  Some of the ties that I thought would be duds turned out the most beautifully.

So, if you have some old ties lying around or if you end up at a thrift store before Easter give this a try.  The kids had so much fun with it (and so did I)!

*If you decide not to empty the eggs out before dyeing them, don't eat them afterward. The dyes in ties aren't made to be safe to consume.



Give Thanks Banner

I love this time of year.  The colors outside are coinciding with the colors that I use in my house.  These are the colors that I am naturally drawn too; rusty red-oranges, golden yellows and muted greens.  So, after Halloween, I am more than ready to get out my fall and Thanksgiving stuff.

At Second Street I found this simple banner and immediately needed one.  It was easy to make and I love the beautiful reminder of gratitude.  The best part is that a lot of the work is already done, all I had to do was download it and print it off!

 

Maybe the Best Thing Ever

Okay, so I may be the last person alive to discover the awesome-ness of Pandora (Intrenet Radio) but just in case I'm not, I thought I'd share its awesome-ness with you.

Here's the beauty of it, you type in the name of an artist, composer or song that you like, like so...

and it creates a radio station full of songs similar to the one that you put in. 

You can give all of the songs a thumbs up or down and customize your station even further.  You can put in as many stations as you want and they are automatically organized for you.

I've been listening to my new radio stations all day and I'm LOVIN' it!

So, here's my question: Have you discovered this modern miracle?  If you have, are there other cool features that, as a novice, I have yet to discover? 

My question for you if you haven't used it yet is:

Now that you know about it, what are you waiting for!?

A Fool's Lunch

Yesterday we had lunch with the kids' cousins. Since it was April Fool's Day we had to do something fun, here's what we ended up eating: PB & J sandwiches with, wormy apples and ...what's this...carrot slices in the chip's bag? How did that happen?

It was really easy to put this silly lunch together but the kids' got a kick out of it, especially my kids who helped me put the whole thing together. They loved pulling an April Fool's trick on their cousins.

I got the idea from familyfun.com, they have tons of great ideas for crafts for kids and family activities.

An Early Spring

The Holidays are over, the New Year is underway. I love the snow and the crisp beauty of a white landscape, but winter gets a little bit hard for me when it hasn't snowed in ages and everything takes on the slushy gray of dirty, stale snow.
So, when I came across this idea from The Pleasures of Homemaking, it was like a breath of fresh air. I love the idea of bringing a little bit of spring into my home while outside winter is in full swing. Actually, I went out and bought some bulbs on clearance and want to put them on my coffee table in the living room.

Even though I know that it will take awhile for the bulbs to come up, I love having something pretty and colorful to look forward to. I'm anticipating an early spring at our house.

A Cute Idea

If you are still wondering what to give out as neighbor gifts or want a unique idea for next year, here's something I've never seen before:


Our cute friends gave us this roll of toilet paper dressed up as Frosty. The roll is in a cellophane bag and the earmuffs and face are glued to the bag. The earmuffs are big pom poms connected with pipe cleaner. They attached a pair of googly eyes and an orange foam nose. Here's what the card said:

Who knew that toilet paper could make such a cute neighbor gift?