Showing posts with label Easter Traditions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter Traditions. Show all posts

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Blown and Painted Easter Eggs - They'll Last Forever! #EasterEggs #Easter!


Is this a Giant Strawberry??  Nooo, it's a blown Easter Egg, cleverly disguised as a strawberry! lol!


These little Blown Easter Eggs are so easy to make, and a lot of fun no matter what age you are, but will be tricky for the younger set to do without a fair bit of help.  Blowing out the eggs is really an adult job (insert jokes here for your own amusement! lol!).  The key is to use a really long nail (from the hardware store) or a turkey skewer thing... looks like a long nail, but is maybe used for holding the turkey legs together??  Lol!  Canny remember what that thing is for, I only use it for blowing eggs! hahaha!  (I'm making myself laugh, now! 'Course, you know what they say about me, I'm an easy laugh... man, I hope that's what they're saying, but you can never trust 'they'... hahahahaha!) 



So you can start with a dozen eggs, if you like, get a bowl, and whatever you've decided to use to make a hole in the top and the bottom of the egg.  It will need to be long enough to go right through the egg to comletely pierce the yolk, since that will never go through the hole intact.... silly!  The easiest way to make the whole in the egg at the top, is to wiggle the nail at the top a bit -- don't try to force it, will most likely result in a big mess, and who wants that? Nope, just take your time, it'll be easier than you might think.  Make sure the bottom hole is bigger than the top hole, but not too much bigger... maybe an 1/8", but don't despair if it's closer to 1/4"... the bottom of the egg won't be seen as much, and you could always cover it with a gem, or something, right? : )



Now, this is the fun part... Gently cover the top hole with your mouth.  Gently blow the egg out the bottom. Will seem slow at first, then whoosh, out it comes.  Directly in the bowl, if you're lucky.  haha!  Of course it'll go in the bowl, provided you remembered to put one there! lol!  



Hold the blown egg over a steady stream of water in the sink, and rinse the egg out.  Might want to use the bottom of the egg with the bigger hole for this rinsing stage.  Let some water go in the egg, cover both ends of the egg and shake it about, rinse it through, again.  The goal is for your egg to have NO smell, not even after sitting around for a number of days, weeks, months, years... you get the idea! 



Set each egg back in the egg carton, tilted to the side of each segment, so the egg can drain and dry completely.  



Once your eggs are completely empty and dry, you're ready to paint.  They will be virtually indestructible, so don't worry about them crushing in your hands when you're painting or decorating them... you should be fine, but a little care goes a long way, as with everything : )



I have decorated the blown eggs in sooo many different ways over the years.  Before my lovely children were born, I must have had a massive amount of free time (oh, and that was pre-internet, so maybe that's why I had so much free time! hahaha!), but I would go out and find all these gorgeous embroidery threads with a glittery streak in them, and carefully tuck the end of the embroidery thread in the bottom hole of the egg, then wind the embroidery thread around and around the egg, no spaces, until the whole egg was covered in the thread.  They were gorgeous.  I would make up baskets of these lovely Embroidery Easter Eggs for all the people I really liked (if I like you, you will know it by the amount of stuff I make for you! lol! Baking, crafts, babies... no, wait, that last one is not the same thing... hahahaha!)



Painting the Blown Easter Eggs is by far the easiest, and a lot of fun for the kids -- a great gift for parents, if you're still allowed to acknowledge Easter in your school, and you're still allowed to teach Art in your class (this part is for the teachers! lol!)... but you can decorate them with glitter, just rub the egg with glue, carefully sprinkle with glitter... that tiny, tiny glitter is pricey, but, man, is it gorgeous, and the kids will go crazy, they'll look so lovely.  A great gift for Mom.  Oh, hey, you could make these for Mother's Day -- there, pretty sure they can't stop Mother's Day! haha! 



You can paint anything on your eggs... the strawberry was particularly easy, since it's all red, green for the leaves, little black dots for the seeds, and voila, a giant strawberry!  I have standard painting for eggs, ones that I do on every single Easter Egg I've ever painted (um, well, errr, that's a lot of Easter Eggs, over the years!)  I'll link you to y other Easter Egg page, in case you'd like to try Rolling Your Eggs at Easter... signifies the rolling of the stone from Jesus' Tomb (this is my favorite Scottish Easter Tradition!)... plus, is a lot of fun! 



Okay, have fun with your Easter Egg Decorating!  Be creative, you'll love it! 



Oh, and if you want to hang your Easter Eggs, say from a tree, the window, your Flower Tree (should that catch on! lol!), just use some yarn or embroidery thread, make a small knot at the bottom (small enough to go through the bottom hole in your egg, but big enough not to come straight through the top hole in your egg...!)... use an embroidery needle for this step... then either make a loop and go back through the top hole and tie off at the end, or make a loop and tie it at the top (much easier!).  There you go, Easter Eggs that will last for years! 





A closer look at the Easter Egg, blown by piercing each end of the egg, the bottom a little bigger than the top, pierce all the way through the egg so the yolk breaks (and your jaw doesn't! lol!), all decorated up! 
Marshmallow Bunnies for Easter
Oooh, this is my standard picture I paint on my boiled eggs every Easter!  The other side is a mountain scene with evergreens, a mountain lake and 2 deer at the side of the lake and a sunset over the mountains -- have no idea why those are my two 'go-to' pictures! 

Oh, maybe a bit silly, or, as I prefer it, sweeeet,  but this is my Christmas Tree turned into a Flower Tree, and there's my wee Strawberry Easter Egg hanging in the middle! Cute, right? Those are just flowers I've collected, many of them clips for my jackets, sometimes I pin the flowers to my purse, and mostly I use the flowers to hold the top of my dresses closed so I show less cleavage... man, the amount of cleavage that is normal in Los Angeles, and the tiny amount of cleavage that seems to be okay in Canada... especially in this little conservative area... hmmmm, perhaps this area is not for me, 'cause I gots'ta be free to be me, if you knows what I mean! lol! 



Decorate your Hard Boiled Easter Eggs for Easter... Rolling your Easter Eggs down a hill : ) (Scottish Easter Tradition, and a lovely Family experience!

Happy Easter!! Ailsa xox
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

#EasterTraditions -- Roll Your Eggs at Easter (A Lovely Scottish Tradition) #Easter #Family #EasterEggs #PaintedEggs #Ellen! #ToyCleanUp

Easter Eggs -- yes, real, actual eggs, not just chocolate eggs!! lol!




















Painting and Rolling Easter Eggs is an old Scottish Tradition that we do every year on Easter Day. It's always fun for the kids (and me, since I have lots of great family memories of all the times we rolled our Easter Eggs!).

So here's the Symbolism of the Rolling Egg :

The Egg symbolizes New Life, Fresh Beginnings and Good Health (always good!).

Rolling the Egg Symbolizes the Stone rolling away from the Tomb where Jesus was Resurrected. Isn't that nice? This is one of my favorite Traditions to do every year.

If you have a child with Egg Allergies and you still want to do this activity, you can use the little Plastic Eggs you can pick up at Walmart and just put a special wee treat in each Egg.

What You Need:

A Dozen Eggs (or as many as you need for your family... I usually put in 2 or 3 per person)
Markers, Crayons, Paints, an Egg Coloring Kit (optional but fun!)

Directions:

Boil all the Eggs. We used to live in a High Altitude Area (Calgary, Alberta), so we had to Boil our Eggs for 14 minutes, but normally it would take about 7 or 8 minutes for Hard-boiled Eggs (I would err on the side of caution... go for 10 minutes, crack open one egg to make sure it is firm, throughout...). Some of the Eggs will crack, so save them for a wee snack later, and Paint the Eggs that are perfect.

After the eggs are boiled, put the 'Good Eggs' (the eggs that haven't cracked during the cooking process) in a Bowl of Cold Water so they can cool down enough so you can hold them in your hands.

I always put the eggs back into the Egg Carton so they can dry off completely before you start to paint or draw on the eggs.  For some reason, I always, invariably, end up drawing chicks and flowers, with a big sun on one side of my egg, and a lovely mountain scene with a pristine lake and a tiny deer on the other... must be my two favourite scenes! lol!   It's really easy to work with magic markers... just a wee bit of food for thought!

This is a fun Family Activity, so get everyone involved.

Pack up your Fancy Painted Eggs for a Picnic. Bring along some Salt to sprinkle on the Eggs, if you like that (We do!)...

Find a nice Hill to roll your Eggs down. Everyone runs after their Eggs and keeps tossing them down the hill until they break. Peel the shell off carefully and enjoy. Lots of Laughs! If you bring your Dog, watch how funny it is to see them try to get to the eggs first!

Happy Easter!!

In the photos:  Cara and Aidan painting their Eggs on Easter, and Aidan madly running after his egg. Then we went over to what we call 'the Mountain Park' with Cara's Friend, Jenise, and we all rolled our Eggs.

That's our Dining Room, all set up for Easter Morning -- pretty, eh??


And that was lovely wee Tia, our sweet little dog, trying to score some Chocolate for herself! She never got any, of course (chocolate is very bad for dogs, even if they would have you believe otherwise with their eyes... lol!), but she did like to have a wee look!







And these are our 2005 Easter Eggs -- and I made a special one in Honor of Ellen Degeneres' 300th Show! (You know I love Ellen!!)












Can you see Aidan on his Easter Egg Hunt in this picture? Click on it to make it bigger to see him better... Oh, and if you notice what looks like a 'pile o' toys', here's my new trick now that Aidan has a million tiny pieces to every single toy.









Here's a Good Way to Never (or, hardly ever!) Step on Your Child's Lego or Tiny Toys, Again! Yahoo! 

I cut out this part of the picture to show you the Toys in the Tablecloth Trick. I'm sure you could be a whole lot neater with this idea, but I can't be bothered unless I really have to...!




I put out a big, cheap, vinyl (with a flannel back, so it's comfortable to sit on) tablecloth on the floor in the Living Room, and Aidan can spread out all the little Lego and K'nex pieces so he can figure out the next thing he wants to build. When Dwight came home, we just folded the toys in the middle of the Tablecloth and pushed it under the Table or as close to that as we could, since there were a lot of other little toys already under that table... Anyway, it's a good thing to try when you have small children and perhaps a slightly anal-retentive other parent! Let's everyone have a happy life.

Beautiful Easter Prayer: May today be all you need it to be. May the peace of God and the freshness of the Holy Spirit rest in your thoughts, rule in your dreams tonight, and conquer all your fears. May God manifest himself today in ways you have never experienced. May your joys be fulfilled, your dreams be closer, and your prayers be answered. I pray that faith enters a new height for you; I pray that your territory is enlarged. I pray for peace, healing, health, happiness, prosperity, joy, true and undying love for God. 

  (No, no, I didn't write this prayer, myself, but it's really lovely... I hope you have a truly lovely Easter Day, and everything in this prayer comes true for you and yours!)  Ailsa : )