Opal spent a good portion of the weekend dyeing eggs with my mom for Easter. Despite everything I know about my mom, I assumed that they were going to use one of those grocery store “seasonal aisle” staples: a PAAS dyeing kit. But this is my mom we’re talking about, the woman who for years spun, dyed, and wove her own yarn, so of course they didn’t do that. Instead she boiled purple cabbage, onions, and other produce to make her own all-natural dyes. The results were vibrant blues and purples and deep russet reds–so pretty!
Although I’m not sure anyone can get close to my mom’s egg decorating prowess, here are ten great ideas for embellishing Easter eggs from around the web:
1. Dye eggs and then burnish them with gold leaf, a la Martha Stewart:
2. Cross stitched eggs. These blow my mind. There’s not a tutorial accompanying this image, but Design Sponge has one here.
3. If you have young kids, you probably have temporary tattoos laying around. Use them on Easter eggs and save yourself from having to scrub nubby remnants off your kids’ skin:
4. This is basically the opposite of Mama Matthews’s natural dyes, but marbleizing with nail polish yields vibrant results:
5. Anyone who frequents thrift stores knows that gaudy ties are a secondhand staple. This dyeing technique gives dated silk ties a second life–just add vinegar!
6. Patterned paper napkins and Mod Podge yield adorable results in this tutorial:
7. Using electrical tape creates crisp lines in this dye resist technique:
8. Using a stamp on a convex surface doesn’t work so well. This tutorial solves the problem by stamping on a white paper napkin and then Mod Podging it onto the egg:
9. These lovely eggs were created by cutting out images from vintage magazines and, again, using Mod Podge to affix them to the eggs:
10. Simple, dye free, mess free, and cute–these graphic patterns are created with washi tape:
Happy April everyone! I hope you have a great weekend, whatever your plans may be!
No pix of your mom & Opal’s eggs?? 🙁
Added, by popular request!
Lots of great ideas but I think my kids will do the usual thing of turning the eggs into people and animals.
Are you going to share photos of the eggs your mother and daughter decorated?
Eggs into people and animals are always a classic! Pic is in–it’s been a heck of a week (thus Opal spending most of the weekend with my super crafty madre). 🙂
I’m crazy about all these eggs! Never saw anything like those necktie eggs or the fingernail polish ones. They are all wonderful. My Russian mother-in-law always died her eggs with onion skins and cabbage. Then she would polish them with a little vegetable oil until they were glossy and gem-like. The colors were subtle, but so lovely.
My mom mentioned that technique too–so pretty! Happy April!
Tried the silk scarf/tie technique. Only worked with 100% silk fabric… BUT I think just leaving the eggs wrapped in silk looks lovely:) I can’t figure out how to post picture :(.
Ooooh, I wish I could see a picture (posting pics in the comments is totally beyond me too). The tutorial mentions that they have to be 100% silk, so thrift store digging might be required. Thanks Diana!
I know I would like Opal’s eggs the best! I thought of trying the necktie ones, but Kenn only has 2 ties!
He probably has an extensive collection of silk boxer shorts though, right? 😉
So many new ideas to try. My kids grew up on Mama Matthews’ natural dye egg creations with pantyhose wraps. This year it’s back to PAAS until small hands can manage your beauties.