I don’t know why it is every year Easter just sneaks up on me.  Maybe it’s because every year it comes at a different time or because recently I’ve had my head going in a million different directions, but anyways, again, sneak attack and then, bam!  Here it is – tomorrow.  And to boot, Ryder got really sick this week and has been out of commission for a couple days.  But when his fever finally broke and we were chillin’ together one day we went Easter craft crazy!  We needed decorations so I had 2 main projects that I’ve been wanting to do (and these would be keepers for next year too – which will make me feel ahead of the game next year!).

So anyways, I’ve been wanting to do blown eggs (either to hang from branches or just to put in a pretty dish- so I got pokin’ and blowin’.  It wasn’t too bad- I wasn’t getting worked up over the hole size- so on a couple tough ones I just made a bigger hole.  After we cleaned them and let them dry it was time to decorate.  This is, obviously, Ryder’s favorite part- he LOVES to mix colors and then we had glitter to add – which is also on the top of his favorites list.  He will try to sprinkle glitter on pretty much anything I will let him.  We were very happy with the results and now we have them all ready for next year.   I thought they looked so nice on this dish I made (I took inspiration from my BFF’s mom- she takes antique china and affixes the dish to an antique crystal candle holder to make these beautiful serving pieces)  Mine isn’t quite top of the line like she does- but I loved the base and I thought the pattern on the dish was sweet. 

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Our next project was our Easter Tree.  I was thinking about hanging the blown eggs from the tree branch but I decided to do cut outs of bunnies, chicks, birds and eggs.  I used a piece of poster board (to give it a bit more stability but not too heavy to hang from a branch).  I did the silhouettes free hand but if you don’t feel comfortable doing that you can trace – you can find images in your kids books or magazines or the internet.  I’m not into the images being perfect so I go freehand.  Once I cut out all the silhouettes, it was time for the paint.  Again, when you are having a 4 1/2 year old help you can’t get hung up on perfection – and I personally think Ryder’s turned out better than mine. 

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The multi colored bunny in the front was painted by Ryder and is my favorite.  And you can see we added glitter, of course, everything is better when it sparkles! 

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We found some branches outside and put in a vase and hung with fishing line.  I think we’ll leave this up past Easter.  It’s really a representation of Spring, fertility and new life. 

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And of course we dyed hard boiled eggs- we are going to finish those in the morning (while Doug hides some eggs outside for our hunt). 

We’ve been busy little crafters around here this past week- and it’s been lots of fun. These are traditions I hope we will carry on each year and add to as the kids grow. 

Happy Easter!