easter

The pink basket

Possibly my favorite thing I've made to date. bright pink laminated linen on the outside. Green wool felt lining the inside. Faux wood buttons keeping it in shape. PDF pattern at www.lovelihood.com, if you're interested. www.lovelihood.com

Burlap basket

Burlap, of course, and wool felt on the inside. This one's held in place with a couple of skirt/kilt pins. www.lovelihood.com

Pink 'n green

Every good Easter basket deserves a good day in the sun. That doesn't happen every day around these parts. www.lovelihood.com

Baskets in the grass

This year's Easter baskets. Happy enough for use year-round. And easy enough to make that I think I'll be making many more of these. PDF pattern at www.lovelihood.com, if you're interested. www.lovelihood.com

Basket glamor shot

'Cause I had to take advantage of the sun that day. PDF pattern at www.lovelihood.com, if you're interested. www.lovelihood.com

Basket, flat

The pattern is basically one flat piece of fabric (two in this case, since I wanted to line it) folded up and fixed with buttons or pins. www.lovelihood.com

Successes and a near-miss

eggs1.jpg

I mentioned before that last year's egg decorating was a disaster of fantastical proportions. And by that, I mean it was very, very, VERY messy. Glue everywhere, dripping off the wooden eggs so profusely that the little bits and bobbles designated to adorn the them verily flowed right off. We were left with moist, immodestly-dressed ovate masses, glitter and beads flaking off every time The Boy breathed upon them to examine their unending states of wetness. 

All I wanted this year was a better rate of return. I designed this year's activities to be messy enough to engage a near-four-year-old, but not so unconfined as to make me want to cry. In that regard, the decorating, spread over the half-week that The Boy abstains from school, was a grand success. And really, it was a success all around. After all, it resulted in my new favorite object around the house. 

eggs2.jpg

There's something so ridiculous about this egg, it's really difficult not to love. We blanketed an egg with adhesive dots, packed on the fuzzies, and Boy and I were just giddy with pride. So proud that we nearly tripped each other up, eager to show our day's work to Mr. New Media when he arrived home from work that evening. Now, that's a good egg. 

The painted eggs were actually the first ones done that morning, basically a warm-up exercise and homage to your traditional PAAS-dyed egg. Nothing too exciting there, but I don't look at them, heart-broken at another crafty fail, either.

eggs3.jpg

Easter day, kids fresh from their afternoon nap, we set to work on the two remaining eggs. We harvested up a little pailful of grass and flowers and friendly-looking weeds for the project. And after a liberal application of Mod Podge we hand-applied the bits of flora and fauna (there were some little bugs swept up with our loot that didn't survive the gluing process). And there it is, another egg success. We might have tried for a little more coverage, but I think it works. I don't know of anything more spring-like than a wooden egg shellacked with grass. 

eggs4.jpg

Ah yes, the near-miss. The last egg, slapdashed in the moments right after Mr. New Media announced dinner's readiness, is a bit of an Easter disaster, something that might make dear Martha cringe. But this picture gives me the giggles every time I pull it up. And so, of course, I'm constantly pulling it up. So, really, on that basis alone, I'm going to tally this one in the Wildly Successful column. 

 

Tags: easter, easter eggs, glue, mess