Easter craft idea

[sylrayj.livejournal.com]

Some of this idea was inspired by the kids' show, Art Attack (http://www.artattack.co.uk/) but some of it's all mine. :)

I blew the insides out of eggs (it's harder than it sounds, but it's doable), washed them, and let them dry. I let my pre-kindergarten age son paint his with acrylic paints, first yellow, then orange, red and black in turn as the previous paint dried. I did something different.

I ripped up little pieces of coloured tissue paper, about the size of a dime, in yellow, pale pink, and pale blue. I mixed some white school glue with water, and brushed some on the egg, then put a piece of tissue on the egg, and covered it with the glue/water mix. Beside it I placed another piece, etc. I had to let the first halves dry before I could turn my eggs over and continue. They weren't bad like that, blotched in pastel colours, but I went one step farther.

I got coloured markers and decorated where two colours of tissue met, using a crazy quilt theme. Basically, I drew 'embroidery stitches' ranging from french knots to running stitch to blanket stitch and crosses/herringbone stitch, in bright colours. The tissue is more defined, and the overall effect is very country.

About the glue/water mix - straight glue would be too thick to work with readily. Diluting it meant it was very spreadable, like watercolours or thin acrylic paint. It made a huge difference.