diy: easter chick garland

I've had two packs of chenille easter chicks hanging around the tiny casa for three years now just waiting, waiting, waiting to be strung up for a march or april bed. Enter one very bad day in a bad brain kind of way and a million things to do and you get a very cranky jek craft, craft, crafting away at this. I made the entire garland in less than ten minutes and then realized I never took pictures of the april bed so I strung it up in zee bedroom instead of the living room and got all shutter happy.

This is super duper easy. Make sure your chickies have felt wings, otherwise you'll be threading your yarn or string into them and they will be flying away. The chenille used for the chicks is so fine and fluffy that there is not much to anchor it all together.

 

I looped off my yarn at both end, hung it up, then arranged the chicks. It's all seriously happy, is it not? I was worried the blue chicks would be a bit faded against the aqua wall but the wall is just green enough and the chicks are just blue enough it all works. Tomorrow is Easter so maybe on Monday you can score yourself a couple boxes of chickies on super sale. Enjoy!

diy: stones to eggs

 Flat stones have long been a canvas for crafty hands. Why not paint some up for Easter or spring and instead of covering the entire stone, paint an egg ON it.

 

Use white acrylic paint to paint your egg shape upon washed stones. Once dry, add details to Easter them up using paint pens. 

 

 

Place in a small basket with homemade grass (mine is a small rectangle of painted newspaper, folded in half length-wise then cut into without cutting all the way through) and enjoy or hide the stones for a wee twist on an egg hunt! Crafty and fun!

embroidery hoop eggs four ways

*classic embroidered

*beginning embroidered

*pom pom happy

*wrapped

embroidery hoop eggs: wrap it up

All you need for this egg is yarn...and maybe a thumbtack or two...or glue... 

Tie your strands of yarn to the inner hoop and anchor with the outer. Wrap away, securing via a nifty knot or hold in place while you wrap another yarn strand around and around. I used a combo of knots and a thumbtack then some glue to keep everything taut and in place.

How fun would it be to hunt for these instead of plastic or hard-boiled eggs?

embroidery hoop eggs four ways: pom pretty

Here's another one for the kiddos. Make sure to use a super tacky glue or a fabric glue. The poms take a LONG time to dry, but lookie how fun and quirky the egg looks! I wish I had painted the hoop for this one.

embroidery hoop eggs four ways: beginning embroidery

I whipped up this egg with yarn but I intend for it to tackled by a kiddo. I remember sewing with my old nanny charges and how they would loop their thread over the edges instead of going back down through the fabric. They eventually caught on but the loops and criss-crosses add an authenticity to the process that is so lovely and child-like. Check out the 'do for further instructions.

embroidery hoop eggs four ways: embroidered

 I picked up a small bag of embroidery hoops at my local thrift store some time ago and thought I would turn the oval shaped hoops into eggs of sorts...mister went off camping last weekend while I nursed my allergies and enjoyed a pajama day and got to egging it up with burlap and hoops. Here's a traditional(ish) egg...simple embroidery with fancy french knots...

spring diy: hanging egg mobile

I spotted these ombre-esque egg packs at Target a few weeks ago and snatched 'em up to create some sort of hanging dealio. With only twelve eggs I like how it turned out...not sure if I like it better with washi tape or without. Two packs of eggs would probably create a super nifty chandelier. I may do that if I get back over to Target and if they have any left. 

I used a large-eyed darning needled threaded with embroidery floss to string the eggs together using the convenient holes already in place. At the bottom of each egg, I looped my thread back through the bottom holes to create a knot of sorts. The egg can still be manipulated along the floss but it isn't loosey-goosey enough to slip every-which-way. I wanted more than three strands and so I mixed 'em up as best as I could. One of the strands only has two eggs on it but I spaced them out enough so that I think it works. More eggs would probably look niftier. I should have picked up two packs. Drats!

For the base, I used an itty-bitty embroidery hoop. Each strand was knotted to the base with mostly equal spacing in between. I write mostly equal as I didn't actually measure anything, I eyeballed it and knotted away. To cover up the knots, I added a bit of washy tape to the hoop but not until I tied on two longer lengths of floss to use for hanging. So that the mobile hangs fairly straight, I played with the distances of the tied bits and then knotted the two hanging lengths together about three inches down from the top. The knot secured the balance (sort of) and the loop at the top is perfect for hanging.

Hang in a happy place and enjoy...or add some washi tape and then hang. 

My eggs are now clattering away outside on the front porch. They add just enough happy spring color to make me smile when I wander out to get the mail. Happy spring crafting!