Yarn eggs got me all tied up

So I have experienced my very own Pinterest failed it moment. What is this, you ask? Well, according to me, a failed it moment comes when you attempt to do something you saw on Pinterest, and fail miserably. 

     Here is mine - I saw this great idea for an Easter decoration on Pinterest (you can get to the site by clicking on the caption). 

http://churchfun.com/2009/03/29/free-yarn-easter-egg-project/

     It looked pretty easy to make, very inexpensive, and cute. I even considered trying to do this in my Sunday School class - I teach the 3-5yr olds. I mean, it's a balloon with some glue and yarn. How hard could it be? It sure seems simple enough to pull off...

     Boy was I wrong. My first attempt was laughable in how it turned out. Instead of a cute egg, mine turned out to look more like a bird's nest; and not a very decorative one at that. Thinking back, I believe I used too little glue and too much water. Hmm...

     Surprising enough after that horrible failed it moment, I decided to try the experiment again, with a few minor adjustments.

     This time I started with more yarn, and a lighter color since this is supposed to be an Easter decoration and the first time my colors looked more like Christmastime. And instead of using white craft glue (since I believe you need a good portion of a bottle for one of these), I decided to make my own paper mache paste.

     For those of you who haven't done paper mache before, it's super easy. Mix water and flour with a whisk until it's a gloppy consistency. That's it. Awesomely simple, isn't it? So I used the paper mache paste this time, and I made sure to completely drench each strand of yarn before putting it on the balloon. And when I used up all 24 strands of yarn, here's what it looked like...

 Pretty neat, huh? I was excited already, because it seemed to be drying and firming up much better even at this stage. And yes, this is my very own invention - the Courtney balloon-egg-drying system. I have since improved this to be a piece of yarn threaded through a clothespin and hung on a cabinet knob, but whatever works. 

     And there it hung for the rest of the day. You don't need 24 hours of drying time, but at least 5 or 6 is probably necessary to make sure that it's not wet still. Then I stuck my finger into some of the larger openings to separate the balloon from the dried shell (so it doesn't try to pull the yard inward when you pop the balloon). And finally, POP! I popped the balloon and fished it out.

     Voila! Here is how this one turned out. Pretty good, in my own personal opinion. Since I used white and light pink yarn the colors are very muted; I'm curious what color the blue or red yard would be with this technique. But it is stiff and strong and ready to go on my mantle. If I'm feeling more adventurous later on and get tired of this color I could always spray paint it gold or purple or whatever other color I wanted. And if you don't have a perfectly round balloon, then they would turn out egg-shaped, which is pretty perfect considering the holiday. 

So I actually do consider this one a success... after that first attempt anyway.

The missing blue egg

Saturday night after dinner, our little family of 3 (soon to be 4) sat down at the table to dye some Easter eggs. I'm not sure if this was a tradition that you had as a child, but every single year my family colored at least a dozen eggs; usually each kid got their own dozen. Good thing we all like hard boiled eggs.

So Derek and I have continued this tradition with Addison. Derek had prepped the table, laying down butcher paper and colorful bowls for each of the colored dyes; Addison has a collection of colorful plastic bowls, so each color had its corresponding color bowl. When Addison decided to join the operation, Derek was just beginning to pour water on the dye tablets... that's when the fun started.

The very blue tongue

As I don't remember dying eggs when I was 2, I can't tell you what it looks like from Addison's perspective. I have learned though, that the dye tablets look a little bit like sweet-tart candies. You might wonder how I learned this... well, the hard way of course. In the 2 seconds that Derek and I were looking at the table and not watching Addison with eagle eyes, she apparently snatched up one of the dye tablets that hadn't been covered in water and vinegar yet, and popped it into her mouth. I can only assume she thought it was a candy (she had been to an Easter egg hunt earlier in the day so is well aware of what candy looks like).

Well, we didn't realize she had done it until she said,
"eww! yuck!" and started to spit it back out. We looked up to see her drooling royal blue from her mouth down her chin onto her shirt and the table. Panic set in - Derek scooped her up and held her over the sink so as to contain the spreading blue mess and hopefully reduce the amount she ingested; I ran to the egg dye package to confirm that the dyes are nothing but concentrated food coloring and not poisonous at all. Thankfully they are harmless and the only warning on the package is to watch out for choking if ingested.

Addison coloring a green egg

In our haste to wash her off, we did not stop to grab the camera, so the only pictures we have of the truly deep dark blue pouring out of her mouth are mental pictures. The others came after the panic and don't go very far to show quite how vivid the colors were; you'll have to use your imagination. But even after numerous rinses with water and some scrubbing of her chin and neck, she continued to have a very blue mouth and a rather blue-ish tinge to her face for the rest of the night. Thankfully that was the extent to the concern, and we did get back to dying eggs pretty quickly, which Addison really enjoyed (once she figured out it wasn't for eating).

Needless to say, we don't have any blue Easter eggs this year.

Happy Easter!