Personalized Book Giveaway and DIY Kite Easter Eggs

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We are flying high with today’s post. Literally, we are as high as a kite in the sky! We love our newest DIY Kite Easter Eggs, and they were inspired by an I See Me! book, My Little Book of Blessings. We have always loved I See Me! products, and they remain one of our favorite newborn gifts. Recently we opened up the blessings book and found the graphics to be magical, and the words to be meaningful. A book that teaches children the golden rule, the importance of friendship and how to lend a helping hand is a book we want on our bookshelves. Plus, every page is customized with a child’s name, and a special note and photo on the front and back pages.

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The page about friendship has kite illustrations, and thus our DIY easter eggs were born. Please keep reading for a tutorial on the eggs, as well as a giveaway for a I See Me! book of your choice, just in time for Easter. The books are amazing, and the gift of reading is priceless.

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Materials:

Directions:

Draw the kite designs with a pencil. If you mess up, you can erase it. We used free-hand to draw our designs.

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Outline the egg with a thin black Sharpie marker. Once the design is outlined, erase any pencil marks that remain on the egg.

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Begin to color inside the lines with Sharpie colorful markers. Continue until all kites are brightly colored.

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To begin to make the kite tails, cut strands of embroidery string and cut mini bows from the card stock. You can find a template for mini bows online.

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Add glue to one side of the bow, and quickly place the string in the middle, and then cover with another bow.

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Once all the bows are in place, dab a tiny amount of glue to the bottom of the kite, and press the end of the string down on the glue.

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You’re done!

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Now, it’s giveaway time. Entry info below. Please make sure to leave your Instagram account name, because we will check the winner’s account. Good luck! The giveaway ends March 10, 2016.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We received a product from I See Me! in conjunction with this post, but we would love I See Me! even if we didn’t. Thanks for supporting the companies that support our blog.

DIY Beach Ball Easter Eggs

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It’s spring break week, so we’re dreaming of spring and the beach…and the sand between our toes. Since snow is still in our forecast, we settled for DIY beach ball Easter eggs. Next year, our goal is to play with the real thing.

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You’ll Need:

  • Eggs {real white eggs or plastic fake eggs from Hobby Lobby or Amazon}
  • Red, yellow and blue acrylic paint
  • Paintbrush
  • Pencil

How To:

  • If you’re using real eggs, boil them and let cool.
  • Use a pencil to draw semi-curved lines that resemble a beach ball.
  • Paint the ‘lines’ red, yellow and blue.

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{photos via j. sorelle}

DIY Dr. Seuss Easter Eggs

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One Egg
Two Eggs
Red Egg
Striped Egg

We know it’s not even St. Patrick’s Day yet, so we are trying to not get too ahead of ourselves, but we just can’t contain our excitement with these Dr. Seuss eggs. Plus, it’s totally fitting to end the week of Dr. Seuss’ birthday with DIY Dr. Seuss easter eggs, right?

We chose some of our favorite Dr. Seuss books as inspiration, including Green Eggs and Ham, Oh, the Places You’ll Go and The Cat in the Hat. 

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You’ll Need

  • Eggs {you can use real, hard-boiled eggs, or if you want them to last forever, buy paper mache eggs}
  • Blue yarn
  • Red and green Acrylic Craft paint
  • Black thin Sharpie and red Sharpie marker

The Cat in the Hat Easter Eggs:

  • Paint red stripes on the ‘hat’ Easter egg.
  • For the Thing 1 and Thing 2 Easter eggs, we used a round circle sticker and traced it with a black thin Sharpie marker.
  • Remove the sticker, then write Egg 1 and Egg 2 inside the round circle in each egg.
  • Paint around the circle with red paint.
  • Create blue DIY pom poms and use a hot glue gun to glue it to the top of the eggs.

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Green Eggs and Ham Easter Eggs:

  • Place and then trace a round sticker on the egg with a pencil.
  • Paint the inside of the circle green.
  • Use a black Sharpie to draw a fried egg outline around the green circle.

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Oh, the Places You’ll Go Easter Eggs:

  • Use a red Sharpie to write the words Oh, the Places You’ll Go on the egg.
  • Trace the red letters with a thin black Sharpie.

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Have fun rhyming, reading, painting and creating. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss.

{images via j. sorelle}

DIY Sunflower Bouquet for Easter Centerpiece

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Martha Stewart’s team sent out an newsletter e-mail with information about an Egg Decorating competition, and although they probably had thousands upon thousands of applicants, part of me thought, ‘why not just attempt a semi-creative egg and see how it turns out, and maybe I can enter?’ Well, it turned out to be a fun project for the kids and I on a cold day, and I like the way it turned out.

I know sunflowers do not typically go hand-in-hand with Easter, but the texture with the ground espresso {oh, and the amazing smell} and the bright yellow color lured me in. Maybe you can follow some of the same steps below and use eggs to create Tulips for your Easter table? If you do, pretty please send me photos.

You’ll Need:
sunflowers
hard, white eggs {they are not plastic, but more plaster and do not open}
hot glue gun
a screwdriver {to screw or drill a hole into the bottom of the egg}
green acrylic paint
scissors
ground coffee or espresso beans {they add the sunflower texture}

How To:

egg sunflower 6steps_

1. Find a sunflower you can part with, and remove it from the stem {I was able to just pull mine off}, and remove all the greenery under the leaves.
2. Cut a circle in the center of the flower – I guessed at the size, and when it was too small, I cut it to make it larger.
3. Slide the flower over the egg and put a little tu-tu {otherwise known as sunflower leaves tu-tu} on it. If it fits snugly, fantastic, and if not, add some hot glue to keep it in place.
3.5. {not pictured} Use a screwdriver or nail and hammer to put a small hole in the bottom side of one egg. I did this, with not much muscle strength.
4. Pull all the leaves back and hold them with your hand. Add a generous, but not too heavy, amount of Modge-Podge.
5. Gently rub the Modge-Podge covered egg in espresso or ground coffee beans.
6. Insert a toothpick in the hole, and paint green acrylic paint on the bottom of the egg. Then place in cardboard or styrofoam to let it dry.

Once it’s dry, add the egg flower back to the stem {mine had little stems to keep them in place}.

You will have an egg-stra special centerpiece for your Easter party!!

diy egg sunflower centerpiece_jsorelle

DIY egg sunflower_jsorelle

diy egg sunflower_jsorelle

{images via j. sorelle}

15 tips for a egg-tacular easter

Here’s some tips and ideas to make your Easter celebration memorable, beautiful and fun.

1. How Does She has some great non-candy Easter egg fillers the kids are sure to love, without missing the candy too much.

2. Kick up your hard-boiled egg up a cute notch with these adorable chick eggs on HGTV.

3. Give the most adorable favors we’ve ever seen with these ‘grown up’ easter baskets featured at Elizabeth Anne Designs.

4. At the end of the Easter egg hunt, have an egg popsicle treat ready for the kids to devour after all their hard hunting. Full tutorial found at Kailo Chic.

5. These would make adorable and healthy place cards for the kids, or a cute snack to bring to the kid’s school this week. Pottery Barn Kids has a full recipe and tutorial here.

6. Wants and Wishes created a fresh carrot centerpiece, and we couldn’t think of a better holiday for this look 

7. Don’t forget to decorate the outside of your house when your PEEPS arrive for the Easter celebration. Fill an up cycled window box with your favorite flowers. For a tutorial on how to create a beautiful window box, visit Hostess with the Mostess here.

8. Go one step further with your outdoor decor with a GORGEOUS wreath like this made at Laughing with Angels.

9. Find spring floral and brightly colored fabric and cut into triangles to make a spring bunting banner to add inside the house, or outside in the yard.

10. Everyone is talking about the color mint for this spring. So light, airy and refreshing. Add Essie’s Mint Candy Apple {available at Nordstrom} to the tips of your fingers for this Sunday’s celebration. If you really want to be trendy, make it a diagonal stripe with the other half of your nail being a nude color.

11. Make a refreshing spring cocktail your guests will love like this Ginger Goddess, made with SKYY Infusions Ginger Vodka, Kiwi Juice, Pear and Champagne

12. Set your table pretty in pink with a large vase of pink tulips in the center on top of a white table linen and crisp white, modern plates.

13. Think outside the egg when decorating this year’s batch and create Subway Art eggs like Lil Luna did. So creative! Full tutorial here.

14. Add a vintage touch to your table setting – we love all things vintage, so whether is an old birdcage, burlap bags, old wood boxes, antique vases, etc. –  make it happen. Our Vintage Home set a beautiful, simple table with a vintage vibe. Burlap bags found here.

15. I’m a DIY addict, so at least one thing on Sunday has to be DIY. I made Easter eggs with flower petals – and it was SO easy and I think they turned out pretty cute.

You Need:
Hydrangea {or flower with many petals}
Styrofoam easter egg {I found some at Hobby Lobby}
Push pins with a color ball at the end {in my case, I like yellow}

How To:
Pull petals off the flower and the hard small piece of plastic binding it together
Grab a pin, find a spot on the egg and push the pin in.
Continue until the egg is fully covered.


{images via HGTV, Elizabeth Anne Designs, Kailo Chic, Pottery Barn Kids, Wants and WishesBar None DrinksEpicurious, NordstromHostess with the Mostess, Laughing with Angels, spring banner: One Wed, Lil Luna, Our Vintage Home, Tutto Bella}