EASTER EGGS

 This week, I got a head start on doing my Easter eggs for this year. And I had a blast doing it! I'm not sure why I stopped at a wimpy ten eggs. Why didn't I just go with a dozen? I dunno.

Shown below is my basket of paper Easter eggs. And the following photos  spotlight each of my ten eggs alone on their nest.

To make my ten eggs, I first sorted through all the scraps of Designer Series Papers that I had kept in my stash all these years. You may recognize some old favorites. I had decided to use an oval Framelit that measures 2 1/8" x 3", so any DSP I came across in spring-y colors and was at least that size, was set aside. No full sheets were sacrificed for this project -- just leftovers.

Once I had an impressive pile of candidates, I sorted through the papers one more time, putting each of the hues together in a single pile. If you scroll back through my individual eggs, you can notice that, except for the addition of white here and there, the eggs are all pretty much monochromatic. 

There was one exception, however. It is the fourth last egg in the series of photos. For this egg, the color palette shared one color between the two papers. 

In all the eggs, I used ten ovals, each of them different from their compatriots. In the aforementioned egg, I used five each of two DSP designs. It was just an experiment. I think I like the look of the monochromatic eggs a bit better. What's your thought?

A TUTORIAL??

To make these eggs is simple. Once you sort through all your possible DSPs and stack them in similarly colored piles, your next step is to die cut each of the ovals. Whew. I should have built up wonderful muscles in my right arm after doing all this Big Shotting. Nope. Still as flabby as ever.

Next step is to choose the ten different papers you will use in a single egg. Lay them out in a line in front of you to come up with an order that appeals to you. Then, just starting with the first oval in the line, fold it in half, using a bone folder to make a nice crease. Do this to each of the ten ovals, stacking them in the same order you'd decided upon. 

Starting with the oval on the top of the stack, with the oval folded in half, add some Tombow Multipurpose Glue (Green Glue to me!) to one half. Take the next oval on the pile and match up the fold lines and the edges. It is important to be as precise as possible when putting these together. Otherwise, you get unsightly edges, which can, of course, always be carefully trimmed with Paper Snips. 

Once you have the first two ovals together, continue on in the same way through the rest of the stack. Take time with each addition, however, by tapping the folded edge on a hard surface and making sure that the two ends line up and you don't have any mismatched edges. Once you get in the flow, it goes fairly quickly. 

After all the ten ovals are glued together, it's time to glue the two remaining single sides, one from the first oval and one from the last one. Be so careful when lining up these last two edges. They don't always want to cooperate nicely. But, show 'em who's boss by holding it in place a few beats. Don't give 'em a chance to be unruly!

Gently pull the various edges apart. Voila! Your first egg is ready!

I'm not really sure what this egg-making technique is called. But, in fall I'd made little pumpkins in this same manner. So, I thought: WHY NOT EASTER EGGS? And it worked!

If you give these little treasures a try, have a lot of fun. It's a great way to use up many of the scraps of DSP you've had lying around forever. I felt so good about that!

Egg-y

Smiles.