With bright marbleized eggs suspended on yellow ribbons and a ring of golden pot marigolds around the base, it sets the stage for a lively egg hunt or leisurely spring brunch.
This Easter, take hard-boiled eggs to new heights by embellishing them with lacy patterns. All you need to make them is standard egg dye, rubber bands, and inexpensive lace trimmings from a fabric store. (You can also use scraps cut from a worn tablecloth or curtains.) Once the eggs are dyed and dry, pile them in a large bowl and use them as a centerpiece.
Bright colors and geometric designs make modern-looking eggs. Here, we've displayed a trio of square-patterned eggs in a graceful vintage wirework holder.
To create the pattern, pieces of electrical tape are shifted slightly between two dips in dye. For chicken eggs, we used 1/2-inch squares; for goose eggs, slightly larger squares as well as rectangles. When layering hues, start with the paler one and move on to the darker one.
These "cracked" eggshells get their jagged edges from electrical tape: Use a craft knife to cut a random zigzag pattern into a strip of tape, and position it around an egg that has been dyed a pale color. Dip the egg partially into the same dye bath again, up to the tape, holding it in until the desired darker shade is reached.
A chirping chick is made by dabbing food coloring into vinyl stencils.
An oversize egg doubles as an Easter basket, with smaller versions inside -- one cracked and bearing a pom-pom chick.
The shell is made with three layers of paper strips: Pink paper is revealed when the egg is cut open; two layers of plain newsprint are on top.
What was good for Christmas is even sweeter for Easter.
Fill glass food jars with bulk candy arranged in colorful layers. Or create an Easter basket effect by nestling a white-chocolate bunny or lamb in green paper "grass." Finish with ribbon and a tag, or attach a note to the lid using double-sided tape.
