Easy Easter pretties and activities

EASTER!!

the tradition of egg coloring, www.dailymail.co.uk

While we may not all do 'production' Easter activities, most of us like to do a little bit of something special.

Here are a few ideas!

Joan Walsh Anglund Easter paper doll

Here she is with no background. Have your kids color their own scene to have her play in front of.

For an afternoon craft, give them sequins, stickers, buttons, little silk flowers, glitter glue, fancy sparkle gel pens, ribbons, etc. to decorate her hats! Be sure they have extra plain paper to create their own hats for Polly.

pattern removed at the request of bergkaarten

Iris folding pattern by www.bergkaarten.nl

Please note - personal use only. That means you can make the design and send it to friends and family, but you may not make the design and sell the card!

Here are a couple more iris folding patterns for you -

these are all from various paper crafters, found on the irisfoldinggroup, yahoo.

Wouldn't these baskets and flower pot look pretty with handmade yoyo flowers glued in them, as flowers?

Or even punched paper flowers, with a little seed bead glued as the center?

vintage Strawberry Shortcake paper doll card for a grandchild

www.sheknows.com

I thought this was a great centerpiece idea for a holiday table, where you don't want to be craning necks to look over a tall floral arrangement!
It is a simple white ceramic relish dish. I bet you could find these at World Market, Pier 1, etc.

Nope, I don't know how she made her eggs. I suggest you check out her site and see if she has directions, or check out my previous blogs about decorating Easter eggs.

coloring pages courtesy Dover Books

Be a good 'neighbor' and bring along a few sheets of appropriate coloring pages and some crayons in a snack baggie when you go to church. Many churches do not have 'children's church' during special holidays, such as Easter. 

No matter how much of an 'angel' your young child (or someone else's child) is, they will get restless. That's the time to bring out the pages and crayons!

Pet peeve:

Don't hand out crayons and activities at the beginning of church. I firmly believe that all ages of children can participate in singing and prayer. Encourage them to listen to prayer requests so that they may learn how to pray for others.

It's when they need to be quiet, such as during a sermon or special music or offertory that having a quiet activity is the right thing to do! 

:0)

Setting a pretty holiday table?
Here are some ideas that  you can actually do, and not devote 8 days of prep!



VeraKratochvil, www.publicdomainpictures.net

I'm not sure what kind of flower is on this egg. It may be a candy egg using a chocolate mold. 
What I like is:
Put some sheet moss or fake green grass or green shreds - whatever you have, in a flower pot, or on a plate. A serving platter would be perfect. Nestle open silk flowers such as daisies or wide, open roses into the 'grass'. 
Take your hard boiled eggs - just plain white looks terrific - and hot glue on another silk flower. Have some extra punched paper flowers? They would look really pretty too. You don't need more than one flower per egg.
Place in larger silk flower. I would try to just nestle them in and skip the glue.
Simple.
Quick.
Easy.

Here's another:

www.herbsociety-stu.org

First, the simple part:

Take your dyed Easter eggs and put them on a deviled egg plate.

Done!

Fancy it up? 

Put a ceramic figurine in the center, as shown in the photo.

Don't have one? Have your kids make a paper bunny, or use pom poms, or chenille pipes - whatever you have. Keep it simple.

Have a bit more time?

Tuck in between the eggs little silk flowers to fill in the 'gaps'. If you live in an area where spring flowers are starting to peek, by all means send the kids out to pick violets or johnny-jump-ups, etc. right before the meal, when they are restless to EAT anyway!

Add some fresh blades of grass, or some tiny greenery. Fresh or fake, either will look terrific!

Super fast idea?

Skip the dyed eggs and just put in a mix of white and brown eggs, then do the flower/grass thing.

Another quick and easy, yet very pretty table decoration idea:

Here I have a pot of tulips that came from the grocery store in this pretty green paper, placed on a vintage doily that my grandmother made. Around it I placed some of my vintage tea cups that I collect. The bookmark is an all time favorite of a lion and a lamb. 

a Jan Brett coloring page, www.janbrett.com

Here is an idea from Martha Stewart. If you have never checked out her web site, you are missing out. The woman is bonzai crazy creative!

A simple arrangement of egg cups and seasonal fresh flowers. Place some marbles or buttons in the bottoms of the cups to hold flowers in place and help prevent 'tipping over'.

Well, that's it for today. I always have more ideas than I have time to share!
See you soon!

inkspired

www.inkspired.etsy.com

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

and on pinterest - 

kkloberdans

"Going to Church Hat"

original Collage Art Doll by inkspired

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com