"Eggs" & Chia Pet Cupcakes!

I'm sure I've mentioned before, but I don't watch TV so when the hubs is gone I craft. I have a little problem with going overboard sometimes and doing too many crafts at once but tonight they all meshed very well together and I was able to do all that was on my list which hardly ever happens. Usually after an hour or two I am left sitting in a huge pile of ribbon, glue, fabric, and whatever else caught my eye on Pinterest or at Michael's wondering why on earth I decided I wanted to do this. But tonight all was well in craft land. I love making a mess and crafting in silence. After a long day of kids usually crying and/or screaming (especially this year) I enjoy the peace and quiet and sound of nothing!

The first thing I made were these cute little paper-mache eggs that I found on pinterest of course. They are a 2 day project, but so adorable. Tutorial is at the bottom of this post.

Love these "eggs", SO FUN! I am putting some in the Easter baskets I am making for my nieces which will also include these adorable "carrots" that I found on Pinterest as well.

 I didn't know the frosting bags said Wliton on them, oh well, they still turned out cute. Do you love the Cheddar Bunnies in there? How festive! Then, because I am a little (okay, maybe a lot sometimes) impulsive, I decided that I should also buy some frosting decorating tips because I already had the bags. So tonight I also made some cupcakes and attempted to decorate them.
Now before I show you the picture, know this:
1. I haven't baked cupcakes in probably at least 5 years.
2. I've never made my own frosting.
3. I've never used a frosting bag/decorating thing before (see I don't even know what they're called).
So I made some box cupcakes and bought some store bought frosting. The way I saw it was, store bought frosting is still frosting so it should work in those bag things...and it did!

LOL!! They are awesome! Let's just say, professional cupcake decorating is not in my future, but I had fun and they taste good so who cares. I love the ones that look like chia pets! With the swirly one's I was going for the "ice cream cone" look- it turned out to look more like a messed up snake or something, but like I said before, who cares, they taste good. :) So if you're ever in the mood for some ugly from the box cupcakes- let me know, I've got ya covered!



Now, the paper-mache egg tutorial I promised:



What You Need:
water balloons
liquid starch
tissue paper
paint brush
scissors
string/yarn/ribbon (whatever you choose)

1. Cut your tissue paper into about 3" squares- they don't need to be perfect.

2. Blow up a balloon to "egg size" and paint the outside of it with the liquid starch.

3. Then, cover your balloon with the tissue paper (leaving the tied knot end exposed) and paint over it with the liquid starch as you go so it sticks to the balloon. Overlap the tissue paper 2 or 3 times so your balloon is fully covered, this will help it dry stronger. To get the polka-dot eggs I used a circular paper punch and used both the punched out circles and cut the paper that I punched the circles out of into small squares and used those as well to make the polka-dot look.

4.  Hang to dry

Bobby Pins are not just for hair. :) I had to get creative with how to hang them. This was the fastest and easiest way I found. I just took a bobby pin and pushed it around the base of the knot then slid it onto a line of streamer that I hung from my clothes drying rack.- it worked. I dried the "eggs" over night.

5. Deflate the balloon. Cut a small hole in the top of the balloon by the knot. I pulled up on the knot a little to let some air out and then let it go and it would deflate itself and pull away from the tissue paper. It makes a crackling noise as it separates from the sides. Don't worry if the balloon falls into the inside of the egg.

6. Make a small cut down two sides from the small hole in the top. Remove the balloon if it fell inside and then fill with candy or a small toy or whatever you want. I filled mine with some chocolate eggs, candy coated sunflower seeds from Trader Joe's, Sweet Tart jelly beans, and an adorable little chick.










7. Take your ribbon/string or whatever you chose and tie a knot in a piece to make a loop. Put the tied end in the egg.

8. Take your tissue paper and cover the slits you cut and the top hole from the balloon knot and brush some liquid starch over the paper and leave it to dry, and you're DONE!

The string is on there so that you can pull it so help start the "cracking" of the egg. This will pull off a small layer of tissue paper so that your egg can be opened. You could even hang a little tag off of the string that said "pull" or a person's name or you can just leave it. I brought a few to work yesterday for the ladies at work to test out and see how well it worked and they loved them. The ribbon worked well to "crack the egg" and the treats were then easy to remove.

If you make these let me know how they turn out.

And if you really want, I can give you the tutorial for the chia pet cupcakes. :)