Christmas Egg Ornament tutorial

Ever since I was little I remember my mother painting Christmas eggs.  She painted them and gave them as gifts for people who meant a lot to her.  I always loved coming home from school and seeing what she had been working on.  Each egg was different, and each year it was fun to see what she would come up with.

This year I wanted to start this tradition myself.  I've written out a few of the steps I took so that you can attempt the project yourself if you feel so inclined (wink wink).

A few of the supplies you will need:

An egg

A needle

A few beads (imagine two beads in the following picture)

One or two of the little golden flowery topper thingies (you can find them in the jewelry section at a craft store)

Paint

Thread

And a toothpick might be of help to hold the egg while you are painting it (poke it through the bottom and hold it like a popsicle)

First, find a nice large egg.  Mine is a plain white chicken egg.  Wash the egg off with soap and water.  

This is very important.  Dirty eggs are gross.

Next you will be taking a needle and very carefully poking a hole in the center of the top of the egg, and the center of the bottom.  Work the needle around a bit as you break through the shell.  You might be surprised by how strong the egg is.

Make sure the holes aren't too small, because you will be blowing into the top hole and you need the insides of the egg to be able to blow out of the bottom.

But don't make the holes too big either, you will want to be able to cover them up pretty when you are finished.

The next part is probably the hardest.

Blow all of the insides out!

I tried to keep my holes quite small and therefore I had to use a lot of cheek muscles to force my air into that egg.  It might be helpful to poke the needle (or a toothpick) up in through the bottom hole every once in a while and stir it around, this breaks up the yolk.

Just make sure you are holding it over a bowl so you can catch the yolk and egg white.  Better yet, stand right over the frying pan!

Once your egg is blown out, you can take a rest while the inside dries out.

Next you get to decorate your egg.

I penciled in a light picture (pencil can erase off of an egg, just be very gentle, and try it out on a small area before you go and smudge too much), then painted over the top.  I used regular old acrylic craft paint.

The paint I used dried very fast.  So fast.  With every layer I made the paint built up and built up.  I went ahead and used this to my advantage by creating a very textured look (notice the wings).  But you don't have to do it that way.

Once you are finished painting your beautimous egg, you can go over it with a coat of either clear fingernail polish, or some varnish.  This not only makes your egg pretty and shiny, but it adds an extra later of strength.  Make sure to test it out on a small portion to make sure that your top coating won't make the colors run.

Next you will be covering up the holes and adding the string.  I used thread.  Loop the thread and string it in through the bead, then the nice gold topper.  Knot the thread at the end.

Tuck the knot into the hole on the top of the egg.  Super glue the little gold thingy over the hole (I used a hot glue gun), making sure to center it evenly on the top of the egg.  Then glue the bead onto the little gold topper.

Glue a nice big bead onto the bottom of your egg, covering the hole.

And there.  You are finished.

Enjoying a Meaningful Christmas this year?

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