More Spring Crafts . . . and Happy Blog Birthday!

Today is my blog's first birthday! I can't believe I've been writing these weekly posts (and a few extras, here and there) for a year. It has been a real learning experience, and I can't wait to get started on another year of crafting and blogging.

When I first starting posting, I did very little promotion. I wanted to make sure I could come up with a project each week--and write about it--before I went "public." My strategy worked, sort of, but it also kept some of my early projects from being seen. So, to celebrate the blog's birthday, I'm re-sharing a few crafts that appeared on the blog last March and April. Just click on the link below each picture and it will take you to the original page and directions. Enjoy!

Sweet Easter Egg Ornaments

Stamped Spring Gift Tags

Garden Party Place Cards

Button-Covered Easter Egg

I've used buttons to decorate everything from ornaments to purses to pillows. So when I was trying to think of a crafty Easter egg project, I thought why not cover an egg in buttons? As you can see from the pictures here, I had quite a stash of red, aqua and purple buttons on hand. You can use any buttons you have, as long as they're flat and fairly small. If the buttons are too big, they won't fit on the curves of the egg. 

The directions for this project are pretty simple. I  just glued the buttons to the egg with craft glue.  I set the egg on a bottle caps to it them steady and glued on the buttons, working on one section of the egg at a time. Getting the buttons to fit together tightly is like putting together a puzzle, so it's good to have buttons in a variety of sizes. When the egg is dry, use it only for Easter decorating--not for Easter snacking.

A Makeover for Rechenka

Rechenka the rag doll was born some time in the 1990s. I made her for my older daughter after we watched the episode of Reading Rainbow that featured the picture book Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco. It tells the story of an old Russian woman named Babushka, who creates beautiful pysanky eggs. Rechenka is the name Babushka gives to the goose that comes into her life miraculously.

I think the reading of the book and the making of the doll coincided. When I made the doll's dress out of colorful fabric I had, it reminded us of Patricia Polacco's colorful illustrations. I guess that's how the doll came to be called Rechenka. Although she was much loved for many years, the doll eventually started showing her age--her fabric was dingy and her braids had detached from her head (not a good look). Now that she's about 20 years old, I figured Rechenka deserved a makeover.

Top left : Pre-makeover Rechenka. Top right : Post-makeover Rechenka. Not drastic, but a definite improvement.

I started by giving her a bath in the washing machine on the gentle cycle. The fabric didn't come out like new, but it definitely looks fresher. After Rechenka air-dried, I performed a bit of surgery on her head. It always bothered me that loose strands of embroidery floss were visible through the fabric on the face. (I guess I was a messy stitcher back then.) I opened the side seam, snipped and removed the stray threads, and stitched Rechenka's head together again. Luckily I was able to conceal the seam when I tacked the braids back in place. To finish the makeover, I trimmed the frayed ends of the doll's hair and tied fresh ribbons around her braids and waist. 

Now Rechenka is all ready for Easter! I'm sure my daughter, who's now 24, will be happy to see that I finally got around to repairing her doll.

Easter Bunny Eggs

Easter is still a few weeks away, but it's not too early to start decorating Easter eggs. The best thing about these bunny eggs is that they require no messy dye. They do require craft glue, though, so it's definitely not a kids-only project.

To make each bunny, glue on wiggle eyes, a pink felt nose (I made mine with a hole punch), small pompom cheeks, and white paper teeth. While the glue dries, make the ears. Lightweight paper actually works better than card stock, I found. For each rabbit, cut a pair of ears that match the color of the egg. The top of the ears should be pointy, but the bottom should have a straight edge that can be folded into a tab for gluing. Cut inner ear pieces from pink paper and glue them to the center of the large ears. 

When the glue is dry on the facial features, use a black fine-tip permanent marker to draw an upper lip. If you want to conceal the top of the teeth, punch two circles from paper and glue them above the lip lines. (I did this for brown rabbit.)

To attach the ears, fold the bottom of the ears back, apply a thick dab of glue to the tabs, and press them into place. I wrapped a rubber band around the eggs to hold the tabs in place while the glue dried.

I would use these eggs for decorations only, not for eating. But if your kids are anything like my daughters were when they were little, that shouldn't be a problem. They didn't like hard-boiled eggs, and they wouldn't eat anything that was "too cute."