Last spring, my sweet Jane was in a "craft-idea-library-book" phase. My favorite was the paper mache book. We decided to keep it simple and create Easter eggs.
We used balloons, newspaper and homemade paste (water and flour). The kids loved getting their fingers so messy and it was fun to teach them how to make sure the balloon was completely covered and the newspaper was as smooth as possible. It took longer to dry than I expected (humidity? I blame everything on humidity!), and we did a few coats to make them nice and strong.Next we painted them, then the kids designed them. Here is my biggest tip. Set them up for success. I didn't let them go completely wild. I helped draw little rainbows all over the eggs, stenciled in lines for stripes, sketched in flowers and circles.... then we glued them to ribbons and strung them across the front window. They were thrilled with their finished project!
Go for it! Have fun! My kids were so excited when we pulled these out to decorate this year. Ownership is such a good thing.
9 comments:
Cool!!! I am a sucker for any kind of crafts...i want to try it, how did you tie the tibbon on and do you have to cut the newspaper in strips? I am a slow learner!!!
I didn't give very good directions. Sorry.
My newspaper strips were about 1.5 inches wide, we did a layer, let it dry, did another, let it dry, then a final layer. My paste was a runny mixture of water and flour, honestly, I don't know how much, it got gloppy quickly though.
Make sure they are nice and dry before you do any painting, the painting softened them up a bit till they dried, it scared me. :) Have fun!
So cute. I remember when you did this. I loved it. I think we'll do this too!
Totally awesome.... what do you mean you mean you don't give good directions. I found my way to Kalamazoo just fine after reading this post... LOL
DI
The Blue Ridge Gal
I love these pictures! Look how sweet your girls are. And the eggs look beautiful.
This is a craft that would turn out entirely differently at my house. I think we'd have eggs with trains and maybe even guns (cringe) on them.
Wonderful Idea! I think my bid kids would do very well at this. And it would be a great activity for conference weekend.
So pretty! I want to make some too! :)
Great idea!
If you have shellac spray lying around you might want to spray them between the paper mache drying and the painting. Otherwise if the balloon deflates the egg can deform when the paint is applied (paper mache softens). Shellac is waterproof, it will prevent that from happening.
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