Egg Ornaments

Well, this is only going to seem like a partial project, and it sort of is.  I’m on the lookout for the perfect branch to create our Egg Tree, but I haven’t found it yet.  Which isn’t a big deal – I won’t really start decorating for Easter until the weekend – but I do have something I need to do ahead of time, and that’s to make the Egg Ornaments!  So I thought I’d show them to you now, so in case you like the idea you still have time to make some too.

When I was a kid, my Gram had a tulip tree out in front of her house.  Around Easter, it was just beginning to bud, but still looked a bit scraggly from the winter.  So one year, we made plastic egg ornaments and hung them on the tree.  She always used them after that.

Plastic Egg Ornaments sound kind of tacky, don’t they?  I don’t care if they are, they have a special place in my heart, so this is one project I’ve looked forward to making. :) This is an inexpensive and simple project (plastic eggs were 52 cents for a dozen at Hobby Lobby this week, and all the other supplies are pretty common ones, so you probably have them already), and because they are plastic, they are also weatherproof, so you can use them outside if you would like – my Gram’s eggs lasted for years.

What you will need:

• Plastic eggs
• Sequins and small beads
• Heavy-duty needle or pin
• Vice Grips (the pliers that lock down)
• Candle
• Fishing line or invisible beading cord

First of all, we need to put holes in both the tops and bottoms of our eggs.  The easiest way to do this is to melt a small hole, which is where the odd necessities of candles and vice grips come into play.

You’ll need to find a needle to sacrifice.  It’s never going to recover from what we’re going to use it for. :)

Clamp your vice grips onto it firmly.

Now hold the needle over the candle flame to heat it up.  This is why we’re uing the vice grips, so we don’t accidentally burn ourselves on a hot needle.

Then, melt a hole in each end of your egg.  A note anytime you’re trying to melt plastic – open a window or work in a well-ventilated area.  A couple of holes in each egg isn’t much (it didn’t even stink up my kitchen) but safety is safety!

Pop your egg halves apart, and thread about an 18″ length of fishing line/bead cord through the bottom half.  The reason I recommend this over ribbon or thread is that fishing line is stiff enough you can thread it easily through the holes without a needle.

Now, on the bottom of the egg, thread a sequin on over top of your melted hole.  (Your sequin acts much like a washer, preventing your bead from pulling through the hole.)

Now, add a bead.  You can really choose anything you like the looks of to coordinate with your egg… or, just the first ones you happen to grab, which was the case for me. :)

Now, thread your line around the bead and back through the sequin.  The bead anchors your line in place.

Take a moment to make sure your two ends of your line are pretty close to the same length.  Now, feed both ends up through the top half of the egg.

Go ahead and close your egg halves, then add a sequin to the top, threading both ends of your line through the hole in the sequin.  Then, add a bead to one line only.

Tie a double-knot over the bead to secure the whole thing.  Then, move up to the ends of the fishing line and add another knot, so that you have a loop to hang your ornament.

Trim up the ends, and that is it!

This is one egg, start-to-finish, but you’ll want to work assembly-line-style, first melting all your holes, then moving on to stringing your eggs.  I found that each egg took me about five minutes, but that was at the end of a pretty long day with my tired eyes, LOL. :) If you have older kids who are coordinated enough to help with the stringing, that will make your job a lot easier!

I can’t wait to find just the right tree for these – I’ll share when I do!  Hope your Wednesday is off to a great start!

I link up to these great parties!
~ Adrianne