putting the hard in hard boiled....

as i was thumbing through some of the magazines mema passed along to me, i spotted the sweetest set of decorated easter eggs that ever existed (thank you family circle, i am now a reader for life)!  ofcourse this was waaaay back in december... so as you can imagine, i was one emergency flight to japan and several wood cut-outs away from creating my very own washi-tape snowflakes.

well, that didn't really happen and april is finally here,
so today was my day of reckoning!

you'll have to excuse me, i know i am a bit behind with the trends and i know everyone discovered washi-tape like 5 years ago... but i believe washi-tape was not brought into my life for very specific reasons. or rather, hard boiled eggs and i have a love-hate relationship... and washi-tape just happened to get stuck in the middle of things.
either way, we are off to a rocky start.

i am pretty bummed that i did not end up with a cute washi-tape project to share with all you sweet people in this space today (see here, here and here) and even more bummed a good couple feet of my forever-coveted happy tape ended up in the trash can with a bunch of cracked eggs.  having said that, here are some tips if you plan on making some of these fabulous eggs with your little ones:

+ you'd think this would be a no brainer, but obviously there are people (read: the always brilliant kim rakes) out there that take such risks... avoid using hard boiled eggs at all costs. they stink. they aren't the safest in the hands of children under 3. and maybe i am special, but i started with 8 and ended up with 4.  my boiling skills need some work.
+ use wood or paper mache eggs so you can keep them forever. we live in small town usa, where both were lacking, so that's why i took the plunge and used the fresh from the farm stuff.
+ pre-cut all the pieces of washi tape beforehand and make sure you cut a lot!  stick the pieces to something (like a plate) for easy access by little fingers.
+ dress your kids in sweet easter attire because a project like this is a good time for picture taking: the concentration, the little fingers at work, and the colors... oh my!
+ oh, and should you have no other option but to use the real deal, avoid telling your kids NOT to crack them.  it will put crazy ideas in their head and they will do exactly that.







although i am already at work at painting some plastic eggs for our next attempt, i will say some good did come from this incomplete project:

+ i could probably write a book on creative ways to take pictures of washi tape and easter eggs
(though i will spare you the other 20 pictures i took)
+ the girls had a good time putting tape on the eggs... but had a lot more fun cracking them
+ and last but not least.... this picture:



cameron is a sneaky cyclops and haley is a zombie!
who needs a picture with the easter bunny anyway?

<3