Easter Egg Extravaganza 2012

Egg dying.

I love it and I hate it.

On the one hand, it sounds like an exciting endevour.

Until you plop an egg in some colored water and fish it back out.

The end.

(Ok, so I like the pretty colored eggs that result but they're never as pretty as the pictures on the box.)

The more I thought about it the more I was convinced there had to be a better way.

So last year we naturally dyed our eggs.

Which was alright.

They weren't quite as pretty as the boxed ones.

And were more work.

And we had to wait a whole day to see any good results.

This year, I have Pinterest!

Thus, the endless egg dying possibilities!

I narrowed it down to two for us to try....

Again, we went the natural route.

I have a tendancy for that kinda thing.

But I had a feeling that this method would work out far better for us.

I was right.

First, I set out ingredients for dying the eggs:

Carrot peels, spinach, blueberries, raspberries and onion peels for color.

Lentils, rice and spaghetti noodles for texture.

 

We each got an egg, placed it on a piece of cloth and piled the ingredients onto it.

Then we wrapped it all up, tied it closed and popped them in a pot of water and vinegar, letting them come to a boil for 10-15 minutes.

Once they cooled, it was time for the big reveal!

 

 

Ta -da!

Beautiful marbled Easter eggs!

 

I was impressed with how easy this was and how well they turned out!

The onion peels and blueberries did an amazing job of dying the egg and I quite like the marbled effect!

Our second egg dying venture was to combine Easter crafty fun and science -

Volcano eggs!

First, I used baking soda, food coloring and water to make paint.

The kids used this to paint their egg.

 

Then I gave them a cup of vinegar to pour over the eggs.

Of course, this caused sheer amazement from the girls as the vinegar reacted with the baking soda and began bubbling and making crackling sounds.

To my own surprise, the end result was not just a cool reaction but some pretty great looking eggs, too!

And so, my love for dyed Easter eggs has been rekindled!

(And we got to have some pretty awesome egg salad sandwiches for lunch today. BONUS!)