I went looking for an Easter magazine project this week, and my daughter picked this one from the pile. Presumably because it has all of the elements she loves in a craft: messy.
This is from April 2009 Family Fun magazine, and you can still find the instructions for it online on their site HERE. I wish I had thought to look up the project before we dove in, as reading the comments there may have saved us a few tears.
I’m not going to retype the instructions, and I didn’t get any pictures of the process since my hands were completely covered in paper mache paste the entire time, so take a look at the link above if you’d like to know how we made this. I followed the instructions almost precisely.
My daughter and I both love the finished project, but I must tell you that the egg you see up there was my egg and my daughter’s egg did not survive the process. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you’d like to try this DIY Easter diorama yourself:
~The magazine did not say that you would need two days to finish this project. Even after sitting our eggs in the sun all day to dry, we had to leave them to dry overnight.
~Keep your egg on the smaller side. My daughter wanted a bigger egg and she tuckered out after applying the first layer of tissue. Also, the drying process tore her egg and it was unsalvageable. The egg you see here is approximately 7inches tall, and although it also tore a little during the drying process, the tear was smaller and I was able to fix it by applying tape on the inside.
~Dipping the tissue paper in the paste and then applying it to the balloon was futile. We developed a very messy method of dipping our fingers in paste, rubbing it on the balloon, applying the paper, and then rubbing more paste on top of the tissue. Even then, there were a lot of tears in the paper and it was hard to ensure that we were overlapping the pieces. It was near impossible to tell how many layers we had going on, so at some points you either needed to slab on some extra tissue paper or just hope that you had enough coverage.
The final product is really cute, so I’m glad we worked through the messiness and the setbacks. My daughter enjoyed the final steps of cutting and decorating the window, and adding the decorations inside.
(The little chicks were purchased at World Market and I just love them!)
Happy Easter crafting!
~julee~
We're sharing this project with the C.R.A.F.T. and Skip to my Lou linky parties.
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Now it’s your turn to share your magazine project!
Monday Magazine Challenge is a new feature we are starting. You can read more about why we’re doing it HERE. A Magazine Challenge is any recipe, craft, DIY, tip, etc. from a magazine that has inspired you. If you would like to link to your own magazine challenge, please use the linky tool below. It would be mighty kind if you’d help us spread the word by linking back to us.