DIY: Easter eggs

Finally it's spring, and time to celebrate it.  How about decorating, or making, some eggs for Easter (whether you practice the holiday or not).  Here are three projects that you might find appetizing.

Nike at her blog Thrive tells us how to make rainbow jello Easter eggs.

***

Nike, Rainbow Easter Eggs, Thrive

***

From Country Living we have eggs with interesting patterns made using small squares of patterned, black-and-white silk.  (All the things that vinegar can do continues to amaze me.)

***

Silk fabric transfers, CountryLiving (photo by Alison Gootee/Studio D)

***

Lastly, here are eggs patterned with herb leaves and colored with vegetables. 

***

Pearl Sanborn, Onion- and cabbage-colored eggs, A Storybook Life

***

Pearl explains in her post, "Easter Eggs – Elegant Ideas For Your Easter Eggs!," how to use the vegetables to color the eggs.  The colors break down thus:

Spinach = Pale Green
Hibiscus tea = Green
Blackberries = Deep Purple
Red Cabbage = Robin’s egg Blue
Cranberries = Lavender
Beet Juice = Pale Pink
* The longer you leave the eggs in, the more the color changes

She has suggestions for other, egg-related projects as well.

-- Marge

DIY: give someone you love a thimble

For crafters and DIYers Christmas is fast approaching.   Consider a gift with a message that's a simple (and inexpensive) project from CountryLiving -- a thimble necklace.

An inexpensive score at flea markets and on Etsy—usually less than $5—a vintage thimble can become a playful pendant in no time. Just use a small hammer and a two-penny nail to punch a tiny hole in the center of the thimble's top. Insert a flat head pin through the hole from the inside, so the pin's head remains inside the thimble. Twist the pin's exposed wire into a closed loop with needle-nose pliers, then use the pliers to attach a 6-mm jump ring to the loop.

***

Thimble Necklace, CountryLiving

***

So, what are you saying when you're giving someone a thimble? It depends on what background story you have in mind (and perhaps you should relay that info to the recipient).  Some of the symbolic references are...

Peter Pan. When Wendy wanted to give Peter Pan a kiss he held out his hand, thinking he would receive a material thing. So she gave him the thimble she was wearing and called it a kiss.

***

Universal Studios, Peter Pan, 2003

***

Shakespeare.  According to an article by Stephanie Appleton in the Finding Shakespeare series, "Shakespeare’s World in 100 Objects,"

In his 1596 play, The Life and Death of King John, Shakespeare makes reference to the thimble as a symbol of female domesticity...

Colonial America.  In the article, "Engagement Ring Symbolism through the Ages," marc posts:

During the Colonial period in America, all forms of jewelry were prohibited due to Puritanical restrictions and the apparent moral degradation of such jewelry items.  Women were offered a thimble to symbolize the conjugal union, although it wasn’t uncommon for women to remove the top of the thimble to form a type of ring.

Dreams. (These references are a bit far-fetched, but interesting.)  A number of sites that offer dream interpretations show ones for dreaming about a thimble.  Every interpretation is different, so I'll just list the pages on the sites:  Dream Moods, Dream Symbols, experience project.

If you decide you'd rather buy a thimble necklace or charm, there's a fine selection at Etsy.

-- Marge

In his 1596 play, The Life and Death of King John, Shakespeare makes reference to the thimble as a symbol of female domesticity - See more at: http://findingshakespeare.co.uk/shakespeares-world-in-100-objects-number-21-a-thimble#sthash.bYs7o8Y1.dpuf