Coloring Easter Eggs

I found these fun ideas for coloring easter eggs on the Better Homes and Garden website, http://www.bhg.com/, hopefully you can try one and it will inspire you to decorate eggs in a whole new way.

Pysanky Eggs:
Pysanky is the Ukranian folk art of waxing and dying easter eggs. To do it just put a pin in the easer of a pencil then use it to dip in the wax and then put on the eggs, then you put it in the dye.
Wax from a crayon works well to if you don't want to work with hot wax.

Candy Eggs:
Take small candy dots and apply them to the egg using a paste made of water and powdered sugar or you can purchase frosting in a can. This gives the dots a 3D effect.

Dots, Dots, Dots:
You can use an easer, a q tip, or a toothpick to put dots on your eggs. Also the toothpick will make flowers. Dip the toothpick in paint 1/4 of the way up the toothpick. Then lay the toothpick on the egg and each time making a petal for the flower.

Stickers:
Put stickers of any shape or letter on your egg before putting it into the dye. When you put it out of the dye take the stickers off, leaving the design behind.

Rubber Bands:
Stretch rubber bands on your eggs before placing it in the dye. When done dying remove rubber bands and drop it in another color to dye.

Bubble Wrap:
Coat the piece of bubble wrap with acrylic paint, then roll the egg over the paint, holding the egg by the ends. Let the paint dry and then repeat with another color.

Aluminum Foil:
First crumple a piece of foil and then uncrumple it. Then coat the foil with acrylic paint. Then gently fold around the egg. Let the paint dry and then repeat the process with another color.

String:
Dip the ends of string in acrylic paint and then sweep the string across the egg. Try different colors of paint and different sizes of string to make different a variety of markings.

Our*Play

Great on-the-go games by Barbara Rowley (Parenting Magazine/Early Years)

Keep 'em busy at the store or mall

* Tally Ho - Let your child keep track of how many teddy bears (or people wearing purple shirts or men with moustaches) he can see while strolling through the mall. Give him a piece of paper and a crayon to keep count, and tally his finds at the end of your outing.

* Talk to the hand - Put a small plastic shopping bag on your hand, and , as you push your child in her stroller or a cart, let the plastic bag be a puppet narrating what you see and "talking" to your child.

* Honk if you love..... Choose a funny sound ("honk," "quack") you both can say whenever you see a certain object- candy, a baby, a circle shape. This keeps your child focused on looking around rather than getting out of his stroller!

Keep 'em busy in the waiting room

* Magazine "I spy" - Open a magazine to a page with lots of photos. Tell your child that you spy something green, or something he like to eat. He guesses what you're looking at (you can give him "warm" or "cold" hints), then it's his turn.

* Mini-hide-and-seek - Close your eyes, and ask your child to hide a small toy in the waiting room for you to find. Now hide it yourself.

* Insta-puzzle - Tear a magazine subscription card into four or five pieces, and have your child put them back together.

* Float or sink - Got a half-filled water bottle? Let your child see what floats and sinks. How about a little piece of paper or a piece of cereal? A raisin? A coin? (Keep an eye out so little objects don't end up in your child's mouth.)

Keep 'em busy in the car

* Magnet magic - Give your child a baking sheet with plenty of big, fun-shaped magnets on it to move around and play with (easy to stash under the seat when he's not using it!)

* Laughing all the way - You say "ha." They say "ha-ha." Now you add one more "ha." The object: to keep the ha's going without actually laughing. (Each round doesn't last long, but your kids will want to play again and again.)

* Stick it up - Hand your child a square piece of sturdy cardboard and several pages of stickers. While you drive, she sticks. That's it, yet the most absorbing car craft known to moms.

Keep 'em busy in line

* Cereal drop - Set an empty cup on the floor next to your and challenge your kids to drop a piece of cereal, a small toy car, or whatever else you can find in your pockets into the cup. Kids love this!

* Street artists - Draw a simple shape on your child's back with your finger, and see if she can guess what it is: A square? Circle? Heart? Triangle? Then let her try her hand.

* Posers- in waiting - Both of you strike a silly pose and hold it until the line moves- make a funny face and stand on one foot, for instance. The first person to move before the line progresses "loses," and the other person gets to invent the next pose.

The Beauty of Motherhood

As a mom I am finding that as time goes by I'm not getting the sleep that I was use to before becoming a mom. With the lack of sleep comes the dark circles under my eyes. So an article in Parenting magazine, february 2009, page 53, caught my attention. The article says that wearing blue-based eye shadows, like mauve, plum, and navy will highlight the dark circles under your eyes. So swap those colors for a peach or taupe eye shadow to help brighten your eyes. Some of the colors they suggest is Maybelline New York Expert Wear Eye Shadow Trio in Almond Truffle ($5.50) or Sonia Kashuk Eye Shadow Duo in Peach Puff ($8). This is a great tip for one sleepy mom.

The Feel Better Basket

The end of February and the first of March seem to be so hard because everyone seems to have someone in the family a little under the weather, we have been in our house. A while back I came across the idea to make a get better basket. It is full of the things you need to help you or your loved one feel better. It is filled with medicine like cough syrup, cough drops, Motrin, Tylenol, band aids, hydrogenporoxide, a thermometer, a flashlight (for taking temperatures in the night and giving medicine), a can of sprite, a teddy bear to hug when it's just to much, ect. We also filled ours with ideas of things to do when you're stuck on the couch. Some of the ideas are games, favorite books and movies, music to listen to, crossword puzzles and other book games, coloring books and crayons. Sick days come to everyone and this idea has made them a little easier for us to deal with. Make your basket to fit your families needs and make it together and remember hippity hoppity spring is on it's way.