Make it Crate :: Embellished Eggs w/Michiko Kato

Hi CP Fans! Even though Easter has come and gone, today, I want to share with you an egg-adorned layout fashioned from a multitude of artsy techniques I'm confident you'll want to try. Quite frankly, Easter isn't nearly as prevalent as is Halloween in Japan. Most people aren't familiar with the holiday. Of those that do celebrate the special occasion, they have the option to enjoy it outside the home at Universal Studio Japan and/or Tokyo Disneyland. I often go to USJ with my family because it's nearby and there is so much to look at that is colorful and cute! This year, we made the trip once again to USJ on Easter day. While there, I took many pictures of my daughter. Upon returning home, and reviewing the photos up close and personal, I knew right away that I wanted to create a layout from them - this is the final result, eggs and all!

In crafting the layout, I chose the above supplies from the Maggie Holmes collection. The photo size is 3" x 3".

Now, I will not discuss in great depth the construction process of the layout itself. Your welcome to mimic the layout as "shown". Mostly emphasized in today's post are the techniques used to create the eggs - the main Easter attraction!

So in delving further, I cut three different sized eggs (ten in total) from white cardstock with my Silhouette Cameo.

The first egg design is the "Flower Spotted" egg. Using a mini flower punch, I punched several flowers from two medium sized eggs, including along the edges. I adhered the eggs to patterned paper, pink & yellow, and then trimmed them out; Adorable as can be!

The second egg design is the "Dotted" egg. Using Party Day's clear spotted stamp, and blue and red ink, I positioned 'dots' on small and medium sized eggs. To give them greater personality, I stuck a Maggie Holmes bow to the top of each one (of a similar hue as the ink color). As a finishing touch, the sticker "Smile" was added to the larger of the two eggs. More cuteness!!

The third egg is the "Striped" egg. After positioning a random assortment of patterned paper strips on top a medium egg (mix and match whatever you like!), I trimmed the excess off to match the shape of the egg. For a bit of extra detail, I stitched borders along some of the strips. Easy & oh so playful!

The fourth egg design is the "Washi Tape" egg. I placed a mismatched assortment of washi tape strips onto a small sized egg. Just as the last design, I trimmed the excess off. This is by far, the easiest technique of those shown today. Layering/overlapping washi tape can lead to seriously cool effects! Lots of combinations, too.

The fifth egg design is the "Watercolor" egg. To prepare the surface of the large sized egg, I painted a layer of water across it. Be careful as too much water can cause paper to easily curl. Less is more. Bit by bit, I painted the egg with yellow and blue watercolor paint. Don't be afraid to soften up the colors - it's one of the medium's main attractions. If the colors blend into each other, that's ok, too.

Because I wanted the egg to dry out quickly, I took to it, a heater gun. Worked like magic!

I added a small set of eyes and a fancy mustache to the creation and officially titled it, "Egg Man".

The last egg design is called "Broken Egg". I cut the egg in-half with pinking scissors, opened it up and positioned a balloon embellishment inside of it. The balloons look as though they're jumping from the egg, don't you think?

You might see a few more decorated eggs scattered about my layout based on some of the techniques described. Go ahead and make them if seeking to replicate the layout "as is", or, wanting to perfect the techniques shown.

Even if you're not in the market for egg decorating, you might still give these ideas a try using alternative shapes - that's what is so wonderful about a tutorial like this; you can apply it any way you like no matter the project!

Thank you for stopping by the Crate Paper blog - I'll see you next month!