Dyeing Easter Eggs

They boys dyed Easter eggs this afternoon.  Aren’t the bright colors great?  I used neon food coloring. Making your own Easter egg dye couldn’t be easier—no need to purchase those kits!  Just combine hot water, vinegar, and food coloring and you are ready to go!

Easter Egg Dye:

1 teaspoon vinegar

10-20 drops food coloring (depending on intensity you desire)

1/2 cup hot water

Now if you are feeling like an overachiever, you could create your own dyes using all natural ingredients.  Here are some sites with details:

Better Homes & Gardens

source

 

Martha Stewart

Perhaps next year I’ll give au natural a try. Looks intriguing!

Cheers,

Melissa

Bus Adventure

Sometimes I forget—we live in a big city. And big cities have mass transit. And since I have two boys who are fascinated by things like trucks, buses, and heavy machinery, a task as simple as taking the bus is high adventure!

That’s just what we did this past weekend.  Our trip wasn’t a long one, just to take the bus downtown. But over the course of the trip, we saw things like a man with a giant parrot on his shoulder, a moving statue (more on this later), and the bus tunnel. All extremely exciting for two young sets of eyes.

This “statue” street performer was riding the bus with us. The boys thought he was a real statue and were amazed when he began moving. Then, he got off at the same stop as us, and the boys were mesmerized as he walked down the street.

Going down the stairs at the bus tunnel, hardly able to contain their excitement.

Waiting for the bus wasn’t boring because we got to see the train go through, too!

And the waiting paid off, because we got to ride an articulated bus. We chose to sit in the accordion. Where else?! The boys loved it when the bus turned because our seats were on a turntable that turned as the bus did. Personally, it made me a little sick, but the boys were in heaven!

High adventure on the bus. So simple. So fun!

Signs of Spring

Well the weather certainly hasn’t gotten the memo that spring is here, but then again, it never really does begin to look like spring in the Northwest until much, much later.  But with Easter so early this year, I decided to springify (probably not a word, but seems to fit) our house.

I’ve changed out my picture frame, which I’ve been trying to do for each new season/holiday. I had a hard time finding an Easter print that I liked, so I decided that I’d go with this one. You can print one for yourself here.

Next up was a simple bunting for my chalkboard. I’ve been having fun decorating this part of my house for the seasons, as well. Remember Valentine’s Day and Christmas?

This was really fun, and easy, to make!  I was at JoAnn Fabrics one day and they had all of this adorable quilting fabric on sale for $2.50 a yard. I bought 1/4 yard of seven different colors for $0.62 each!  Then I used my pinking shears to cut out the pieces, folded each piece at the top and sewed a simple stitch, and strung it up on some old jute that my grandmother gave me a while back. Whole thing was done in an evening, and for under $5.00!

The song lyric written below the bunting is from one of my favorite songs and is such a great reminder for me, especially at the of the day!  You can listen to the song here.

This is now the second time I’ve done this Easter Egg tree. I LOVE it!  The eggs were given to me by Tom’s family, and I love that each is unique. I love how they look hanging on the branches.

And finally, I made a cushion for the bench on our front porch. This has been a project that I’ve been meaning to do ever since we moved into this house 3 years ago.  Better late than never, I suppose! 

I also purchased some black galvanized planters from Ikea for $10 each, and filled them with some plants. 

This project is not quite complete, as I plan to make some colorful pillows for the bench, as well. I haven’t decided on a color yet. Maybe yellow? Orange? Green?

And there you have it, spring has sprung.

Cheers,

    Melissa

 

Retreating and Cozies

In my last post I shared that I was attending a women’s retreat and was hosting a craft. I thought it’d be fun to share some of the creations that the women made! Not only did I enjoy the time to meet and talk with many new women, but I was so impressed by the creativity of their creations. Give a gal a glue gun and watch her creativity flow!

The retreat, itself, was amazing.  It was pretty awesome to spend time away with so many incredible women (160 of them!) sharing the outdoors, fantastic food, and our faith.  I am so thankful that I had the chance to get away and to have spend it in such a meaningful way.

Cheers,

Melissa