Monday, March 19, 2012

Break Out the Glue Gun

Last year, due to attending multiple Easter egg hunts as well as receiving more than one Easter basket, the boys were swimming in plastic Easter eggs.  It felt like a complete waste to throw them all away after Easter was over, but the thought of them continuing to take over our living area was not an option either.  So, I decided to be good and pack them all away in a bag for next year.  All year long they have been driving me nuts in the closet - always in the way.  So many times I have almost tossed them.  Last week I decided to pull them out and see if I could make a wreath out of them - upcycling is in, right?  We live in a building with an indoor hallway and I love being able to hang festive things on the door for holidays.  I thought I had everything I needed on hand.  I had a 12" wire wreath frame that I had purchased for a project I never made, a bag full of plastic eggs and a glue gun.  I started tying the eggs onto the wreath before I pulled out the glue gun.  I mainly wanted to see how many eggs it would take, how to place them, etc. I only wanted to use the regular-sized plastic eggs with the little hinges.  It became apparent that 1) I didn't have enough eggs and 2) I would probably need to use at least two sizes to cover up the wire frame sufficiently without a lot of gaps.  I ended up having to go out and buy MORE eggs!  Lots more!  I am pretty sure this wreath required close to 100 eggs!  There are about 6 dozen regular-sized plastic eggs and about 3 dozen of the mini-sized eggs.  Another tip I can pass along is to make sure to use the cool setting on the glue gun (no, I didn't have any disasters, I figured this out before I began glueing).  The bows are attached with hidden twist-ties.

In the end, it was a very easy project and it turned out to be pretty cute.  We'll see if I get to my next Easter-decor project.  I'm thinking my sewing-bug may be coming back.  I made a pair of fleece pants for my older son yesterday and the ease of making them has me considering making a bunch of fun shorts for my boys this year (since they are so skinny, most store-bought clothing requires alteration anyway).  A pair of cute fleece lounge pants in half-an-hour from start to finish?  This definitely requires more practice.

5 comments:

  1. You weren't lying- you DID have a lot of eggs! It turned out great- and, yes, upcycling is TOTALLY in!

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  2. Hi! What did you use to tie he eggs on? Did they all have little holes that you strung through? I'm worried it will take me forever to tie each one but I'd like to use a grapevine wreath that I imagine won't hold the hot glue well.
    Thank you!!

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  3. I used the hinged eggs. I opened them up and tied a piece of yarn through that hinge and then just closed the egg and tied the yarn onto the wire wreath. Most of the big eggs are tied on, but not all of them since the eggs need to be at different angles to cover up that wire. The smaller eggs that are on top are all glued on. The hot glue is completely on the eggs and mostly used to hold on the smaller eggs and to hold the bigger ones in place, not anywhere on the wire wreath. If you used a grapevine wreath, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if it showed through. The whole process took me about 3 hours total. It goes really fast - as long as you have enough eggs up front.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! We bought fishing wire today and I appreciate the detailed info!

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  4. danielle is there a way you can email me the instructions how to make this its a really cool craft here is my email mariabaier@yahoo.com thanks

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