By
Tammy of
Musing of a Working Mom
For the past few years, our Easter routine has been: have
breakfast, open Easter baskets, go to church, then head over to my in-laws for
Easter dinner. This year, however, my dad and stepmom will be in town, so we
are hosting Easter dinner for 10 at our house. And, other than a sign we hang
on the front door and some egg cups, it turns out we have no Easter décor.
Spring letters
I thought a fun project Pumpkin, my 4-year-old, and I could
do together would be to create the word “Spring” with wooden block letters and
personalize them using scrapbook pages featuring her favorite Disney
princesses.
Pumpkin selected which pattern would be used for each
letter. Following the instructions from a tutorial I found online, the first
step was to trace the letters onto the paper, placing the letter face down on
the back of the scrapbook page). After cutting out the shape with scissors, I then
lined the paper up with the block letter and trimmed the excess with an Xacto
knife. Once this was done, Pumpkin used a sponge brush to coat Modge Podge onto
the front of the letters. The Modge Podge was dripped all over the Minnie Mouse
splat mat, but easily peeled off once dry. After each letter was coated, I
placed the paper on top and smoothed it out. After watching me do it a couple
times, Pumpkin asked if she could place the paper, too.
After she went to bed, I smoothed out the edges of the paper
with fine sandpaper, and then added an extra coat of the Modge Podge and left
it to dry overnight. Once they were ready, I placed them on a cabinet in our
dining area, and added Easter eggs, grass and some of the girls’ princess
dolls. The girls love it, and it makes our dining room much more festive!
Both Peanut, 2, and Pumpkin were able to participate in our
next activity. For the past couple of years, we have dyed our Easter eggs using
beets (pink), purple cabbage (blue), and turmeric (yellow). For our
princess-theme, we did some just with beets.
First, I peeled and chopped the beets then boiled them until
they were soft. I strained the beets and saved the liquid, adding a couple
tablespoons of vinegar. (I saved the beets to make myself a salad with goat
cheese and chopped nuts. Yum!)
Now it was time to dye our hard-boiled eggs! First, I handed
the girls princess bibs to keep the mess at bay. I honestly don’t remember the
last time Pumpkin wore a bib (she tends to resist the “baby” things her little sister
does) but she couldn’t wait to put one on once I showed her it had Belle on it.
This is the first year Peanut was able to participate, and
she had a lot of fun. At one point, when I wasn’t looking, she put as many as
she could in one cup. We dyed most of the eggs for just a few minutes each, but
put a couple in the liquid in the refrigerator for a few more hours so they
could see how much deeper the color would get.
For the eggs that didn’t sit in the dye, we used temporary
tattoos to add their favorite characters. I used a damp washcloth to apply them
to the eggs, just like I would if the girls were wearing them. The transfer
wasn’t quite as easy as doing it on skin, and I had to peel parts of them and
stick them with my fingers (tweezers might have come in handy) but it worked
and the girls were so excited about it – they pouted when it was time to crack
them to eat!
Once we were all done, the splat mat went straight from the
table to the washing machine, making clean up a breeze. The girls will be so
excited to show off their creations for the rest of the family!
