~ Greeting Card Organization ~

Step One: I gathered all my greeting cards, my label maker, and my card holders. 

Step Two: I printed out Categories. Some examples: "Wedding", "Sympathy", "Get Well", "Bridal Shower", "Baby Shower", "Thank You", "Birthday", "Thinking of You", "Anniversary", & "Misc." 

A look at one of the labels printed and ready to be cut by the machine. 

Step Three: I then labeled each of the sections in the card holders.

Step Four: Here I'm starting to fill the sections with the cards of each category. You can lay them on their sides or have them upright. I chose upright - two cards fit right next to each other just fine.

  

Here is one of my filled Card Organizers ready to be used!

                                           "Good, Better, Best. Never let it rest, until your Good is Better, and your Better is Best!" 

~Baked Easter Eggs~

Baked Eggs instead of Boiled Eggs
The chickens on the farm lay colorful eggs - browns, tans, dark and very soft greens, soft light blues, as well as white. There is only one white egg in the pan shown here. The rest are a light powder blue or very light green. (Hard to see in the picture) So no need to dye them when they are already beautifully colored.
How to:

• Preheat the oven to 325 Degrees. For some ovens, 350 degrees. (Some ovens run hotter or cooler than others.)
• Place eggs into muffin pan. One per opening.
• Bake eggs for about 30 Minutes.
• Have a bowl of ice water ready when the 30 minutes is about up.
• Place eggs into the iced water for about 5-10 minutes to cool them down.

Using a paint pen - Draw designs or patterns on the eggs. We used white paint pens since our eggs were already naturally colorful.

You can write saying on the eggs, verses, or names. Be creative! 

Our finished eggs

Christ the Lord is Risen Today! 

~ Homemade Paper Hydrangea Wreath ~

Start out with a round styrofoam wreath form. I've seen these come in white or green. 

Using a Hydrangea punch - punch out many petals out of paper or card stock. I used a few different shades of purple here. Mother of pearl topped pins were used for this one. Slide two petals onto each pin. 

Start covering the wreath form with the petals. Make sure the pins are not poking through the other side - ouch! Arrange the petals so they look like Hydrangea flowers.

My finished Purple Hydrangea Wreath

You can use different colored papers and pin tops. Shown above are yellow petals with white pin tops. I covered an egg form using those for my Mom. 

Quick tip: When I have punched all along each edge of my paper, I then put it into one of my 12" straight edge cutters and cut off the used rows. Cut as close as you can to save on paper. This makes it so much easier to slide the punch in to start the next row. 

One of the eggs - yellow with yellow pin tops. 

                                Make sure and see "God's Not Dead" at your movie theater this weekend

~ Silk Tie Easter Eggs ~

~ Here is one of my all time favorite Silk Tie Easter Egg results ~

Here's What I Used:

1. Raw Eggs - I ended up using mostly white ones over the years - because I found that the colors show up better. The small picture above shows an example of a brown egg result. Still very pretty.
2. Old patterned silk neck ties - or any old piece of silk. 
3. Old white cotton fabric - I used a couple of old towels. Cut these into pieces large enough to wrap around the egg wrapped in the silk piece.
4. 3 T. White Vinegar
5. Large Pan of water
6. Twist Ties

Here is how my pieces looked - ready to wrap the eggs in.

One egg all tied up and ready to be boiled.

When wrapping an egg in the silk - Make sure the pattern side is towards the egg. Use a twist tie to secure the fabric around the egg. Remember to not twist too hard - the eggs are still raw and breakable at this point.

Add 3 T. of White Vinegar to the water, then carefully lower in the raw wrapped eggs.

Remove the HOT eggs out of the boiling water after about 20 minutes. I use a set of tongs to grab the extra fabric above the twist tie when removing from the water. I have a cooling rack ready with towels underneath. 

After letting the eggs cool off for awhile - I know it's hard to wait!!! But, better to wait than to get a steam burn. Carefully unwrap the eggs. Each one will be different and beautiful in its own way.

You can rub cooking oil on the eggs to give them a shine... 

Or leave them with a matte look.

Some deep pinks shown here!

A bowl of fun Silk Tie Easter Eggs! 

Remember to cut the silk ties into pieces big enough to wrap around an egg. You can use these pieces over and over again - year after year.

This is a great alternative to traditional dyes! 

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

~ Homemade Cake Topper ~

I made this cake topper almost a year ago and will be getting the opportunity to put it to use soon! I've done these in a variety of colors and flag shapes.

Here's What I Did:
Cut flags out of decorative paper or card stock - in whatever shape of flag you like.

Punch two holes towards the top of each flag.
Using the string of your choice, (I used white and pink bakers twine for this one) - thread the string through the holes in the flags. Leave enough on the ends to tie to the "posts". Secure with a dot of glue.

The "posts" for this one are pink and white striped straws. I have used wooden skewers and other colors and patterns of straws as well. Both of these plant into cake and frosting well and hold securely.

It's a fun topping for that cute cake! 

Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

~ Rubber Band Easter Eggs ~

I started out with cooled hard boiled White Eggs for this project.

We wrapped different sizes of Rubber Bands tightly around the eggs and submerged them into the dye.

Here is a yellow one done that had the rubber bands spaced out.

This one was really wrapped up! Have fun wrapping them with different angles. You can also do a few different colors on each egg.  

Here is one bowl of eggs done with rubber bands - before shining them up with some cooking oil. The pink one in this group was done using the little round stickers used for repairing hole punch rips or tears. 

A fun bowl of Rubber Band Eggs! 

1 Peter 1:3 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 

~ Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs ~

Start off with a pan of water - about a quart. Add a couple of Tablespoons of Vinegar and Yellow Onion Skins to the pan. 

 Bring it to a boil, then simmer - pretty low - for about 20 - 30 minutes. You can already see the water has color to it.

Here is Red Cabbage and Vinegar almost to a boil.

I really like using this hand held strainer to remove the onion skins and cabbage pieces after the water has stopped boiling. 

This time I used white eggs for this project. I cut a daisy bloom off - pretty close to the base - to use for this egg. 

I put the bloom front side down against the egg, then wrapped a piece of nylon tightly around it, and tied it with a twist tie. Remember to be careful not to crack the raw egg! 

Here's a bunch of the eggs all wrapped up and ready to go. I used flower blooms, leaves, and herbs to press against the eggs. 

The eggs being hard boiled in the strained Red Cabbage water.

Here is the beautiful color that results from the Yellow Onion Skins.

Another Yellow Onion Skin result.

I really love this one! 

Pattern examples: a leaf, a bloom, and an herb. 

Unwrapping this one - sometimes you have to peal the leaves off or they wipe off easily.

Here is the pretty soft blue that is the result of the Red Cabbage. I used a mini rosebud for this one. 

This bunch of naturally dyed eggs is ready for Easter! 

Naturally Dyed Eggs ~ with herb, leaf, and bloom impressions.

John 11:25-26 "Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;"