Nature Dyed Easter Eggs

It's a little late to be posting pics and how-to's for dyeing Easter eggs with natural ingredients, I know. But I'm a little late for everything so really, this is just how it is. You could use this technique for dyeing all sorts of other things like silks, wool, food, etc. :)

This cup has water, a tablespoon of vinegar and a tablespoon of turmeric in it that has been boiled for a few minutes. I should have let it boil longer until the turmeric dissolved but we were in a hurry. And it washed off so not a big deal!

 This dye was made using the same method above but instead of powdered turmeric, I used a handful of frozen blackberries. Just strain before using.

 This cup of dye was made with beet root powder. You could use cut up beet pieces but I happened to have some beet root powder so I used that!

 Sophie liked colouring on her egg before putting it in the dye bath!

And here's the finished Easter eggs!

I enjoy using natural materials to dye our eggs with over the chemical filled dyes you can get at the grocery store and I felt better about my kids eating the eggs afterwards. But you don't get the instant satisfaction that you get with the store bought stuff... these sat in the fridge overnight to get this colour. It probably didn't need quite that long (an hour or two would have worked) but I kinda forgot about them. :)

Toddler Watercolour Art Project

Parker and I spent part of our rainy afternoon yesterday creating a hanging piece of art. A few nights ago I was reading Rhythm of the Home and came across a neat art idea.

So I mixed up some watercolours and prepped a painting space for him and away we went! He had a hard time with the scotch tape (had I used masking or painter's tape as suggested it would have been fine) so I laid the tape down. The rest was all him:

Window Painting Fun

Parker loves to paint but he quickly fills up a piece of paper in mere minutes. So instead of wasting sheet after sheet of paper and in my quest to find anything to give me a few minutes break I set him up with some paints outside on our deck so he could paint our patio glass windows!

I just mixed some tempera paint with a few drops of dishsoap in a cup, gave him some paintbrushes and let him loose on the windows. He was entertained for half an hour... that's alot for a not yet two year old!

To clean up, all you need is a bucket of water and a wash cloth. It comes off so easily because of the soap added in to the paints.