A Decorative Bird Box

      I love these little bird boxes by Martha Stewart. I plan to stuff mine with a few Easter treats this year, but these little tweets would be just as sweet to decorate for any festive occasion. The bird boxes come three to a package so I will show you three different ways to decorate them. This first example is perhaps the easiest. 

      First, I painted a thin layer of acrylic varnish all over the surface of my bird box and let it dry over night. Then I used a fine line, permanent, black ink marker to draw swirls and curls emphasizing the raised portions of the bird's wings etc... Afterwards, I coated the box again with a second layer of acrylic varnish.

Pin The Ears On The Rabbit

Pin the ears on the rabbit.

      Print out the pictures on which is the earless rabbit and his ears are drawn (below). Hang the earless rabbit on the wall, as shown by the sketch, right. Then cut out the ears included in this post and stick a pin through the little holes marked "Pin."

      Now you are ready to play the game. Blindfold a boy or girl and put one of the ears in his or her hand. Turn the blindfolded one around three times, stopping with face turned to the rabbit. Then let the player step forward and try to pin the ear in the right place.

      All sorts of fun comes from the funny mistakes of the players.

      You can get better results by mounting the rabbit panel and the ears on cardboard.

More Rabbit Themed Games:

• Craft a Rabbit Ring Toss Game
• Easter Word Search includes secular spring themes, rabbits among them

Printables for the game here.

Anna's Easter Dream by Louise Cooper

When little Anna went to sleep

Upon the eve of Easter day

She dreamed of candied eggs a heap

And frisky, brisky lambs at play.

Plump Humpty Dumpty, with a bow,

Stood smiling on the counterpane,

And Ducky Daddles, wondering how,

Was at the foot just to explain.

Three baby ducks in noisy play,

Who never thought to pardon beg.

Cried "Quack, quack, quack for Easter day!"

And then tobogganed down an egg.

A rooster and a hen on nest

Exclaimed, "Please put us in the rhyme,

for we are doing our level best

In working up the Easter time!"

five bunnies, each with eyes of pink

And ears so long they flapped like wings,

Said, "We are not considered bad.

And, don't forget, we're little too."

five sparrows, proud of their wee size--

They never grow too broad or tall--

Chirped, "We should surely win a prize,

for we are littlest of them all."

Two tiny men from Titakum,

With good strong arm and sturdy leg,

Held steady as a block o fgum

A large and glowing rainbow egg:

There, standing on it like a queen.

With rosy lips and roguish eye.

In pink and gold and bronze and green,

The girly, curly butterfly.

by Louise Cooper

Easter Eggs That Imitate Wedgwood Blue Earthenware

Typical wedgwood blue
plate with white decor

      I have always been in love with Wedgwood blue earthenware. It is very expensive, however, so it is not likely that I will ever acquire much of it. I did find some "Wedgewood" look-alikes  in a hobby shop many years ago and adhered these medallions to Styrofoam eggs. Then, I covered the back half of my eggs with blue paint, glitter and some vintage lace. I strung my blue, "Wedgwood"eggs on glass bead hangers. These eggs are my favorites and I hang them on one of my Easter egg trees every year.
      In 1765, Wedgwood created a new earthenware form which impressed the then British Queen consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz who gave permission to call it "Queen's Ware"; this new form sold extremely well across Europe. The following year Wedgwood bought Etruria, a large Staffordshire estate, as both home and factory site. Wedgwood developed a number of further industrial innovations for his company, notably a way of measuring kiln temperatures accurately and new ware types Black Basalt and Jasper Ware. Wedgwood's most famous ware is jasperware. It was created to look like ancient cameo glass. It was inspired by the Portland Vase, a Roman vessel which is now a museum piece.. (The first jasperware colour was Portland Blue, an innovation that required experiments with more than 3,000 samples). In recognition of the importance of his pyrometric beads (pyrometer), Josiah Wedgwood was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1783. Today, the Wedgwood Prestige collection sells replicas of some of the original designs as well as modern neo-classical style jasperware. Read more . . .

Easter eggs featuring Wedgewood look-alike medallions. Push the medallions gently
 into the foam egg before gluing these in place with a tacky white glue.

My family has visited here during the summer months.

This makes for a relaxed, family friendly trip.

Craft a Humpty-Dumpty Easter Egg

The Humpty egg from different view points.

       This Humpty-Dumpty Easter egg is much easier to make than he looks. I used a small face mold and a bit of Sculpey clay to make his face. Although, some of you who do not like to paint, could use a bit of flesh colored polymer clay instead. 

       Humpty-Dumpty named after a famous nursery rhyme was actually a relatively popular character to craft during the mid to later half of the 20th century during Easter and also for nurseries. I've included more examples of this funny egg fellow below.

Supply List:

• Sculpey or air-dry clay
• acrylic paints
• white scrap paper for collar
• hot glue and hot glue gun
• wood glue
• Mod Podge
• wooden egg
• press mold of an old man's face

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. After un-molding the clay mask, I then pressed it onto a wooden egg with a generous amount of wood glue sandwiched between the clay and wooden surface. 
2. Then I baked the entire egg in an oven for only a few minutes at recommended temp. on the package. If I had to make the Humpty egg again, I would probably opt for air dry clay. 
3. I then let the egg cool. 
4. Paint the head in flesh colored paint and the lower portion of the egg in blue to suggest his shirt.
5. Hot glue on a simple white collar and a bow tie.

Above are examples of face molds from my vast collection.

Humpty Dumpty's Easter Surprise by Dick Clarke