Easter 2013

 Last week, Zach had no school, so he was with us more than usual.   This gave us the chance to do some fun art projects!  One of them was a great mixed media spring craft.    I think they came out really cute! 

 

These don't have to be strictly Easter, the birds could even be blue birds instead!  So here is a quick tutorial:

You need: 

• elmer's glue
• paint (brown, + whatever colors you want for your birds, we used orange/yellow)
• tissue paper
• brown paper
• colored paper (bird colors and background color)
• sticks/leaves/feathers etc.
• scissors
• toilet paper tube or similar

What to do:

1. mix a squirt of elmer's glue, a squirt of brown paint and a little bit of water in a container.  
2. scrunch the tissue paper and lay it on the brown paper.  Paint with a generous amount of the brown paint mixture, scrunching and laying out the tissue paper to make a textured look.  Let this dry.   Other thin papers will work too, even paper towels or toilet paper.  
3. Meanwhile, use the toilet paper tube dipped in paint to print the circle shapes on colored paper.  Use the back of a paintbrush to dot on eyes, and glue triangle or diamond shaped scraps of paper on for beaks.    
4. Go on a nature hunt and find some sticks and things while all that finishes drying!
5. Cut a nest shape from the brown textured paper.  Cut out the birds leaving the paint circles inside your cut-outs.   Glue to a background.  Now decorate with your elements from nature.  

 That's it!   Hang up and enjoy. 

 Now, onto the Easter stuff.

First, Levi got some new clothes (as usual).

A funny Easter shirt:

And a romper, this one is the St. Patty's one, reversed!  

We dyed eggs.  This year we tried out the liquid water colors as dye, they worked quite well, although the brown and black dyes were not very attractive.     (note that Nai Nai has her glass of wine, all set for egg dying!) 

Levi could not make a normal face for pics. 

Then the next day, he got to hunt for them, along with a zillion plastic eggs that we have collected from previous years egg hunts.   They were hidden outside in the front and back, and all over the house.   

We tried to go to an egg hunt at the park, it turned out to be a very graphic church service.   We had already attended our service at the UU church, so we skipped it, and caught a quick train ride on our way out. 

Levi's Easter basket had pinwheels, seeds for the garden, bubbles, egg shape chalk, a rainbow spinner, purple socks, and some putty that makes fart sounds (big hit!)

And his favorite, a fun glasses shaped straw!  He tested it out with some diluted cranberry juice (he doesn't do well with drinking actual juice, but I added a splash to make the water red, more fun that way!)

Happy Easter from The Little Sewing Shop!