I know it has been a long time since I have posted. Life seems to have a way of getting in the way of blogging. My father passed away in February, and since then I have been in a bit of a creative funk. Additionally, I am the facilitator for the design team over at the FranticStamper blog, and we have been undergoing some pretty significant changes that have absorbed large pieces of my time. I have managed to keep up with that blog's demands, but blogging here has just had to take a back seat.
Over at the FranticStamper blog the design team is hosting an Easter Egg decorating contest. As the facilitator for the design team it fell to me to announce the contest, and now I need to try to drum up some interest in it. So far, a week into the contest, we have only received one entry (boo hoo) so I am going to ask my readers to hop on over to FranticStamper's blog and check out the contest rules and play along.
I will be sharing this egg on that blog tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a special preview. I wish the photos could actually do this egg justice... it is just so much more sparkly and rich looking in real life than comes across in these photos. I guess the camera just doesn't like the reflective surfaces very much. But I hope you will still enjoy what I have made.
This decorative egg started out as a medium-sized plastic hinged egg, meant for holding candy or small trinkets, to put in an Easter basket or for hiding for an egg hunt. This particular egg was very pale yellow, with small specks of darker yellow and light brown. It was not a particularly attractive color, so before I started to embellish this egg, I needed to change its color. I immediately thought of alcohol inks which work delightfully well on plastic. I found a lapis blue alcohol ink that I thought would be just right for what I had in mind. And anyone who knows me knows that I love ANY color, as long as it is blue!
I coated the exterior of the egg with the alcohol ink... and got exactly the effect I had hoped for. The plastic egg took on the gem-like quality of lapis lazuli! After giving it a few minutes to completely dry, I colored the inside of the egg with a silver-gray alcohol based marker.
Once the egg was dry inside and out, I started on my embellishments, most of which are made from aluminum flashing tape from the hardware store. This tape is self adhesive, with a liner, fairly easy to punch, and very shiny and silvery. Don't confuse this with duct tape... they are very different!
I used a Martha Stewart border punch to punch the silver lattice out of the tape. I applied my punched lattice to the egg, just above the egg's closure. I then applied narrow strips of the tape to the bottom portion of the egg, criss-crossing across the bottom of the egg. I added a small punched circle of tape to the very bottom of the egg to cover the point where the tape strips cross.
I then continued with the decorations for the top portion of the egg. I added a scalloped ring of tape near the top of the egg, around its circumference. Then I mirrored the small strips of tape on the bottom with self-adhesive rhinestones at the top. I finished it all off with another little punched circle of tape placed at the apex of the egg.
Finally, I made a platform for the inside of the bottom of the egg by punching a 1 3/4" circle (which just happened to be the exact diameter of the inside of my egg's bottom) out of card-stock, and attached the circle to the egg via a strip of the silver tape around the belly of the egg, folded over the platform at its edges. I added a punched 1 3/4" circle of the silver tape over the card-stock, hiding the top of the tape strip.
Next, I needed to put something on my platform. The egg that had inspired the platform had a miniature model (in rare metals) of the Winter Palace. I didn't have the means to produce anything like that, and I really didn't want to copy the Fabergé egg, I just wanted to be inspired by it. I finally decided to make a quilled rose to put on display.
I took a 3/4 strip of the flashing tape, and folded onto itself so that there was no adhesive exposed, and the tape was metallic on both sides. I used this strip as though it were a 3/8" strip of paper, and proceeded to produce a paper rose by scrolling and folding, as shown in this wonderful video:
I added some punched and scored tape leaves to the base of the egg, and then glued the rose into place.
My egg was completed, but now I needed a way to display it. Fabergé eggs often had stands that were nearly as ornate as the eggs themselves. I decided to create a trophy style stand. I used a soft drink bottle cap and a cap from a medicine bottle along with a small square piece of wood to create my stand. I wrapped each piece individually with the flashing tape, and then assembled them into the stand with a strong glue.
I finished the stand with a silver-toned ornament hanger and a little rhinestone bling.
I hope you will be inspired by my Fabergé-inspired egg, and will join the contest over at FranticStamper. There isn't a lot of time left, so get creating!
Over at the FranticStamper blog the design team is hosting an Easter Egg decorating contest. As the facilitator for the design team it fell to me to announce the contest, and now I need to try to drum up some interest in it. So far, a week into the contest, we have only received one entry (boo hoo) so I am going to ask my readers to hop on over to FranticStamper's blog and check out the contest rules and play along.
I will be sharing this egg on that blog tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a special preview. I wish the photos could actually do this egg justice... it is just so much more sparkly and rich looking in real life than comes across in these photos. I guess the camera just doesn't like the reflective surfaces very much. But I hope you will still enjoy what I have made.
This decorative egg started out as a medium-sized plastic hinged egg, meant for holding candy or small trinkets, to put in an Easter basket or for hiding for an egg hunt. This particular egg was very pale yellow, with small specks of darker yellow and light brown. It was not a particularly attractive color, so before I started to embellish this egg, I needed to change its color. I immediately thought of alcohol inks which work delightfully well on plastic. I found a lapis blue alcohol ink that I thought would be just right for what I had in mind. And anyone who knows me knows that I love ANY color, as long as it is blue!
I coated the exterior of the egg with the alcohol ink... and got exactly the effect I had hoped for. The plastic egg took on the gem-like quality of lapis lazuli! After giving it a few minutes to completely dry, I colored the inside of the egg with a silver-gray alcohol based marker.
Once the egg was dry inside and out, I started on my embellishments, most of which are made from aluminum flashing tape from the hardware store. This tape is self adhesive, with a liner, fairly easy to punch, and very shiny and silvery. Don't confuse this with duct tape... they are very different!
I used a Martha Stewart border punch to punch the silver lattice out of the tape. I applied my punched lattice to the egg, just above the egg's closure. I then applied narrow strips of the tape to the bottom portion of the egg, criss-crossing across the bottom of the egg. I added a small punched circle of tape to the very bottom of the egg to cover the point where the tape strips cross.
I then continued with the decorations for the top portion of the egg. I added a scalloped ring of tape near the top of the egg, around its circumference. Then I mirrored the small strips of tape on the bottom with self-adhesive rhinestones at the top. I finished it all off with another little punched circle of tape placed at the apex of the egg.
Finally, I made a platform for the inside of the bottom of the egg by punching a 1 3/4" circle (which just happened to be the exact diameter of the inside of my egg's bottom) out of card-stock, and attached the circle to the egg via a strip of the silver tape around the belly of the egg, folded over the platform at its edges. I added a punched 1 3/4" circle of the silver tape over the card-stock, hiding the top of the tape strip.
Next, I needed to put something on my platform. The egg that had inspired the platform had a miniature model (in rare metals) of the Winter Palace. I didn't have the means to produce anything like that, and I really didn't want to copy the Fabergé egg, I just wanted to be inspired by it. I finally decided to make a quilled rose to put on display.
I took a 3/4 strip of the flashing tape, and folded onto itself so that there was no adhesive exposed, and the tape was metallic on both sides. I used this strip as though it were a 3/8" strip of paper, and proceeded to produce a paper rose by scrolling and folding, as shown in this wonderful video:
I added some punched and scored tape leaves to the base of the egg, and then glued the rose into place.
My egg was completed, but now I needed a way to display it. Fabergé eggs often had stands that were nearly as ornate as the eggs themselves. I decided to create a trophy style stand. I used a soft drink bottle cap and a cap from a medicine bottle along with a small square piece of wood to create my stand. I wrapped each piece individually with the flashing tape, and then assembled them into the stand with a strong glue.
I finished the stand with a silver-toned ornament hanger and a little rhinestone bling.
I hope you will be inspired by my Fabergé-inspired egg, and will join the contest over at FranticStamper. There isn't a lot of time left, so get creating!
