Hello lovelies!

How is it Saturday already? This week went by in a blur of meetings and deadlines and taxes and paperwork and left me daydreaming about running away into the forest or throwing my phone into the river. Or both.

Do you ever have times when you just feel completely overwhelmed with being "plugged-in" every second of every day? That is totally where I am at right now. So this morning I decided to gift myself the time and space to step away from my inbox and get my hands a little dirty. That always seems to help.

One of my nearest and dearest, Kendra Potter of Brooklyn Light, introduced me to the wonders of using red cabbage to dye eggs. You guys, this is crazy. Who would have thought the humble red cabbage would create such a gorgeous deep cyan dye? It feels a little bit like magic. 

These little guys can be hidden by your resident bunny or gifted to a friend or placed in a nest as a lovely spring centerpiece. Kendra and I even filled some with intentions for Tuesday's full moon. Who says Easter has a monopoly on eggs? I plan on keeping mine out long after the holiday to welcome the coming season.

Supplies:

- Eggs

- 1/2 of a red cabbage

- 3 TBS white vinegar

- Flower petals 

- Black / White paint (I used watercolors)

- Paper 

- Blue tissue paper

- Glue

Step 1: Making the Dye

Start by chopping up about half of a red cabbage. 

Step 2: Making the Dye

Add the cabbage to a medium sized pot with about 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil then turn down the temperature and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and add in 3 TBS white vinegar. Let cool and strain cabbage out with a collendar, collecting the dye in a jar or bowl.

Step 3: Dying the Eggs

Add your uncooked eggs to the dye and let sit for at least 3 hours. Keep an eye on them and remove when you have reached your desired shade of blue. I left mine overnight in the fridge to get this lovely deep cyan color. 

Step 4: Blowing out the Eggs

Using a needle or metal skewer, poke a small hole in the top and a slightly larger hole in the bottom of the egg. Then put your lips to the smaller hole and gently blow out the inside of the egg into a bowl. This will leave you with an empty egg shell. Rinse the shell out and allow to dry on a clean towel.

Step 5: Painting the Speckles

To create the speckled Robin's egg effect, I used an old tooth brush and flicked black and white paint onto the hollowed egg shells. 

Step 6: Filling the Eggs

Next I filled the eggs with a natural confetti made of rose petals, lavender and dried lemon peel as well as little love notes and fortunes for spring. Gently push the flower petals through the larger hole in the bottom of the egg. To insert the note, simply roll it up as tightly as you can and slip it into the egg after the flower petals. 

Step 7: Sealing the Hole

I just happened to have a little bit of peacock blue tissue paper which worked perfectly to seal up the holes in the top and the bottom of the eggs. Serendipity! I just used a dot of Elmers glue on the tissue and smoothed it over the holes.

Step 8: Break the Eggs!

Make sure your recipient knows to break open the egg to find the surprises you have hidden inside!

Happy Easter everyone! Wishing you a happy, restful weekend.

xo,