by Mary Abreu

Eggs and bunnies and chicks – oh my! Easter is on the way and we’ve put together some egg-cellent crafts and recipes to help you celebrate.

Double-duty Dyes

Make your own Easter egg dyes with fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. Here’s how:

1. Place the eggs in a single layer in a pan. Add water until the eggs are covered.
2. Add approximately 1 teaspoon of vinegar.
3. Add the natural dye. Use more dye material for more eggs or for a more intense color.
4. Bring water to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. If you are pleased with the color, remove the eggs from the liquid.
7. If you want more intensely colored eggs, temporarily remove the eggs from the liquid. Strain the dye through a coffee filter (unless you want speckled eggs). Cover the eggs with the filtered dye and let them remain in the refrigerator overnight.

www.chemistry.about.com

Easy Sponge-painted Eggs

• Hard-boiled eggs
• Acrylic craft paints in the colors of your choice
• Household sponge
• Paper towel
• Small bowl of water
• Egg holder or empty egg carton

Soak a household sponge in water, then wring it out completely. Cut the sponge into several different pieces, enough so that you have one for each color. Using a paper plate as a palette, squeeze out small amounts of several different colors of paint. Place an empty egg carton upside down so that you can rest your eggs on it to dry once painted.

Hold an egg in your fingers, and with your other hand dab a sponge into the desired paint color. Dab the sponge onto a piece of paper towel. The object is to remove the excess paint, but not completely dry it out. Now dab the sponge directly onto your egg, using any type of random pattern you like. Paint as much of the egg as you can and let it dry. Repeat using different colors.
For a colored background with white sponge marks, simply paint the egg a solid color with a paintbrush or with one of your sponges. When dry, sponge on a pattern with white paint. When one side has dried, complete the other side and allow that to dry as well.

www.kidsdomain.com

Easter Egg Cookies

• Roll of pre-made sugar cookie dough
  (or your own sugar cookie recipe prepared)
• Flour
• 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons milk
• Food coloring
• Rolling pin, egg or circle-shaped cookie cutters,
  waxed paper (optional)

Roll out cookie dough to recommended thickness (use flour on dough, rolling surface and rolling pin to prevent sticking) and cut into Easter egg shapes. Bake according to directions. Cool cookies.

To make the frosting, mix together the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Stir until smooth. Divide into four small bowls. In the first bowl, add food coloring, a few drops at a time and stirring until desired color is reached. Choose a different color for each of the four bowls of frosting. Also include a different small spoon for each color and try not to mix the colors unless you want to; for example, blue frosting and red frosting mixed together make purple frosting.

Cover your working surface with waxed paper for easy cleanup. Using a small spoon spread colored frostings on as desired. Make each egg a separate color, mixed color or whatever you desire.

www.funroom.com

Easter Bunny

• Cupcake
• Cupcake White icing
• Shredded coconut
• Pink decorator’s sugar
• Jellybean (for nose)
• Large marshmallow
• Mini marshmallows

Frost a cupcake (baked from your favorite recipe) with white icing and sprinkle on shredded coconut fur. Cut a large marshmallow in half widthwise. Squeeze each half slightly to give it an oval shape, then decorate the sticky side of each one with pink decorators’ sugar and set them in place for ears. Add a jellybean nose and eyes and mini marshmallows for cheeks. For a finishing touch, draw on decorators’ gel pupils or whiskers, if you like.

www.familyfun.com

Fluffer Bunnies

• Marshmallows
• Scissors
• Toothpicks
• Food coloring

Using scissors, make a diagonal cut in the upper left corner of the marshmallow. Gently lift the corner and make a snip down the middle. Use your fingers to separate the ears and angle them outward. From the point where the first cut was made, snip to the middle of the marshmallow. Pinch the cut end slightly to form a rounded tail.

For the bunny’s face, make a 1/4-inch horizontal cut midway between the base of the ears and the bottom of the marshmallow. Create the feet by making a diagonal cut in the lower left corner of the marshmallow. Divide the feet as shown. Using a toothpick dipped in food coloring, draw on the eyes, nose and whiskers.

www.familyfun.com

Sweet Tweets

• 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
• Green food coloring
• 1 cupcake
• Green frosting
• 2 plain doughnut holes
• Toothpicks
• Yellow frosting
• 1 orange gumdrop
• Black decorator’s gel
  

Place the coconut in a resealable plastic bag with a few drops of green food coloring. Shake the bag to color the coconut, then transfer to a bowl.

With a paring knife, remove a quarter-size portion of the center of the cupcake top. Frost the cupcake green, including the indentation. Dip the frosted cupcake into the coconut and add a dollop of yellow frosting to the indentation.

Trim a small slice off the doughnut holes so each has one flat surface. Skewer a doughnut hole on a toothpick, frost it with yellow frosting, and place it in the cupcake indentation flat side up. Use the same technique to frost the second doughnut hole. Stack it on the first hole flat side down.

Cut a small beak from the gumdrop and push it onto the chick’s head. Finally, add two black gel eyes.

www.familyfun.com