DIY Easter Egg Ladies

On Thursday evening, I went to my mum's house to dye Easter Eggs, eat hot crossed buns, and drink shirley temples. (Best combination ever--- thanks mum!)  I decided to change up the Easter eggs a little bit this year, and make some sweet little dollies eggs too! They turned out way  better than I had expected (isn't it lovely when that happens?) I even made a self portrait one (above!) This would be a super cute project, especially with families-- each person can be an egg! (just what you always wanted! haha) Here's how:

All you need is:

• Food colouring
• Vinegar (optional but we always have used it)
• Sharpie
• Pencil (optional)
• Acrylic paint
• Paint Brush
• Sharpie paint pen (optional, I had it on hand)
• Markers (non permanent)

 Basically, all you do is dip half/three-quarters of the hard boiled egg in dye as usual. Waiting until it has reached your desired colour, then place into egg carton to dry.

Take a pencil and sketch a hairline and eyes (or freehand with a sharpie if you're feeling confident)

Once you have your lines down, paint the hair with acrylic paints and a small paintbrush. Let that dry, then decorate the outfit (dyed part) with sharpie paint or markers. That's it! 

I may have taken a RIDICULOUS number of pictures... but they were just so cute I couldn't help myself (thanks to my mum for letting me raid her china cabinet for props!)

PS: Don't they look like they're riding on a bus in the egg carton? Too cute!

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter with their near and dear!

Do you have any Easter Traditions, Egg-related or otherwise?

Tuesday Treasures

Easter is almost upon us! How is it spring already? I guess because it never snowed I don't feel like we're properly done with winter yet (I can feel people shaking their fists at me as I type) but the sunshine and smell of freshly cut lawns is rather lovely. Daffodils aren't too bad either.

I'm a spring baby (actually, my birthday is on Easter every once and awhile) so I'm always fond of this time of the year. When I was a little kid, we used to have Easter Egg hunts for my birthday parties, usually rather soggy due to April weather. Fun times nevertheless. While I won't have any Easter Egg hunting this year (being an adult is overrated) I will dye eggs like I have since I was a kid. I'll be posting my lovely eggies later this week!

Here's my Easter Themed Tuesday Treasures!

Links

• Easter Wreath
• Vintage cards 
• Easter Banner
• Easter Eggs 
• Baby Chick Pendant

Have a lovely short-week everyone! Any big plans for Easter?

Chinese New Year

I went downtown for the Chinese New Year Celebrations this year. Chinatown is my favourite place in Victoria. I love the old buildings, the alleyways, the bustling markets and the delicious food. My favourite spot is "The Bubble Tea Place" by Dragon Alley. (Okay, how cool is the name Dragon Alley!?!) During the stress of University, I'd go and sit by the window in this AMAZING building, enjoying a bubble tea amongst the delicious smells of tea and incense. This place rocks.

For those of you who have never had bubble tea, it's a tea based drink with a mixture of fruit flavours with tapioca balls and "fruit jellies" in the bottom. You can get it milk based too. I prefer the fruitier ones myself. The straws are huge, so you drink the tea and eat the jellies and tapioca at the bottom. If you're ever in the area, go check it out, it's always good to try new things!

 Here are some of the photos I took:

The Bubble Tea Place

I love the architecture, the "Gates of Harmonious Interest" and the lovely lanterns

Dragon Dance outside the Chinese Traditional School

New Meets Old

My favourite seat at the Bubble Tea Place

The Famous Fan Tan Alley

It was amazing how many people came out!

Victoria's Chinatown is the oldest in Canada, which is pretty neat. I love being able to share my beautiful city. :)

Thanks for reading,

Tuesday Treasures Valentines Day Edition

To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of Valentines Day. Maybe it's being single. Maybe it's because it's the season of ugly generic heart necklaces (sorry if anyone has one! they're not all ugly....but there are some doozies out there) and chocolates waay too soon after the holidays. I do really like pink and red together (in the right combinations) so I've decided to take the romance part out, replace it with love, and do up a this week's Tuesday Treasures for Valentines Day!

I love this tree. It would be sweet on a Valentines Day Card

Gorgeous! I could deal with eating some heart shaped pancakes with jam on these beauties!

I'm seriously in love with this framed print.

I hate change in wallets--- this would be a very smart solution! And the cutest fabric!

Lovely Vintage Brooch!

Perfect for the little Valentine in your life!

Next winter...I want to be little red riding hood.

• Love Tree
• Ruffled Milk Glass
• Print 
• Coin Purse 
• Brooch
• Elephant Toy
• Hooded Scarf

Happy Valentines Day!

52 Project and Some Goals

Hello Everyone!

Happy New Year! 

Isn't it strange to think we've entered the 20"teens". I've often wondered how we're going to divide these years when looking back at them. I mean, you can say "oh, that mod dress is so 60's"... but what era do you say the "one inch zipper" low rider jeans of my youth would be in? "Oh, those are so....00's?". "First decade?" <-- much too space age sounding for me, thanks. Anyways, it's a conundrum. >_<

I'm sure half of people are feeling inspired and motivated today. The other half are avoiding loud noises and hiding in dark rooms. I'm not quite sure what I'm feeling. I think for me, September will always feel more like a "new year" than January.... the obvious shift in the season, "going back to school" (my favourite time as a child), getting out of the flip flops and into boots and warm coats.

 I have caught a bit of an organization bug this recently. I've always been a little disastrous (but well meaning!) with my home. I think I used to just get overwhelmed at the loads of crafting supplies. Now I "get" what works and am slowly implementing it. I also got a kick-ass vacuum for Christmas, so these aging apartment carpets are going to have a face lift (I can hope!)

Anyways, with all of the New Years and motivational stuff going around, I decided to make a few resolutions...

Resolutions 2013

1. Take better care of myself (exercise, eat better, floss... you know, the usual)

2. Take more care to put things away and don't let things pile up into Hurricane Karen. (A term an old boyfriend <not always so affectionately> coined)

3. Learn to enjoy doing nothing more. Put on a movie or pick up a book, make a cup of tea, and just enjoy being. I'm terrible at relaxing and always feel fidgety if I'm not "making" something. I really need to work on this.

4. Really start pushing to make my <<dream>> of an illustrated card line a <<reality>>.

5. Sell the dolls at a craft fair or local flea market... not a huge expensive fair where they'll get lost in the shuffle.

6. Update this blog regularly! (I'm the worst)

7.  Keep a positive attitude about work, even if it is a bit frazzling sometimes.

8. Try to get out of the house more. Go to a coffee shop. Get food from some little hole in the wall. It's so easy to be a hermit when you live alone.

9. Organize my closet. Get rid of things that don't fit, I've always hated etc.

10. Not feel guilty and mad at myself that I cut my hair. I'm growing it out again, that does not make it a failure. I'm just trying to deal with it. It's frustrating. I'm scissor happy. I'll keep trying different styles until I find something that works. If it's always in an ugly stage, oh well.

I also have decided to do a

52 project

(365 projects sound lovely, but this is definitely more manageable... (plus where the heck would I put 365 dolls?!?!) I'll try to keep to it the best I can ^_^.

 So stay tuned for more regular postings, perhaps some pictures of a reorganized work space, and constant updates with new dollies. It's kinda fun to think all that yarn is going to be become little huggable dollies for people to love! I can't wait to name them!

Thanks for reading dears,

Karen