Early Easter Craftiness

Pinterest abounds with Easter celebration ideas and decorations.  Last year, I sewed for Easter.  That craft may maintain status as my favorite Easter craft.  Cute and full of chocolate goodness, they were a hit for my niece and nephews.  This year, though not quite the height of crafty achieved last year, I've decided on another craft to give a small gift at Easter.

These eggs were made by pushing small chocolate, foil-wrapped Easter egg candies into water balloons. This can be the tricky part- the balloons are thin and so they tend to tear.  I typically pulled the lip of the un-inflated balloon around the candy.  When sufficiently surrounded by balloon, I then blow up the balloon to cause the egg to fall into the bottom.  I then repeat the process for the second chocolate egg only this time I tie off the balloon while inflated.

The string/thread is crochet thread of various colors.  Yes, I also have a stash of crochet thread.  I simply dip the thread in Mod-Podge and, while wet, I wrap it around the balloon in a random pattern leaving the tie of the balloon on the outside.  When sufficient thread is wrapped, I use an binder clip to suspend the egg by the balloon tie on a piece of thread tied to the top of my laundry basket.  I let them hang there to dry.

It can be tricky to determine whether your project is completely dry.  If it isn't completely dry, the thread egg will collapse and not retain it's shape. When in doubt, let it dry some more.  Once dry, I snip the balloon through the dried thread, trying to create a large enough hole in the balloon to ensure that the chocolate eggs fall out of the balloon.  The balloon can collapse around your chocolate egg making it hard to remove inside the egg.  You might need to move your scissors through several of the holes in the thread to do this successfully.  Once the balloon is fully separated from the thread, pull the balloon out through one of the larger holes.

These treats are for my niece and nephews again this year.  I'm wondering how clever they will be in trying to remove their chocolate eggs.  We'll see next weekend!