DIY ~ Pom Pom Easter Egg

I have to say this year is going by way too fast. Easter's only 2 weeks away! I don't really have any Easter decor so I decided I wanted to make a pom pom Easter egg. {surprise surprise...}

Haven't you always wanted one? Here we go...

Items Needed

yarn {you can decide how many colors you want- I used 2 colors- pink & cream with gold specks}

pom pom maker {you can purchase one here or use your fingers- I used the 1 5/8 size}

card board box

ribbon {for hanging & for decorating} not pictured

hot glue gun

round plate {the size you want the bottom of your egg to be}

scissors

pen

tape

1 ~ make pom poms 

I ended up making about 10 of each color- then making more as I went along counting how many 

more I would need by laying them out on my egg a row at a time

2 ~ draw your egg on to the cardboard box

use your plate to draw the bottom then just free hand the top

the marker won't show in the end

if you use the bottom of the box with tape in the middle 

you can use it in the step after the next one to make the egg even by folding it over

2 ~ cut your egg out

3 ~ fold your cardboard in half then cut to even 

your egg out

4 ~ tape your fold how ever many times to make 

your cardboard strong & unbendable - can you see the clear tape?

5 ~ place your pom poms on your egg to see how 

you want to glue them down

6 ~ use hot glue

to glue them in place

half way through & looking good!

7 ~ glue a small piece of ribbon to the middle of the 

back to hang your egg

if you want- add a ribbon- a frame & a rabbit!

I think some people would add a thicker/ bigger ribbon but I kind of like this little one

* does anyone think it's weird that I show a finished product picture at the front & at the end of my post? for some reason when I see a tutorial I like to see what it looks like before I start & remember what it looks like at the end. dumb? not dumb?

My Family In Stitches

Every summer when I was little- we would travel over a 1000 miles from Yuma, Az to Salt Lake City, Ut then up to Driggs, Id. 1000 miles is a lot of hours in the car for 7 kids {6 of them girls} Remember this was a long time ago- long before ipods & DS's. Think 8 tracks & optional seat belts...  

We would visit my dad's sisters who were super talented at quilting- needle point & cross stitching. My Aunt Dorothy taught us how to do fun needle point stitches on our levis. So hours & hours in the car turned a few boring levis into one of kind levis with flowers down the side- cheesy? maybe- but we thought they were cool. I would also embroider my used point shoes or anything else I could get my hands on. 

 When I went to my 20th High School reunion last winter {yes I'm old} 

I stayed with one of my oldest friends Emma. She still had this point shoe I decorated 

for her from her 16th birthday! We called our selves the dilemma's. 

I was disco nic & she was the slicker chic we were 

silly teenagers what do you expect... 

 Last winter my cute friend Jessica showed me this cross stitch DIY from her Martha Stewart magazine. She was planning to do one as a Christmas present for her husband. I was dying to do one right away but I just didn't have the time. I finally got around to doing one this week & I'm in love with cross stitching again! 

 Items needed 

aida cloth- I used a 14 count in natural color {the smaller the number the wider the squares- so 8 count would make your people bigger} 

embroidery thread {choose colors after you graph each person out} 

embroidery needles 

embroidery hoop {wood is best} 

graph paper 

colored pencils 

scissors 

 Keep in mind each person is very small- Adam is about 2 inches tall {36 squares high} 

Can you see Reyn in the baby carrier?

Go here for Martha's tutorial & here for her clip art patterns. It's easiest if you draw the pattern out on graph paper first. I used Martha's clip art for sizing starting with Adam then making myself a little shorter & although Kaleb is taller than me now- I wanted to make him shorter so you could see that he was a kid & I made Elsa 3 or 4 squares taller than Ida. I ended up changing Martha's patterns around- like the girls dresses & making heart shaped balloons. It's really fun to play around with.     

Make sure to graph all your people before you start stitching

 ida my 2 1/2 yr old  

she loves pig tails & balloons- she also 

loves dresses & tights 

kaleb my 14 yr old  he's my only brown eyed kid.  

you'll rarely see him without a sweatshirt & jeans on.  

he also has bieber hair- I tried my best 

this is me 

you can find me in an outfit like this almost daily 

my neck is folded & shortened because I made my neck one square too long

 my husband adam carrying reyn my 8 1/2 yr old 

he loves t-shirts & straight jeans or pants- he always has a beard. 

I ended up playing with his beard while I was stitching it & it turned out a bit fuller than my drawing &  looking a little like a monkey- Oh well

 elsa my 4 yr old  

she's always wearing a dress & tights & up until recently  

her cream cowgirl boots {they are too small now- sad face}  

she also loves balloons & a pony tail 

It fits perfectly on my wall of frames {one day i'll take a picture of said wall}  

ps. I just used what ever colored pencils I had to color my drawings with & then picked my thread after. I  wrote what colors I wanted to use on my drawing so I would remember when I went to the fabric store. 

pss. While I was picking out my thread- I ran into my Aunt Jeanie {my SLC Aunt} at the store - crazy!

**update- I'm will be taking commissioned orders to cross stitch your family starting May 10th. I will have a few of my own patterns to choose from. They will be $20 per person. Email me at elsabags@gmail.com

& The Winners Are

 Jill Kaufusi

Heather-Rita 

* Linda will email you your code for your download! Thanks everyone for entering

Girls With A Message - Giveaway!

         Every night when my girls go to bed they want daddy or
me to tell them a story. Usually we make up an embellished story about
them & their day. Since my girls are sooo obsessed with being princesses
we try not to mention princesses in the story. We try to talk about how they can be
doctors or artist or anything that isn't princess like. We also like to tell them how smart
they are or how nice they've been- for example

"Elsa loved playing with her dolls today she even shared her favorite doll with her sister 
Ida & Ida was so happy she gave Elsa a huge hug & called Elsa her best 
friend in the world" 

Do we think our somewhat mind control stories will make our girls not want to 

be princess when they grow up or make them be super nice to each other all day-
you bet! 

Has it worked- not yet but we are still hopeful.... 

I think it's important to send our girls a positive message & I absolutely 

love these digital downloads from artist Linda Tieu also known as Tortagialla. 

They fit right into the way I want to raise my girls to think & feel. 

Today I am 

giving away 2 

adorable downloadable prints from Linda! 

Yay! 

Want to win? Check out more prints over at Linda Tieu & just leave a comment below telling me which one is your fav.
I'll announce the winners Tuesday 

If you want to buy a hard copy now you can buy one here. 

If you want to carry one around with you on a necklace- key chain or put a magnet on your fridge 

go here to buy

.  

Thank you for entering!!!

* Have you read this blog post on how to talk to little girls on A Cup Of Jo's blog? It's one of my favorite post ever.

** update- check out Linda's blog post to see how you can embellish your girl with a message print! so cute