Candy-Filled Photo Eggs

Yum! Won't the kids love getting a little plastic Easter egg with their photo on it and filled with colorful candy? We think so! The plastic eggs are the two piece kind you buy in the craft store. We bought ours so early that all we could find were white, so we painted them in pastel colors with regular craft paints. If you can find the ones that are already colored, not only does it save you a step, but it makes the placement and adjustment of your waterslip decal photos and designs a lot easier! The egg holder "collars" in our photo are simply made from printing out a strip that measures 5" X 1/2" and taping it into a circle.

MATERIALS

Plastic two piece eggs

Craft paints (unless you use the colored eggs)

Waterslip decals (we used clear for this project)(see Products>Waterslip Decals)

Decal Finishing spray

Scissors

Tape measure

INSTRUCTIONS

1) If you have purchased the white eggs, paint them with the craft paints. It's easier to separate them into two pieces to paint them. Just stuff your fingers inside the egg to hold it in place while you paint. Then place the egg halves on a paper plate to dry.

2) Measure the distance around the top part of the egg where it comes apart. (You only need to do this if you plan on placing a border decal around the center of the egg like we did with one of the eggs in the photo above.)

3) Open a blank page in your graphics program. Place the photos you want to use on the page. Keep in mind that since you are placing decals on a curved surface, the smaller the better. The photo decals on our eggs measure 7/8" high by 5/8" wide (the photos that are egg-shaped).

4) If you will be making the border that we have on one egg, make a rectangle 5" long and 1/4" high. Place whatever clipart you want to use for your border within this rectangle. Copy, paste, group and resize if necessary.

5) Print a test sheet on plain paper to make sure everything looks the way you want.

6) Once you're satisfied with the photos and borders, print out on a sheet of waterslip decal paper. Allow to dry for about 5 minutes.

7) Spray the decal sheet with two to three coats of the finishing spray in a well ventilated area. Allow to dry about an hour between coats.

8) Cut out your decals and soak each one in room temperature water for about 5 - 10 seconds. Since these are tiny decals, less soaking time is needed. Slip them off the backing paper and onto the egg SLOWLY. If you have painted your eggs, it will be a little harder to move the decal around to reposition it, so be careful about placement.

9) NOTE: If you are making the border for the center of the egg, put that decal on FIRST - before the photo decals, otherwise you may find that the photo decal has been placed too low for the border to fit (we found this out the hard way!)

10) Blot the decals gently with a soft tissue and place the eggs somewhere where they can dry and set upright. We found that cutting the bottom out of the small paper cups you usually put in the bathroom made the perfect size holder!

Once the eggs have been allowed to dry overnight, you can fill them with small Easter candies. Set them in our Rainbow Easter basket (see our PROJECTS page) and you're all set! An Easter that the little ones will not soon forget!

Candy-Filled Photo Eggs Instructions

For a print friendly version, click on this link.