DIY Paint Chip Easter Egg Garlands

*There is a children’s Sunday School lesson tip using this craft at the end of the post!*

I’m a little late getting all my Easter decorations out this year, but I leave them up all Spring, so I’m okay with that.  Normally, I add one or two new store-bought decorations with each new holiday or season.  Not this time!  I came across this fabulous and brilliant DIY craft on Pinterest and knew I had to give it a shot.  After swinging by the original post and tutorial by Steph over at Modern Parents Messy Kids, I set out to gather my supplies.

I had to go to Lowe’s to get the paint for Kasen’s nursery, and while I perused the grays and silvers, I managed to grab a “few” extra Olympic paint chip samples, in a variety of Spring hues.  I did feel a bit of guilt over the number taken, but Micah picked up stray samples others had rudely discarded on the floor, and we turned them in to the cashier, so I think he worked off the “amount.”  I also bought paint and a staple gun, so not feeling too bad for them.

Here are all the supplies I used for the Easter Egg Garlands:

Cost:$3, only because I had to buy some yarn, although it will also be used in another Pinterest DIY project I’ll be working on.

I did use the provided egg template from Modern Parents Messy Kids, for the first few small eggs I cut out.  I ended up using an egg I cut from the paint chip for the rest of the small eggs since the paper was a bit thicker and easier to trace.  I suggest printing the egg template on cardstock if available, or free-hand.  I’m not that brave!  I used an egg Micah created at his sitter’s for the large egg template.

Trace on the back of the paint chips to eliminate marks on the eggs

I was able to get 3-4 eggs out of the sample using the small egg template.  This does include some of the paint name on 1 of the eggs you’ll cut, so if you don’t want the print, I would only trace 2 per sample.  Of course this is for the specific Olympic paint sample.  I was able to get 1 egg per sample with the large template.

Punch two holes in the top of the eggs.  A smaller hole punch can be used.  I had to borrow one from the church, standard single punch, and it was the perfect size to easily push the yarn through each egg when stringing.  I tied a small knot on the end I was feeding through the holes, which made it easy to handle and prevented fraying.  I really like how the colorful yarn looks!

This was a time consuming project for me, from hand-tracing the eggs, cutting them out 3-4 samples at a time, punching them 2-3 eggs at a time, and stringing them together.  It took me a few hours, but I created 5 garlands of about 20 eggs each. I also had to help take care of a attention-craving two-year old, which did not leave my hands free the whole time!

Check out the results!

Pirate Elephants, Healing, and Hope: Day 25: Lent Journey

“³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (NIV)

It’s hard to believe we are on Day 25!  God is leading me on an incredible journey that has taken unexpected, but fruitful turns.  While He is still refining the message I will share with you tomorrow, I am honored to have a guest blogger joining us today.  Leanne Penny shares her heart over at leannepenny.com as she allows God to minister through her life and words, “journeying with those hurting, healing, and choosing joy.”

I have known Leanne since 2007 when we met in a counseling class at Asbury Seminary in tiny Wilmore, KY.  I was smitten with the fabulousness that is Leanne.  We found many common interests including food, helping others, college football, and being silly and spending time with good friends.

Just for fun...A photo of Leanne and I from a gathering in KY to watch an OU football game (2008)

While her stay in Wilmore ended before mine, a fellow Okie, her husband Kel, brought her back to my home state (OK), and Leanne now makes a lovely home in Ada, OK for her family, which includes two beautiful children.

Photo courtesy of Folsom Photography and leannepenny.com

Leanne is a constant source of inspiration for me and many others, and she is on my must-read blogs list.  When I think of people that embody the above verse from 2 Corinthians, Leanne comes to mind.  She has suffered great loss and tragedy in her young life, has walked in utter darkness, but she has clung to God’s saving grace, letting His light shine through her life.  Where she has found comfort in Christ, she is now able to offer that same comfort to others who are hurting, broken, and bruised.  God is truly creating her ashes into something beautiful.

I am blessed to call her my friend, and so grateful she is willing to share her words of hope with us today.  You can read more about Leanne HERE.  Check out her story HERE.  I encourage you to visit her blog, follow her on twitter, or like her Facebook page, so you can journey with Leanne as restoration and joy is found.

Here’s Leanne: