Watercolor Easter Egg Garlands DIY
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My husband and I both spent our early childhood in Waldorf schools (he went all the way through high school) and have fond memories of the opportunities we had to get messy with art. I distinctly remember the way my Kindergarten’s watercolors smelled and how excited I felt when my teachers pulled the glass jars of vibrant blue, red, and yellow out of the fridge.
I’ve been looking to bring some of these hands-on experiences into our own home to balance out some of the tedium of virtual school during the pandemic. On a recent sunny day, I pulled out my old wood painting boards and Stockmar watercolor paints and introduced my girls (ages 4 and 6) to wet-on-wet watercolor painting. In a nutshell, wet-on-wet painting involves dipping your watercolor paper in water before you apply the paint. You also wet a wood surface to hold your paper in place. We distilled just the primary colors for our paints and my girls loved making the watercolors dance and move on the paper. The extra water creates a layer of buoyancy under the paint that prevents it from immediately soaking into the watercolor paper. We painted starry night skies, dusky sunsets, and mysterious forests. Painting kept us occupied in peaceful creativity for at least a full hour. It was a win in my book!
When we were done, we took our paintings outside to dry. I originally thought I’d reuse their artwork for handmade cards, but the muted pastels that were left after the paint dried brought to mind the colors of Easter. My mind went from cards to eggs and recently got around to turning our watercolor paintings into Easter Egg Garlands that make me smile every time I see them.
I am not an expert in wet-on-wet painting and was totally flying by memory. But it was deliciously messy. If you’d like to learn more about this technique there are many lovely tutorials available online. I’ve recently discovered Sundays with Sarah – who has a great tutorial. You do not have to use this watercolor technique for this tutorial, but I love the beautiful pastel tones it gave our paintings – perfect for Easter Eggs! I do recommend using real watercolor paper so that your eggs have some heft to them.
Supplies Needed for Watercolor Easter Egg Garlands
- Watercolor artwork (on watercolor paper)
- Pencil
- Yarn (I switched to a less chunky yarn after I took this photo)
- Foam board or cardboard to create Easter egg template (feel free to use mine below)
- Single hole puncher
- Scissors
Directions
- Draw the shape of an Easter egg onto cardboard or foam board. Cut this out to create your egg template. Feel free to use my hand-drawn egg template here.
- Using your template and a pencil, trace the Easter egg shape onto the back of your watercolor artwork. I made a few templates so that my kids could join in on the fun. Hand-eye coordination y’all!
- Cut out your eggs and punch a single hole at the top. If you aren’t planning to involve your kids, you could sew the eggs onto thin yarn for a more precise look.
- Once all your eggs are cut and punched, measure out the yarn for your garland. I measured about three feet of yarn for my garland.
- Start tying your eggs onto the garland and leave around 5 inches extra at the beginning and end of your yarn for attaching your garland to a surface in your home.
My favorite part about this craft is that it brought some Easter magic into our home a little early. My kids loved cutting out their own eggs and how each one looked different and unique -similar to dying real Easter eggs. They aren’t super precise with scissors just yet, so some of their eggs came out a bit jagged, but that makes me love them even more.
My littlest one Z even took a few of the eggs and built her own bird’s nest, which her pet crow (a leftover Halloween decoration) has been nesting on all morning. I will have to think of some creative ways to make them “hatch.”
If you decide to try this craft for yourself, I’ve love to see a photo in the comments below. I think it’s a beautiful way repurpose kid artwork and bring the beauty of the season into your home.
