Easter 2011 (continued)

Several weeks ago, I read a magazine article about how to dye eggs naturally. "That's interesting," I thought. the more I read, the more I was intrigued. I wanted to give it a try. So I did.

An extra trip to the grocery store was in order. I guess many people might have all the ingredients on hand to make these all-natural egg dyes. I did not. And I can tell you, if you don't have the necessary ingredients already, dying eggs the natural way ends up being quite a bit more expensive. But, still, I wanted to try it.

So, for this year's Easter eggs, we used turmeric to make yellow dye; blackberries for lavender; pomegranate juice for red; and spinach to make a green dye. I bought some other things for other colors, but quickly found out I wouldn't have the time (or the patience) to make ALL those different colors.

The process took a lot more time and effort (and was considerably more messy) than opening up a package of PAAS, but it was fun. Although my husband might speak otherwise.


The results? Well, our results weren't great, but I'd still try it again.
The turmeric worked out the best, turning our eggs a bright yellow in no time.


The blackberries worked fairly well for lavender. Notice the cracked eggs. Any egg dyed by Annabelle came out cracked. She threw them into the containers with such force, I 'm surprised they weren't smashed to pieces. She was really excited about this whole egg dying thing.

Now. The pomegranate juice. I expected a beautiful, vibrant red. What we ended up with was -- to use Annabelle's favorite word -- a "yucky" brown.


The spinach turned out to be a dud. Our eggs came out not green, but just as white as they were when we put them into the container.

My little experiment may not have been 100 percent successful, but we still had fun. Maybe we'll try again next year with a few different ingredients. I know of at least two we won't be using -- spinach and pomegranate juice.

I bought a set of resurrection eggs this year -- something I've wanted to do for a while. The kids loved them. I don't know that we used them quite the way they were intended, but we had fun. The Easter story was told...numerous times...and the eggs were opened and reopened again and again.


And since I haven't posted this picture yet, here you go...the 2011 visit with the Easter Bunny. Jacob ran right up to him. Annabelle wasn't running. She was a little hesitant, but Jacob managed to coax her over. She didn't really seem scared, just unsure.

The kids are way cuter than the Easter Bunny. Wouldn't you agree?