Seeds, Tea and Herbs, Oh My! Making Textured Easter Eggs

Yesterday, my natural dye eggs were on TV, but SO WERE these textured eggs. Using a variety of "natural ingredients" I managed to decorate my blown out egg shells, and the eggs that cracked during the boiling process. I used a variety of dried ingredients to get different colors, textures and even patterns. 

I love the look and variety of textured Easter Eggs. To make mine, I simply painted my cracked and ugly hard boiled eggs with some Mod Podge, and then dusted them with seeds, tea, herbs etc... 

To be honest, I'm not sure I would eat a cracked Easter egg that was slathered in glue. I WANTED to try using beaten raw egg and pigment- like the old master painters used in Frescoes... but for this project, I was fine with a disposable, naturally textured finished product. 

I started by painting half of my egg with Mod Podge, dipping it into whatever decorative bits I was using from my kitchen, and then let the gluey half dry for a while.

 

Then I would coat the other half of the egg in glue and paint IT with something from the pantry. In the sample below, I taped off a portion of the egg so that I could add a second color. 

When the glue was dry, I carefully removed the tape, painted the raw shell, and then repeated my glue, and sprinkle method...

For this piece, I used black pepper and paprika...

 

The sample below is White Chia seed:

This one is Amaranth seed:

This is some old Thyme I'd had in the pantry- it was no longer good for cooking due to age, so:

For some festive red, I used Red Pepper flakes:

For a reddish brown, I used Rooibos tea:

And here's my Pepper & Paprika egg:

This one was black wild rice (before the glue had fully dried clear):

I love the look of them mixed in with my Natural Dye Eggs...

And I especially love that we blew the whites and yolks out of a few shells, so that we could keep some of our textured eggs for a MUCH longer time than the extremely perishable hard boiled eggs!

Easter is coming! Will you be dying eggs?

My Eggs on The Doctors Today!

My Natural Dye Easter Eggs are making a cameo on today's episode of The Doctors. The episodes is called: Spring Health Dangers You Never Knew Were Making You Sick, FAT & Tired. Be sure to check your local listings and look out for them!

Full recipes for the natural dyes are located here!

The Craftcation Conference: An Inspiring DIY and Indie Business Whirlwind!

I had the great pleasure of being a speaker at the Craftcation Conference in Ventura, CA this past Thursday-Sunday. First of all, I need to say that there are no two ladies who work harder than Delilah Snell and Nicole Stevenson, the conference organizers. (pictured below)

I thought I was busy balancing freelance jobs, teaching gigs, secret trips to do secret crafty things, etsy sales and of course this blog.... But man oh man, putting together a DIY & Indie Business Conference that brings SO many inspiring people together - wow. Big thanks ladies. I was in amazing company and feel very lucky and thankful that you asked me to be a part of the speaker line-up. 

 

The conference was held in Ventura, CA; a place I called home for almost five years before moving to Los Angeles. It was both comforting and strange to be back in Ventura. I was wrapped in a blanket of memories when I drove through my old neighborhood to see the tiny 1-room studio I loved so much. It was like living in a treehouse there- giant pepper trees and palms outside every glass wall (the place had an extraordinary amount of windows!) and stuffed to capacity inside with my orchids and carnivorous plants. That was where I decided to participate in my first craft show back in 2005, and where my now husband came to pick me up for our first date... 

But that was only a fraction of my time in Ventura....

As soon as I had that badge around my neck, I was SO READY to meet the other speakers and attendees!

 

 

I gave four sessions at Craftcation and honestly, I was SO NERVOUS/EXCITED about the first two (Making the Most of Craftcation through Social Media & 10 Blog Photography Mistakes and How to Fix Them), that I didn't take many photos of the rooms or amazing people I was meeting. This was a huge mistake on my part, BECAUSE there were so many incredible people there, and I wanted to remember every. single. one of them!

A few new friends encouraged me to put the slides for those sessions onine. I am going to do that this week- along with a step-by-step tutorial to make the same DIY Lightbox I taught in my two Saturday sessions! I DID take photos during those sessions and it was really exciting to see so many people get pumped about this super cheap & easy way to improve their product photography!

These workshops were held in City Hall which is just stunning- and the light in the atrium was so so lovely.

 

I met a lot of incredible people in my class- one of whom was the super cute Stefanie Japel (of Stefanie Japel Knits) who wrote this blog post on her experience in my class!

Thanks to all the wonderful people I met...  Lauren Venell, Tiffany Moore, Ana from We Love Citrus, Ellen of Hellimae's Caramels, Clean Get Away Soap, I Make Cute Stuff, Opal Moon Henna, Crafted at the Port of LA, Alice Voss, Sé Reed, Steph from Hearts and Laserbeams and so many more!

And to my old friends and favorite people Rhea & Gabby from the Urban Craft Center, Christine Haynes, Miss Make, Little Sweet Thing and way more.... thank you for being your fabulous selves! And AGAIN huge thanks to Delilah and Nicole for putting this all together! Adore you all and hope to see you at the NEXT Craftcation!

xo

radmegan

No-Knead Rosemary Bread (or, Focaccia depending on how distracted you are)

Over the weekend, it rained and blustered outside; perfect bread-baking weather! I had just come across a recipe for no-knead bread through one of my new blog followers. (You know I welcome each of you guys by seeing who else you have subscribed to, right? It's a great way to discover awesome new blogs, and get a sense for what you're into!) 

 

The recipe I followed can be found at the Blessed Hearth's blog (go on, check it out!) - head's up, it's delicious.

I put the water and sugar into a mixing bowl and stir well. Add the yeast and stir again. Let rise for 10 minutes.

   

Add the flour, salt and rosemary and mix well with your mixer. Cover with a damp tea towel and rise for an hour or until doubled.

 

With oiled hands divide dough into two parts and form rounds. Sprinkle course sea salt and chopped fresh herbs on top as desired. Bake in an 375 degree oven for 30 - 35 minutes 

I wish you could smell this. Our home smelled like a hug from your favorite person when the bread was ready... and it tasted like a warm summer afternoon in Italy. 

And... just so you know, I baked this recipe twice over the weekend. The first time I baked it, I was completely distracted. I was working on freelance projects, weekend meetings, etc. etc... and the recipe came out as flat as can be! We called it our Accidental Focaccia Bread. Possibly a combination of too much yeast (the dough rose like a sea monster from the middle of a lagoon!) or too much water. Dough "rounds" were not possible... in fact, I poured the dough out on my Silpat mat...

...and I was so happy that I did, because even though I ended up with something that looked like a gigantic pancake, it was still delicious! We cut up our doormat of a "loaf" into small squares and dipped it into some olive oil. Yum!

In fact, when I baked this no-knead recipe the second time, I was kind of hoping it would turn into Focaccia again instead of the two perfect loaves it yielded.

 

Sometimes accidents in the kitchen still end up being delicious!

So whether you read this recipe and follow it exactly, or have one eye on your kids, dog, email... you can rest assured that no matter what the shape, this bread will still turn out yummy! Thanks again to the Blessed Hearth for the inspiration and recipe! 

Easy Knitting Fork Four-Leaf Clovers

Happy St. Patrick's Day friends!! I don't normally post tutorials on Saturdays, but this is a quick one- just a fun way to make up a St. Patrick's Day Shamrock (with 3-leaves, OR a lucky four-leaf clovers!) and avoid getting pinched for not waring green today!

If you have your radmegan-made knitting fork (aka a "lucet"), some green yarn, about 15 minutes and some green thread, you are half way done already! In THIS POST, I show how to make easy knitting fork hearts. Start by making four hearts in green yarn (I used Burly Spun 100% wool yarn), then hand stitch the hearts together at their pointy bottoms. 

 

I cut away some (not all!) of the tails that remain on the knitted hearts, and braided them together to make the stem of the shamrock/clover. At this point, you can add a pin back to the shamrock, or attach it to your blouse, hat, purse etc, with a few long hat pins, or a couple of quick stitches!

(Note, this would be way more adorable on a child than it is on me, but alas none of my sweet nieces/nephews were available for a photo-shoot this morning!)

And if you are in the mood for the MOST delicious Irish Soda Bread today, I would definitely encourage you to check out my recipe from last St. Patty's Day! It will have your Irish eyes a-smilin' and your hungry mouth a-waterin'!