How to Make Egg Boxes with Millinery Flowers and Leaves

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Fancy Egg Boxes with Millinery Flowers and Leaves

Make a beautiful keepsake Easter egg box with cheerful millinery flowers and leaves to add to Easter baskets. Created by embellishing paper mache egg boxes with clusters of springtime flowers and leaves, these pretty eggs are sure to delight even the most discerning bunnies. Add small Easter items like hens, chicks and tiny wooden eggs to complete an elegant Easter scene. Recreate one of our examples as detailed below or let your imagination guide you -- countless variations are possible! Eggs measure 4-1/2" long.

Supplies: Egg Boxes, Dresden Borders, Small Flowers, Small Leaves, Fruit, Chicks, Hens, Eggs, Berry Stamen, Clear-drying Glue (like Alleen's Tacky Glue), Scissors, Wire Cutters (or Scissors that will cut wire) , Needle Nose Pliers, "Liner" and "Flat" Paint Brushes, Paints, Optional: Base

General Assembly Steps:

Step 1: Gather and arrange supplies: Isolate flowers and leaves to determine combinations and placement. Hold up Dresden borders to see which match best.

Step 2: Paint both halves of egg box with two light coats of acrylic craft paint. Let dry.

Step 3: Glue a length of Dresden border along the edges of each egg half. Let dry.

Step 4: Prepare hen or chick, if using an ornament.

4a.) Trim hanger away from chick. Fill hole with a small drop of glue. Let dry.

4b.) Use a small liner brush to make 5 small dots of paint: 1 over the glue and 2 on either side. Let dry. The hens we used have a rustic and slightly distressed look --matching the paint would be nearly impossible. Instead choose a color that compliments the hues already used.

Step 5: Assemble flower bundles. With an unlimited number of flower and leaf combos, it's easy to create a completely custom bouquet to top your egg box. Illustrated below are the steps we used to create the bouquet on the yellow egg box.

5a.) Trim off the bottom 4 flowers, leaving 5 flowers and a group of stamen at the top of the sprig.

5b.) Form a bouquet by grouping individual flowers and sprigs together in an elongated bunch. The goal is to keep the blooms facing upward and out to the sides so all will be visible when placed on the egg. Adjust flower placement as needed to make sure and gaps are filled and flowers are close together but not crowded. Hold bouquet up to egg and adjust as needed.

5c.) Secure flowers by wrapping 1-2 stems tightly around the entire stem bundle. Wrap about 1/2" below the lowest-placed flower. Wrapping tightly is key to forming a sturdy bouquet.

5d.) Trim excess stems about 3/8" below wrapped stems using wire cutters or scissors that will cut wire.

5e.) Grab end of stems with needle nose pliers and gently bend stems to match the curve of the egg. Glue in place and let dry completely.

5f.) Tightly twist the stems of three leaves together. Bend twist at base of leaves. Cut away excess stems leaving about 1/2" of twist.

5g.) Gently bend leaves into a cupped shape to place over flower bunch stems. Try placement and adjust cupped shape as needed.

5h.) Glue leaves over flower stems, tucking leaves up into flowers so lower blooms will cover the leaves slightly. We placed glue on the flower stems, got the leaves placed, then added a few drops of glue to the under sides of the leaves near the tips and glued the tips to the egg. Let dry.

5i.) Glue hen in place. Let dry.

Tips:

- So many combinations of flowers + leaves + hens and more are possible. 5 of our favorites are detailed below.

- The egg will want to roll to one side once it has been decorated. While we tuck our eggs into Easter baskets, if you want to display yours on a table as a candy container, add a simple base to steady it. Paint base to match egg and glue in place on un-decorated side of egg.

- To ensure no flowers pull out of the bouquets, after glueing to the egg, add a small stripe of glue across the top of the bundle just above where the stems are wrapped. Additional stems of flowers can be individually glued to egg as well (in the golden egg below, the stem of the leaf sprig is glued in two additional places with 1-2 drops of glue).

- If your egg box seems to fit together unevenly after painting, position it as you wish and wrap a few rubber bands around it to help it hold position and regain a tighter fit.

Specific Supplies: Below are links to the supplies we used to create each egg.

Gold Egg with Flowers: 1 stem Ivy Leaves + 2 stems Blue Forget-me-nots + 2 Light Yellow Forget-me-nots + 1 White/Yellow Narcissus + 3 Orange Blossoms + 1 Large Yellow Narcissus + 1 Pale Orange Azalea + Antique Gold Dresden Border

Robin Egg Blue Egg with Berries: 2 Fabric Strawberry Leaves + 1 Velvet Strawberry Leaf + 1 Strawberry + 1 Raspberry Stamen + 4 Strawberry Flowers + 1 White/Yellow Narcissus + 1 Wooden Egg + Light Green Dresden Border

Yellow Egg with Bold Flowers + Hen: 1 Purple Lilac Sprig + 2 White Primroses + 1 White/Blue Narcissus + 1 stem Purple Forget-me-nots + 3 Yellow Fabric Violets + 2 Dusty Light Blue Forget-me-nots + 3 Dark Green Petite Rose Leaves + 1 Hen + Aqua Dresden Border

Blue Egg with Blue Tones: 1 Light Blue Lilac Sprig + 1 stem Blue Forget-me-nots + 3 Orange Blossoms + 2 White Forget-me-nots + 2 Pale Green Petite Rose Leaves + 1 Sage Green Petite Rose Leaf + 1 Hen + Steel Blue Dresden Border

Pink Egg with Chick: 1 stem Yellow Forget-me-nots + 2 Orange Blossoms + 2 White/Pink Narcissus + 1 White/Yellow Narcissus + 2 Light Pink Forget-me-nots + 3 Purple Marigolds + 1 Pale Green Petite Rose Leaf + 1 Chick + Silver Dresden Border

Paints used: Martha Stewart Crafts Paints in Gold (Metallic), Jet Stream (Pearl), and Pink Taffeta (Pearl). Craft Smart Paints in Light Yellow (Satin) and Robin Egg Blue (Satin).