Easter Crafts and Decorations

 these sweet bunnies are made with vellum you and also make them out of tissue paper to make a sweet garland. You can also make a flag  garland out of fabric or  pastel colored or patterned paper or here is one made of blown out eggs.

using dyed egg shells to hold small grapehyacinths , blue bells and lily of the valley here are some other centerpieces.

and if you are really into decorating hardcore easter eggs here is the best thing pysanka eggs /aka ukrainian eggs. here is a brief history and images of the eggs. to start the eggs you take a kitska  which is a tool you warm up over a candle and stick bees wax in the top and as it heats up you can draw on the egg whatever design you want and whatever design that is it will be resistant to the colored dyes. You go from the lightest color which is the eggshell white clear down to the last coat black Then at the end of the black stage you take the egg over the candle and melt and wipe off all the wax from the eggs shell. 

 

The word comes from the verb pysaty, "to write", as the designs are not painted on, but written with beeswax The word pysanka refers specifically to an egg decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs, and is not a generic term for any egg decorated using wax resist. Many other eastern European ethnic groups, decorate eggs using wax resist for Easter.With the advent of Christianity via a process of religious syncretism the symbolism of the egg was changed to represent, not nature's rebirth, but the rebirth of man. Christians embraced the egg symbol and likened it to the tomb from which Christ rose. With the acceptance of Christianity in 988, the decorated pysanka, in time, was adapted to play an important role in Ukrainian rituals of the new religion. Many symbols of the old sun worship survived and were adapted to represent Easter and Christ's Resurrection.Pysanky are typically made to be given to family members and respected outsiders. To give a pysanka is to give a symbolic gift of life, which is why the egg must remain whole. Furthermore, each of the designs and colors on the pysanka is likely to have a deep, symbolic meaning. Traditionally, pysanky designs are chosen to match the character of the person to whom the pysanka is to be given. Typically, pysanky are displayed prominently in a public room of the house.
In a large family, by Holy Thursday, 60 or more eggs would have been completed by the women of the house. (The more daughters a family had, the more pysanky would be produced.) The eggs would then be taken to the church on Easter Sunday to be blessed, after which they were given away. Here is a partial list of how the pysanky would be used:

1. One or two would be given to the priest.
2. Three or four were taken to the cemetery and placed on graves of the family.
3. Ten or fifteen were given to children or godchildren.
4. Ten or twelve were exchanged by the unmarried girls with the eligible men in the community.
5. Several were saved to place in the coffin of loved ones who might die during the year.
6. Several were saved to keep in the home for protection from fire, lightning and storms.
7. Two or three were placed in the mangers of cows and horses to ensure safe calving and colting and a good milk supply for the young.
8. At least one egg was placed beneath the bee hive to insure a good harvest of honey.
9. One was saved for each grazing animal to be taken out to the fields with the shepherds in the spring.
10. Several pysanky were placed in the nests of hens to encourage the laying of eggs.

Everyone from the youngest to the oldest received a pysanka for Easter. Young people were given pysanky with bright designs; dark pysanky were given to older people.
A bowl full of pysanky was invariably kept in every home. It served not only as a colorful display, but also as protection from all dangers the colors and decorations are all symbolic and ave some meaning . so if you wanted to give one of these to a loved one it probably would not be a bad idea. Well I will update later with some ukrainain eggs of my own.