Paper Punched Easter Eggs

To christen my new blog, I thought I'd start with an easy Easter themed craft. I saw the directions for this fun and easy project called Paper Punched Easter Eggs by Nikki, In Stitches and thought it'd be a great way to use of some of my massive amounts of scrapbook paper.

For this project, you'll need paper, a circle punch or a Cricut machine, Styrofoam eggs, and straight pins. That's it! Nikki's directions use a 5/8" paper punch, which I don't have. But I DO have a Cricut machine! After choosing my paper and applying it to the cutting mat, I chose the basic circle off the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, and set the dial at 3/4". Then I selected the auto fill button, which for a 12"x12" page will cut 196 circles. (I know that sounds like a lot of circles for one egg, but it actually was just about right, leaving just a small stack of each color to be used on another project.) Press cut, then sit back and let the machine do the work for you. Easy! Here's what the page looks like after all the cuts have been made. I bought the Styrofoam eggs at Michael's. I felt they were a little pricey, at roughly $4 each, so I may shop around and see if I can find a better price for next time.

Start at the top (narrow) end by placing a circle on top and securing it with 4 pins. Then start the next row with a single pin at the bottom of the circle, making sure to cover the pins from the first circle.

Slightly overlap the next circle over the previous one, and insert a pin in the spot where the 2 circles overlap. Continue pinning the circles this way for the rest of the row.

Keep pinning the circles on the egg all the way to the bottom. When you get to the very bottom of the egg and have just one circle left, simply apply a little glue (or I used my scrapbook adhesive runner) to the back of the final circle, and stick on the bottom to cover the pins from the last row.

While working on my final egg, my 3.5 year old daughter got involved by handing me a circle, then a pin, circle, pin, and so on. She wisely told me that it was a pattern! She was very careful with the pins and it was a fun time to spend with her, just the two of us.

The finished product looks sweet in a basket full of Easter grass. I can't wait to make some more for next year, trying out different patterns and colors.