Bright Creme Egg Box

My family looks forward to the weeks approaching Easter because I wind up buying candy especially for these boxes. Then they get to eat them after the photo is taken!

This box is my Cadbury Creme set, it will hold 4 eggs. I do recommend gluing the bottom tab as well as the side tabs because of the weight of the eggs.

Click on the images for larger versions, print 2 pages of the egg boxes, and one of the base. Cut out, score folds, fold and glue!

You can buy the blank template to decorate yourself at my Etsy store.

Cadbury Creme Egg Printable Box Set

I haven't made a creme egg box yet this year! I hope you enjoy this one. Click the images for larger versions, print at 8x10 inches on card stock. Cut out, score all folds. Glue side seams, then glue the bottom tabs of the egg boxes (seriously! those eggs are a bit heavy), fold top lip of base box over and glue to the inside to reinforce. Fill egg boxes and put them in the "basket". You can find more complete instructions and another creme egg box here. Print 2 of the egg box pages, and one of the base box pages.

You can buy the blank template in PNG, JPG or PDF format from my Etsy store (emailed) or in PDF format from Craftsy (instant download on Craftsy!)

Dying feathers with Easter Egg dye

I can't be the only one who buys up 10¢ packages of Easter egg dye after the holiday right? I get it mostly because we use it on tissue paper. We fold it and dip dye it to create soft geometric patterns.

I had some feathers I wanted to dye, and noticed the Easter egg dye package. So I decided to try that first before getting into more serious dyes.

This method will also work with Kool-aid and food coloring. So if you don't have Easter egg dye, you can use those.

You'll need:

Feathers with light colors. The not pink ones in my photo are the natural feathers. These are not super long feathers, but it will work with those as well. These are from my stash of feathers. 

Coloring- Easter egg dye, food coloring (the little dropper bottles are fine) or unsweetened Kool-Aid

A microwave safe bowl, cup or casserole- more on that in a minute

dish soap

vinegar

For your feathers, you'll want a dish they won't get the shaft broken in. These little feathers are quite flexible so I just used a coffee mug. If your feathers are too long for your microwave, well.. I want pictures when you're done! And I suggest a baking dish and heating it in your oven at 250 degrees F for 20 minutes instead of zapping it for 2. Most feathers can curve some without breaking the shaft, so if they aren't expensive feathers, try a casserole dish first.

Wash your feathers. This gets any oil off of them and off your fingers so the oil won't block the dye. I used a few drops of dish soap and warm water. I agitated them just a bit with my fingers and let them soak for 5 minutes, then rinsed them well.

Now, put your feathers, which will look limp and awful into your dish. If your feathers are small like mine, you can use 1/2 cup water and 3 Tablespoons of vinegar which is just what my Easter egg tablet instructions called for. If you're using Kool-aid or food coloring, you want to use a ratio of 2 parts water to 1 part vinegar to cover. So if it takes a cup of water in the bottom of a casserole to cover your feathers, add a 1/2 cup of vinegar. Then add your coloring. A half package of Kool-aid, 5 or 6 drops of food coloring. You don't need much unless you're doing a whole bunch of feathers. Cover the dish with plastic wrap with a couple holes in it if it's shallow so it won't boil over. I didn't because the coffee cup was deep and I'm out of plastic wrap and wanted to try it right that minute.

Take it out of the microwave and let it cool. Then pull out the sorry, sad looking wet feathers and rinse them well. I used a couple more drops of dish soap to make sure the colors took well. 

Now, dry the feathers. If you're only doing a few like I did, they will dry while you fluff them back out with your fingers. If you did a bunch put them in a box and use a hair dryer on low. They will dry pretty quick and the box will help keep them from winding up everywhere. Re-align the feathers if it's necessary.

So that's a fast, safe way to color feathers for hats, hair clips, earrings and even feather extensions. 

The feathers in Turnip Girl's hair were colored with food coloring. This photo was taken after she shampooed her hair with the feathers in it.

A word on feather extensions- I live in an area with a lot of fisherman, and a lot of them are fairly annoyed that suddenly some of their favorite feathers are a lot pricier because of the trend. But at the same time, if you have a few friends who fish, and you just want a few long feathers, you might be able to ask them rather than buying more than you need at a place that specializes in fly-tying equipment and supplies. You can also ask friends who have turkeys or roosters for feathers that are shed naturally. If you have shorter hair, then you can use shorter feathers. I plan to put feather extensions in my daughter's hair, but instead of using the very popular grizzly feathers, I'm going to make them with peacock herl. Her hair is just at shoulder length at it's longest part and shorter most other places. For myself, well.. I'm not sure I can find feathers long enough, and planned to use ribbons and beads, possibly with the short feathers above on the ends of the ribbons.

Eggs in a Basket - Cadbury Creme version

Another paper egg basket. This one holds 4 Cadbury creme eggs.

These boxes are sized just right for Cadbury creme eggs, and the bottom "basket" is a snug fit for 4 boxes. 

Lately a few people have asked for instructions to put some of my boxes together so at the bottom of this post, I'm including instructions.

The printables are all 300 dpi, and yes Liberty, there is a black and white coloring version! Recommended for adults or very patient younger people because it has a fair amount of detail. Click on the images for the full sized versions. The boxes print 2 to a US letter sized page.  Print the pages on card stock. The lily used on these boxes was previously used here. Because of the weight of Cadbury creme eggs, I recommend taping or gluing the bottom tab of the egg boxes. I will be posting this box template in my Etsy shop.

 

Side note- when I was done photographing the box, I asked Turnip Girl and my darling husband if either of them wanted a Caramel creme egg, they both said "Yes!" so fast it sort of stunned me. I think maybe next time I shouldn't leave my "props" out where they can see them but not eat them for more than a day!

Most of my boxes have gluing tabs that are just over a half inch wide to accommodate people who would rather use double stick tape. The basket on this set is an exception, the little flap that folds to the inside is narrower, but it can be cut off completely and that will loosen up the box marginally. The egg boxes are a very snug fit!

To put together the egg boxes, or any of my boxes that are that style, print on card stock. You'll cut it out, and score the folds. I can't stress enough how important scoring the folds is, it makes a lot of difference in how neatly card stock folds. But you don't need a fancy bone folder to score. My bone folder was misplaced months ago. I use the back of a steel crochet hook and a ruler to score straight lines. The crochet hook gives me a lot of control and the rounded end doesn't cut my paper. Just weakens it enough for a nice fold. I've also used guitar picks, yarn needles, pens that were out of ink, and even collar tabs from my husband's dry cleaned shirts. 

So, cut out along the black lines, score and fold along the blue lines. Pre-fold the box, then add glue or double stick tape to the tab marked in red and glue that to inside of the box on the other side, lining up the edges carefully. Fold in the top and bottom tabs. If you need to glue the bottom tab for security, do that as well. Use the glue on the tab that's on the square bottom.

Again, cut lines are marked in black. The fold lines in blue. You can see the tab side directly opposite the slanted lines on the tab is the cut line. Score and pre-fold, then glue the red tabs to the inside. The pink tabs are glued down last. Burnish them well so they aren't bulky. Burnishing means to rub it, I use the rounded top (not pointy end) of a stick pen to burnish down folds.