Get Creative This Easter with Watercolor Eggs

Every Easter, we always end up buying one of those egg-dying kits at the supermarket (tradition dies hard in our house), but that doesn't stop us from trying out different ways of coloring our Easter eggs, like making and using natural egg dyes. Recently, a friend mentioned that her family likes to paint their Easter eggs with watercolors, so we thought we'd give it a try.

Watercolors are fun to use because they're kid-friendly, dry quickly, and really allow for a lot of artistic expression. Plus, painting your eggs is a lot more fun than just letting them soak in a container of dye, and the colors are vibrant and varied. Even I really got into the whole process, and I think I was actually enjoying it more than the kids.

To do this, you'll need a set or two of watercolors—they don't have to be the expensive ones from the art supply store (save those for another project). I bought a set of Crayola watercolors at Target for a couple dollars. You'll also need brushes in a variety of sizes. Large broad brushes work best for laying down paint on the eggs, while smaller ones are ideal for detail work. The little brushes that usually come with watercolor sets aren't very useful, so pick up a set of different brushes if you don't have one.

Boil your eggs as you normally would. To make perfect hard-boiled eggs, place eggs in a pan and fill with cold water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil for one minute, then cover, remove from heat, and let them sit for exactly 14 minutes. Cool eggs by plunging them in an ice water bath.

Make sure eggs are dry before starting to paint. We found that a keeping the brushes relatively dry when painting made for the best results. On some of the eggs we painted the whole thing in a single base color, then let it dry and went in and painted details like stripes and dots. Painting wet-on-wet will give you a different, less precise but often very beautiful look. Experiment with different effects and brushstrokes to make your eggs unique works of art.

Have fun and happy Easter!