Fundamentally I loathe Martha Stewart – she just seems so cold and calculating and I expect her to pull off her face to reveal a lizard underneath – but boy, she does have some wonderful ideas on her website.
This not a paint colour chart, but shows the colours that can be obtained by dyeing eggs using natural dyes such as onion skins and turmeric (found on Funky Finds)
I think the colours are just spectacular and I can’t wait until the Minx is old enough for us to spend an afternoon gently making Easter decorations. Though of course by the time she gets to the age when activities involving boiling vinegar are acceptable, she will want to spend her Easter holidays watching ghastly DVDs and playing with Bratz dolls. And I will be only to keen to let her.
But in the meantime please leave me to my ‘yummy mummy’ fantasies.
I am dying to make those Chocolate eggs in Marthas Easter lineup. I too find her to be utterly repulsive, but when you read her magazine, or go to her website, you can’t hear her voice. So I manage just fine!
It is not as if she is the idea factory behind all of her projects. Like any good dictator, she has an army behind the curtain, only hers weilds paint brushes and sewing needles! Watch out or they will crochet you into a corner!
If I disapprear, check for me in the dungeon at Turkey Hill!
“But in the meantime please leave me to my ‘yummy mummy’ fantasies”
Actually, think you’re pretty safe there. Have yet to meet an eight year old girl who does not adore craft activities (she says guiltily, thinking how rarely we get around to doing any).
Although I’ve written three Easter activity books for kids, I’ve never tried dyeing eggs; we may well have a go this weekend, and I’ll let you know if the reality matches up to the glorious colours on MS website.
And hey, you can always keep the Bratz packaging to mould unusual chocolate ladies’ torsos for Ian…
Lxx
those colors are inviting…say what you want about Martha…but do say she started a beautiful revival for the home and homemaking…please!
Wow, amazing eggs but even more interesting is the Martha backlash, I’ve never heard her speak and now I really want to, am imagining maybe a sickly sweeet sound, overly twangy, maybe even patronising (to arouse such negative passions).
I’ve only seen her a couple of times when she was doing a guest spot on Oprah (can’t now think why I used to watch that) and she just came across as being very cold and clinical without any passion or warmth for her subject which I found surprising. And I’ve read a couple of articles about her that suggest that she is a completely ruthless businesswoman which is hardly surprising but not very appealing.
But yes, I think it is very interesting/admirable the passion for craft and homemaking that she has triggered in the US and yes, her website is a treasure trove of fantastic ideas.
Don’t really mind whether MS is cold and clinical or warm and genuine, as long as her ideas work. Our dyeing experiment was less than awesome (though admittedly we were working with brown eggs, which she warns gives a ‘more muted’ result). Turmeric resulted in an underwhelming stripy yellowy brown, while beetroot made zero impact. Lots of dye on hands and clothes, very little on eggs…
Tragically cannot see your Easter tree, am just getting little red boxes. Is it nicer than mine ;-)?
L, am v. disappointed to hear about the eggs. You should now be able to view Easter tree, which, though it pains me to admit, is not as nice as yours…
😀
Have not given up entirely on the egg front. Suspect white ones would have been FAR more successful. Have made mental note to buy some in late summer and submerge them in the glorious purply red liquid made by simmering elderberries and blackberries – can’t believe that won’t result in the most beautiful pink.
Though the whole concept of ‘submerging’ is a vexed one, to be honest – if eggs are blown, the little darlings just bob up to the
surface and sit there, laughing merrily at you…
i found a egg in my grandmas yard and it looks like tht