Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Tea eggs  It is actually Good Friday here as I write this , but I did make these tea eggs last night when it was still Thursday. These are not as colourful and shiny as Easter eggs from the shops, but I really love their simplicity, and the subtle colours of the "cracked" patterns. And they taste good!  Here is a recipe - please note all quantities are approximate!  1. Boil eggs slowly until they are hard boiled . Cool the eggs and when they are cool, crack the shells using the back of a teaspoon. Leave the cracked shells on the eggs.  2. Prepare the steeping liquid. For every three cups of water, add about a tablespoon of  dark soya sauce, and 2 tablespoons of black tea leaves ( you can use tea bags - this would probably be the equivalent of 8 tea bags?) . To add favour, I add some cinnamon, lemon or orange rind and 2-3 star anise. You could also add a pinch of salt,but I think the soya sauce is quite salty enough. Bring the steeping liquid to the ...

During the Easter weekend, I have been doing some" catch up" work, completing some orders and finishing a little art doll I started a week ago as well as eating a chocolate Easter egg or two and going out to dinner  and movies with friends  - perfect weekend!  Here is my little Forest Friend, rescuing a nest of eggs at Easter... and here are the basic steps: 1. Have a good friend to inspire, motivate and help... Bobbi (Lambo Art) explaining anatomy and armature 2. Make an armature from wire and check the proportions against an anatomy chart. Wire armature, secured with insulation tape.   3. Flesh out the armature by covering with lots of  aluminium foil. Armature covered with foil   4. Make foil bases/ armatures for head, hands and feet Foil armatures  5. Cover and sculpt with polymer clay. I used Sculpey" Living Doll" and I made two pairs of hands because the first lot looked like lobster claws!   Cure in an oven at 130 ...

Easter is a special celebration in the Christian liturgical calendar, so if you celebrate , Happy Easter. In our family, we usually have an Easter Egg hunt in our garden, but with all of our family away this weekend, we will have a much quieter and more reflective time. These photos are of tags I have made over the last few weeks  and are inspired by Easter related themes ( some have been shown before). They are mixed media tags, using all sorts of materials - paper, card, polymer clay, wire, embroidery, fabric and various combinations . It has been a lot of fun being part of the blog group challenge Tag Tuesday - a tag on a theme each week. Tag Tuesday: Easter Eggs  Tag Tuesday: Easter  Tag Tuesday: Goose  Tag Tuesday: Mad March Hare  Tag Tuesday : Bird/Nest  Please check out  this link  to see more beautiful tags with an Easter theme. Easter Blessings to family and friends.

These extraordinary Easter Eggs have  so  much to recommend them -  handmade, non-fattening, safe for children, quick and cheap to produce, lots of leftover bits and pieces are used. I have really enjoyed making these and I was so happy with the finished products. These eggs start with a plastic filler, with a bell inside to make them "rattle", and then  they are covered with wool roving and wrapped with woollen yarn. The wrapped " egg" is then wet felted and  surface embroidered for decoration. Here are the raw materials Little fillable plastic egg shapes from a bargain shop ( 8 for $2)  Little bells (leftover from Christmas projects ) This packet  is one I bought today - not exactly what I used before but as they were  25 for $2 ....)   Scraps of wool roving ( leftover from other felting projects) Scraps of woollen yarn.( leftover from knitting and crochet projects)   Lengths of embroidery thread , also leftover fr...