April 2011 Craft Day: Pysanky Ukrainian Easter Eggs

My mother and I named our handmade gift company Creative Tradition because we have such a rich family history of making unique handmade items.  One of the biggest creative traditions we have is Pysanky or Ukrainian Easter Eggs. At this month's craft day we rediscovered our passion for them and shared the tradition with some friends and family.

What is Pysanky?
Pysanky are Ukrainian Easter Eggs, decorated using beeswax and dyes that are applied in layers. Melted wax is applied to the eggshell. This hot beeswax will harden almost instantly. The beeswax covers and seals the shell where the wax has been applied. A special tool called a kistka is needed to heat and apply the beeswax.

Pysanky in different states of completion

First the beeswax is applied to the egg's white shell. The beeswax seals the white color underneath it. Next you place the egg into a light color, usually yellow.  You remove the egg, dry off excess dye, then apply beeswax to what you want to remain yellow. You continue with more colors, going light to dark. 

A custom Disney Sleeping Beauty Rose (peasent Aurora) costume

For my sister's 20th birthday, she wanted a Disney costume party.  I knew who I wanted to be from the beginning, my favorite Disney character, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty.  My costume was easy to decide on, the Rose forest dress, but harder to find the exact pattern I was looking for.  I knew I wanted a black corset,  a nice flowing skirt, and a three-quarters sleeve collared shirt.  It couldn't be THAT hard to find right?

A custom Disney Sleeping Beauty Prince Philip costume

My husband was a sweetheart and was actually willing to dress up for the Disney costume party. I didn't want to push my luck so I needed to choose a pair of characters that I liked but would have a very simple costume for him.  For instance, he couldn't be Beast and wear a mask all night... or worse Hercules and have to wear a toga!  No, I was going to need to incorporate regular clothes like jeans to ensure he wouldn't be too uncomfortable... and be more likely to dress up for our next costume party ;)

So we decided to be Rose and Philip from Sleeping Beauty during their first meeting in the forest.  Both characters were very casual during that scene yet memorable too.  I found a small picture online as my inspiration and started hunting for patterns that I could alter to be the perfect costumes.

I needed to keep it simple for Philip's costume.  I started off with the basics including jeans and a long sleeve colored black shirt.  Then I made a tan tunic and pulled it all together with perfect accessories!

Homemade Onion Rings

I love surprising my husband with yummy food. When I asked if he wanted onion rings he looked at me a little hesitantly and said he'd never had homemade onion rings before.  I had to remind him that I had made them for him when we were dating. I guess it wasn't all that remarkable the first time so I wanted to include him in making them so he would remember them this time.

The ingredients are simple but the process takes a a lot of space and time to cook everything... but its all worth it! They go great with burgers. We made turkey burgers with Everything Thin Bagels and even put some onion rings in the burgers. Super yummy!

INGREDIENTS

Onions
2-3 cups flour
4 eggs or 2 Egg Beaters cartons
3-4 cups Breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp Italian Seasonings
Salt & Pepper
4-6 cups of oil

Disney Costume Party: Minnie Mouse Apron Costume

Costume parties are great fun, but sometimes as a hostess it can be a bit bothersome trying serve food in a costume.

So for Jeanine's costume for her other daughter's 20th Disney birthday celebration, I made a polka dotted pink and white apron. The apron is one of our standard patterns with a bib and skirt.  I added an ruffle to the bottom to make it a bit more whimsical. Instead of our usually ribbon ties, I created fabric ties for the side and a neck loop.  We finished off the costume with a cute Minnie Mouse headband from Disney.com.

Interested in getting your own apron costume? We're selling this exact apron and ears online or you can contact me for a special order.