Hello crafters – Dawny P here and welcome to the craft room. Remember the saying ‘go to work on an egg’? If you don’t then you are probably a LOT younger than me. But I literally did just that here, and in this step by step we are going to explore some of the different techniques you can use to decorate the gorgeous little eggs from the Egg-cellent Easter Die set.
Decorating eggs for Easter is a tradition that dates back to at least the 13th century, but we are going to bring it right up to date by using the Nuvo Alcohol Marker pens. But these techniques can be carried over into your other craft projects as well, so they are for life and not just for Easter!! And our pens aren’t just for colouring images either
OK so let’s have a look at our dozen eggs.
Simple but not so plain
Colour used
473 – Sweet Vanilla
So this really shows how these pens work. They layer colour and the more ink you lay down, the darker the colour and effect will be.
Here, I just coloured the egg in and then I went back over the lower sections, over and over again, going further down the egg each time so that the colour really built up.
I think this is a pretty good colour for an egg.
Ombre
Colours used
451- Pink Lady, 452 - Pink Taffy & 454 -Dragon Fruit
Who doesn’t love a bit of ombre!.
Here. I started at the bottom of the egg and coloured about a third of the way up using Dragon Fruit. I then carried on using Pink Lady, but going into the first colour a little bit on the way.
Finally, I did the same thing using Pink Taffy. Once that was done, I used this lightest shade to go over the egg once to bring it all together.
Simple Stripes
Colour used
363 – Tropical Ocean
Easy peasy to do but it looks fab I think. I just took a piece of spare card and laid it across another piece of white card. Then using the chisel end of the pen, I just used the edge of the spare card as a guide and drew lines.
I die cut the egg out after I drew the lines because the end of the stripes look neater this way. I also used card that was a bit porous here so there is the teeny tiniest amount of bleed.
Mad for Plaid
Colours used
452 - Pink Taffy & 454 - Dragon Fruit
Such a nice effect here I think. Using the chisel end of Dragon Fruit, I simply drew vertical lines onto a scrap of card, then went across them horizontally. Then using Pink Taffy and the bullet tip, I drew across the thicker lines. It’s dead easy to do and you’ll get a different effect by drawing the lines closer together.
Once again, I die cut the egg out after I drew the lines.
Over-Laid
Colours used
391 – Butternut Squash and 393 – Spiced Orange
Here, I used the pens to colour the background for the egg, but I randomly added the colours and I wasn’t too particular about smoothing out the lines.
The sharp eyed amongst you will see that there is texture to the card I used. It’s just linen card and I used it because some of ink will settle in the little grooves – very subtly though. The I cut the inside edge of the die and glued it over the top.
All That Glitters
Colours used
393 – Spiced Orange and 405 – Indian Saffron
Here, I stuck double sided tape across some card. I varied the width of tape and I left gaps in between the tape. Next, I coloured the gaps using the chisel end of the pens, then I removed the backing tape and added glitter. Then I die cut the egg shape.
Randomly Sparkling
Colour used
436 – Wild Iris
Here, I stuck narrow double sided tape randomly across the die cut egg. Then I added the colour before removing the backing tape and adding glitter. I like this effect. You could take it one step further and draw little zentangle patterns over the coloured areas.
Alcohol + Alcohol = Fabulous
Colours used
405 – Indian Saffron, 416 – Vine Leaf, 428 – Blueprint, 436 – Wild Iris and 454 Dragon Fruit
Oh I LOVE how this turned out.
So I die cut the inside and outside edges in white card. Then I placed the inside edge on top of the outside edge but didn’t glue it down. I then randomly coloured in between the detail on the die cut. I didn’t think too much about what colours I was using or where they were going.
Then I took the inside edge away and because the card is a bit porous, the ink had bled. It looked really nice – a bit fuzzy and that’s another effect in its own right. But I then dripped rubbing alcohol over the ink and all the colours sort of melded together.
And I was quite smitten!! This would look fab if you heat embossed it with clear powder.
Waste Not Want Not
Colours used
405 – Indian Saffron, 416 – Vine Leaf, 428 – Blueprint, 436 – Wild Iris and 454 Dragon Fruit
So after doing egg #8, I was left with an inside edge die cut which I very nearly threw away.
But then I remembered that I am a crafter and we don’t throw anything away do we!!
So I cut another outside edge out and glued them together. It’s very hippy-esque I think, not to mention a happy accident.
Or should that be a hippy accident (oooh sorry)!!
Just WOW
Colours used
391 – Butternut Squash, 393 – Spiced Orange and 405 Indian Saffron
I think this is stunning. Oooh those colours ….
Anyway, I kind of did an ombre effect with the pens, going darkest at the top. Then I got a pipette and added little drops of rubbing alcohol over it. It’s like magic watching the pattern appearing.
This would make a fantastic background with so much interest that you would only really need a sentiment and you’d have a lovely card.
I’m so going to try this.
All Flannel
Colour used
436 – Wild Iris
So many things you can do with these pens and alcohol, and here’s another one. I just coloured the die cut then dipped an old flannel into some rubbing alcohol and dabbed it over the egg.
If you are coloured an animal eg a bear, you could use this technique to create a furry look. Using different textured fabric, such as denim, you will get some lovely effects.
Full Circle
Colour used
363 – Tropical Ocean
Last one for now – I’m sure there’ll be more at some point.
So again the egg was coloured and then I got a clean blending dauber, dipped that into the rubbing alcohol and then pressed it lightly onto the card. If you used more alcohol and left it on the card longer, you’d get a much stronger effect.
