Ahhhh February... what do YOU think of when you turn that calendar page? Groundhog Day? Valentine's Day? Presidents Day?
Not me... February 1st marks the beginning of an annual challenge that tends to take over my house as well as my family life. And if I'm being honest, until delivered or executed on the 23rd of February, brings a bit of self-inflicted anxiety. So what's this project that pushes me to my creative limits? You didn't guess it... it's my uncle's birthday, and he has one every year!
24 years ago I wanted to show a cherished uncle how much I loved and cared about him. I simply mailed a photocopy of my face placed directly on a photo copy machine with a caption wishing him a happy birthday. As my uncle saves EVERYTHING, I am sure this silly picture will resurface to embarrass me at some point. But, from that first year to now, I began marking his birthday with funny and sometimes wacky surprises. From a giant paper mache gargoyle on his front porch to hand-painted fish ornaments swiming on the lawn, each year tried to come up with a new idea to celebrate his special day. So this 24th year was no exception... or should I say EGG-SEPTION?
Not me... February 1st marks the beginning of an annual challenge that tends to take over my house as well as my family life. And if I'm being honest, until delivered or executed on the 23rd of February, brings a bit of self-inflicted anxiety. So what's this project that pushes me to my creative limits? You didn't guess it... it's my uncle's birthday, and he has one every year!
24 years ago I wanted to show a cherished uncle how much I loved and cared about him. I simply mailed a photocopy of my face placed directly on a photo copy machine with a caption wishing him a happy birthday. As my uncle saves EVERYTHING, I am sure this silly picture will resurface to embarrass me at some point. But, from that first year to now, I began marking his birthday with funny and sometimes wacky surprises. From a giant paper mache gargoyle on his front porch to hand-painted fish ornaments swiming on the lawn, each year tried to come up with a new idea to celebrate his special day. So this 24th year was no exception... or should I say EGG-SEPTION?
 65 and Eggsellent! Gift box with 65 eggs inside. | 65 and Eggsellent! The hardest part of my uncle's annual birthday surprise is coming up with a unique idea. From the February 1st on I am anxious to come up with something creative and out of the box. Inspiration comes in a variety of ways and I try to stay calm when I have a mental block and remember that I haven't missed a birthday surprise deadline- yet. Usually I am still deciding on a plan the week before and end up running around like crazy person to complete it on time. |
Inspiration comes when you least expect it. This year it came during a trip to Target while buying a new carpet cleaner - (which is still in the box by the way). Our Target store was in full force setting up their Easter aisles. Seeing all the egg baskets on the shelf, I suddenly heard one of my uncle's favorite one-word expressions ring through my head. A deep voiced, drawn out, Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeexcellent!!!!!! And that is when the birthday surprise gods gave me this year's idea: an EGG theme! - isn't it an eggsellent way to celebrate my uncle's 65th birthday?
And so the idea was "hatched"... (bear with me, I've just spent the weekend coming up with 65 puns and my brain is "fried" so to speak.
Let the project begin...
Once I had my basic concept, the ideas started to flow. I knew I wanted to somehow include 65 eggs to represent one egg per every year of my uncle's EGGSELLENT life. But how would I present them? I knew I wanted to stay away from an Easter theme so I didn't want to use a typical basket. A trip to Michaels was first on the list. After over an hour of browsing the aisles for ideas, (I can get so sidetracked in this store), I found a paper mache hat box that I thought would be perfect to fill with colorful plastic eggs. I purchased the eggs, box, candy, balloons and wire. The rest of the materials I already had in my studio.
Once home I began my favorite part of this "Eggs-iting" project... bring on the painting....
After priming the box, I decided to create a funky design around the outside highlighting the number "65" for obvious reasons.I really didn't plan too much how the box would look at the end, I let that be a surprise for me. After lightly sketching out various 65's in written and numeric form, I painted them in bright colors similar to the eggs and just had fun. The lid of the box was painted with a coordinating blue with the words: 65 and Eggsellent! I left the inside of the box white except for the bottom which I will show at the very end.
And so the idea was "hatched"... (bear with me, I've just spent the weekend coming up with 65 puns and my brain is "fried" so to speak.
Let the project begin...
Once I had my basic concept, the ideas started to flow. I knew I wanted to somehow include 65 eggs to represent one egg per every year of my uncle's EGGSELLENT life. But how would I present them? I knew I wanted to stay away from an Easter theme so I didn't want to use a typical basket. A trip to Michaels was first on the list. After over an hour of browsing the aisles for ideas, (I can get so sidetracked in this store), I found a paper mache hat box that I thought would be perfect to fill with colorful plastic eggs. I purchased the eggs, box, candy, balloons and wire. The rest of the materials I already had in my studio.
Once home I began my favorite part of this "Eggs-iting" project... bring on the painting....
After priming the box, I decided to create a funky design around the outside highlighting the number "65" for obvious reasons.I really didn't plan too much how the box would look at the end, I let that be a surprise for me. After lightly sketching out various 65's in written and numeric form, I painted them in bright colors similar to the eggs and just had fun. The lid of the box was painted with a coordinating blue with the words: 65 and Eggsellent! I left the inside of the box white except for the bottom which I will show at the very end.
 Supplies Purchased... |  Priming/painting the hat box inside and out. |  After painting the free form "65" design on the side. Used some of the plastic egg colors to coordinate. |
To top it off...
Lately I've been seeing posts on Pinterest on how to create decorative eggs made of string for Easter. I've been wanting to try this and I thought a large string egg would make the perfect topper to my egg container. While most instructions call for using string, I only had teal yarn on hand and thought I'd give it a try. I made sure the glue mixture was thick but I wasn't quite sure if would be stiff enough for the weight of the yarn to hold up after it dried. Thankfully it worked!
(If interested in creating your own string egg, be sure to do a search on Pinterest for directions.)
Once the yarn egg was dry and the balloon was carefully deflated, I decided to spray the egg with silver glitter paint that I had on hand from another project. This helped to give it a little more glitz though it is barely visible in the photo's below. The sparkly egg was then wired onto the lid of the box and was able to stand on its own.
A birthday wish and invitation to dinner was then printed out and cut into the shape of an egg. This was suspended on the inside with a string and allowed to move freely within the egg. Luckily it wasn't too difficult to feed the note through to the middle.
Lately I've been seeing posts on Pinterest on how to create decorative eggs made of string for Easter. I've been wanting to try this and I thought a large string egg would make the perfect topper to my egg container. While most instructions call for using string, I only had teal yarn on hand and thought I'd give it a try. I made sure the glue mixture was thick but I wasn't quite sure if would be stiff enough for the weight of the yarn to hold up after it dried. Thankfully it worked!
(If interested in creating your own string egg, be sure to do a search on Pinterest for directions.)
Once the yarn egg was dry and the balloon was carefully deflated, I decided to spray the egg with silver glitter paint that I had on hand from another project. This helped to give it a little more glitz though it is barely visible in the photo's below. The sparkly egg was then wired onto the lid of the box and was able to stand on its own.
A birthday wish and invitation to dinner was then printed out and cut into the shape of an egg. This was suspended on the inside with a string and allowed to move freely within the egg. Luckily it wasn't too difficult to feed the note through to the middle.
 Success! I left the deflated balloon inside so I could still hang it to spray the glitter. |  Spraying the egg helped to make the yarn stiffer. |  Egg attached onto the lid with a wire and the Birthday Message inside. |
| PUN-BELIEVABLE!!! Time to create the plastic eggs inserts... I have always enjoyed a good pun war, especially on road trips with my family. But have you ever tried to come up with 65 of them at one time? You start to go a little crazy. I think coming up with 65 is a new record for us - although I must admit we did have a little help from the internet. Once the 65puns were created, I typed them up in various colors and printed them out. I then used special scissors cut them into about 1 inch strips. |  |
 Did I make enough? | With a little help from a friend... each pun was curled up and inserted along with a piece of candy into the 65 eggs. The eggs were ready to go in the box. |  This must be done while sampling the candy of course! |
Don't the eggs look so colorful?
| Finally finished! Birthday surprise 2013 COMPLETE and ready for delivery... I'm SO EGG-SAUSTED! |  |
 My new baby riding shotgun. | Special delivery from the birthday bunny! Sometimes it's hard to let your baby go... |  Ding dong ditch... I hope he likes it! |
But please allow me just one more "pun" surprise...
REALLY - I promised it's my last for awhile.
After all the eggs are "hatched" and removed from the box...
this is what my special uncle will see...
REALLY - I promised it's my last for awhile.
After all the eggs are "hatched" and removed from the box...
this is what my special uncle will see...
That's all... for now... Only 342 days until project 2014 begins.
So let me know what you think!
Is it EGGSACTLY what you EGGSPECTED?
Sorry, I just couldn't resist! ;)
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