Happy Easter!

Hello, friends!  I hope you all are having wonderful and relaxing Easter weekends.  I saw this marbleized egg-dying technique on the Martha Stewart website, and have been wanting to try it ever since.  My mom and I had decided not to really dye eggs this year, but when I mentioned I wanted to do these, she ran out and bought some white eggs and a color kit.  They were so fun to do (albeit rather messy!) and they actually came out sort of like the pictures on Martha's website (which is a miracle, considering my track record with Martha's projects.)  Here are my perfectly imperfect marbleized eggs:

  

Aren't those little bunny candle-holders adorable?  These eggs were the perfect festive project for me today, and I love them so much I don't want to crack them and eat them!  Now if only I could get enough of the dye off of my hands so that they resembled human hands again, I'd be one happy girl.  I'm sure that will happen eventually.  Anyway, happy Easter weekend!

Nifty Gifties - Parts Two and Three

As promised, I finished my final two gift projects this afternoon.  First, I made some simple blue napkins to accompany the place mats I made yesterday.  Here is the finished product:

 

I used Martha's instructions from this book, and I love the way they turned out.  Such an easy way to get neat corners!

I think the simple design is the perfect contrast to the festive place mats, and together they make complete place settings!  Don't proper place settings just make you want to sit down to a proper meal?  I picked up some artichoke pesto downtown today to pair with the table settings, and that's a wrap for gift package #1!

For the my second gift, I bought two microfiber dish towels, and embellished them with a little trim.  Here is how they turned out:

 

I found the trim in the sale bin at the fabric store, and somehow left with almost seventy yards of various patterns.  Oops...hey, they were on sale!  To pair with these towels, I got a fancy lavender mint dish soap, and that completes gift package #2!

Meanwhile, Oliver took a personal day today.  

He's saying "Mommm, give me a belly rub!"  Actually, he's yawning.  But he loves when I put words in his mouth.  And yes, I got that thread sticker off of his paw (somebody has been running wild in my sewing room!)

I'm off on my trip tomorrow, so I will catch up with you all when I return!  Have a happy week!