{Get Crafty} Silk Dyed Easter Eggs (with old neck ties!)

I saw this idea last year on Pinterest but I was too late to try it for Easter.  The idea of using old silk neck ties to dye eggs sounded so intriguing!  I immediately started looking for inexpensive silk ties at the thrift store.  

I found four for .99/c each and promptly put them away and forgot about them...until now!  If you want to try this technique, make sure your ties are 100% silk. You can also use any other patterned silk clothing.  You will need some white cotton material(old pillow case or dish towel works well), twist ties and white vinegar plus a large glass or enamel pot.

I created an additional step of blowing out my eggs. I like to keep my creations from year to year so they need to be empty.  The best method that I've found for emptying out the eggs is to pierce a hole with a pushpin on either side of the egg, then gently break up the yolk with a paper clip. This makes it easier to blow out the egg. After getting all of the yolk and white out of the egg, rinse well and let dry.  If you want to have hard boiled eggs, you can skip this step.

Cut up the silk fabric. The ties had a lining in them that I removed. Place an egg on a piece of silk that will wrap around it completely. The egg goes on the right side of the fabric.  Wrap tightly and secure with twist ties.

Cut a piece of the white fabric and tightly wrap that around the wrapped egg and secure with a twist tie.

Place a large pot(glass or enamel) of water on the stove, bring to a boil and add 1/2 cup of white vinegar.  Gently place the wrapped eggs in the water, keep it at a low boil and make sure the eggs are all covered with water.  I did four eggs at a time.  I had to add the steamer on top of my eggs to keep them from floating up since they were hollow.   Keep the eggs in the water for about 20 minutes.

Remove from the water with tongs.  Let cool and remove the fabric.  This is the hardest part, waiting for it to cool! I couldn't wait to see what they looked like.  Some of the ugliest ties, made the prettiest eggs.

You can reuse the silk 4-5 times.  I even tried another one with a wet piece of silk and it worked.

Here are the eggs on the ties they were dyed with.  You can see that even eggs from the same ties aren't identical.

I got 10 eggs out of my dozen. I broke one while blowing it out (dropped in the sink) and broke another after dyeing. :(  They are SO fragile.

What do you think of this egg dyeing method? I'm totally hooked and will be on the lookout for interesting patterned silk ties from now on.

Other egg crafts you might enjoy.

Calligraphy Eggs

Easter Egg Garland

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{Project 52} Weeks 3-9

 3|52 Up Close
Canon 6D, 50mm -Boutonniere 

 4|52 Light
Iphone of X-Ray (you've already seen this one, if not, here's what happened!)

5|52 Lifestyle

Iphone, Costco #mylife

6|52 Red

Canon 6D - Off to a dance

7|52 Love

Freezing at Peddler's Village

8|52 Makes me happy

Tulips in February

9|52 Self Portrait

In my favorite chair. 

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{Recipe} Spicy Sweet Potato-Peanut Soup with Peanut Butter Croutons

This soup came about because I wanted to try and recreate a favorite from a local vegetarian restaurant. I was craving it and started my search for a similar recipe on Pinterest.  I found this one and used it as a starting off point and loved her idea to make grilled peanut butter crouton toppers. Spicy, warm, savory and so comforting. You're going to love this one!

 (*Edit* I just found out that today is National Peanut Butter Lover's Day from my good bloggie friend Carla so this recipe couldn't be more perfect!*)

Spicy Sweet Potato-Peanut Soup

(4-6 servings)

Ingredients:

1 small, yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups, vegetable broth

1 cup coconut milk

1/3 cup natural peanut butter

2 sweet potatoes, baked 

Spices:

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1-2 tsp minced cilantro

1 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 -1 tsp cayenne pepper

1-2 tsp jalapeno pepper, minced

1 tsp curry powder

2 tsp lime juice

1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon

 1 tsp Kosher salt

Siracha to taste

For toppings:

roasted peanuts

Siracha 

cilantro

For peanut butter croutons:

Whole wheat bread

Peanut butter

Oil for frying (optional)

Wash sweet potatoes and prick with fork. Microwave for 6-8 minutes or so to bake.
Saute chopped onions in a large pot(I use coconut oil spray).

 Cook until translucent and add garlic,  fresh ginger and cilantro.  Saute for about 5 minutes. Add remaining spices (except salt) and stir while cooking for 1-2 minutes.

 When the sweet potatoes are done, remove from microwave.

 Scoop the sweet potatoes out of their skins and mash in a bowl with a fork.

 To the pot on the stove, add 4 cups of vegetable broth, 1 cup of coconut milk and mashed sweet potatoes. Stir to combine.

 Add 1/3 cup of peanut butter and stir, keeping heat low.

 Mix soup with an immersion blender (or in batches in regular blender..be careful with hot liquid in a blender!).

 Keep mixing until smooth and creamy. Season with salt to taste. Adjust seasonings as needed.

 Serve with roasted unsalted peanuts and more cilantro or to really kick it up a notch....

Make the Grilled Peanut Butter Croutons! For 1-2 servings:

 Toast 2 slices of  bread and spread peanut butter on one slice. Put other slice on top to make a sandwich and fry in pan with a little oil, flip sandwich when it starts to brown. Cut into squares and top your soup*.  

{*These are really tasty but I'd eat mine on the side next time and just dip in the soup to keep them from getting too soggy!}

This hearty soup has just the right amount of spice and smooth creaminess to make your soup dreams come true!

The leftovers are even better the next day (aren't they always?). I reheated some and added more Siracha and peanuts for lunch one day.

All photos taken with my Iphone.

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{Get Crafty} WiFi Password Sign

Make your guests feel welcome with this wi-fi password sign.  I've seen these signs all over Pinterest but I needed a really easy one or it wasn't going happen.

I found one that was perfect and free. Yay! You can find it and down load your own here.

It lets you customize it for your own wi-fi password, then print it out. So easy!  I used colored paper to give it a little pizzazz.  We recently switched providers and our new password is long and hard to memorize.

 Now, it's posted in a handy spot in our kitchen if we need it or one of our guests wants to connect.

I made one for the basement too (not our real password).  So what do you think? Do you have one of these handy signs or an easy to memorize password?

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Linking up:
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