First you will need the following supplies:
- Disposable Cup
- Acrylic Craft Paint
- Foam Brush and Palette-knife or stick to mix glue
- Water Balloons (Dollar Store!)
- Printer/Copy Paper
- Scissors
- Elmer's Craft Glue
- Tweezers (shown later)
Blow up the water balloons to desired size and squeeze to form an egg shape. It took me awhile to get mine to the shape I wanted, so be patient.
Then set up your workspace (lay down newspaper to protect the area, etc.. This IS a messy craft.). You can hold the balloons as you wrap paper on them, or you can hang them, or you can set them in small cups, bowls, or even toilet paper rolls. I used some wire pipe-cleaners and a laundry basket as shown in the picture below.
In the disposable cup, place equal parts water and Elmer's glue. I would recommend using more glue than water. Then squeeze in a few drops of acrylic craft paint. Remember, a little goes a long way with these liquids.
Stir together.
Then, one at a time, hold a strip of paper by the end and dip into glue mixture. Using the brush, make sure the paper is completely wet before placing on balloon.
Wrap each piece of paper around the balloon. Tip: Varying horizontal and vertical placement will hold the shape better once dry. And yes, your fingers will probably stick together at some point! ;)
Repeat this method with each chosen color making sure to use plenty of glue mixture on each balloon.
Let dry overnight or until paper has dried firm.
Once dry, take wire (or other hanging/sitting method) off of balloon.
Using scissors, cut/poke hole(s) in balloon. Tip: Depending on local weather, balloon may shrink small, or stay put.
Now use tweezers to pull balloon (pieces) out of paper. Tip: This may crumple the shape a little, so use the tweezers to gently pull paper back out to egg shape.
Congratulations! You should now have paper mache eggs!
I recommend placing the eggs into an extra jar, vase, or candle holder and using it as an Easter decoration around the house or on the dining table.
I also experimented with materials other than printer/copy paper. You can use gift wrapping tissue paper, newspaper (although you will have print mixed in), yarn (I recommend using less than I did, as well as a thinner yarn), or even embroidery floss (beautiful outcomes!)
Thank you so much for reading this budget friendly holiday craft tutorial! If you try this out, please let me know how it turned out in the comments, or tweet me a picture!
Have a wonderful Easter!
Sam <3
