DIY: Yoshi Eggs

Here's a post for all you Mario lovers out there!  I spotted a tutorial on how to make Yoshi eggs and decided I would make some too (who doesn't love Yoshi?).  Of course, being an dork, I decided to take the tutorial and make it harder.  Yes, you heard that right.  Harder.
So, if you have spray paint handy, roll your eyes, move on, and make yourself some Yoshi eggs.  If you don't, but are interested in my convoluted method, keep reading!

You'll need:
Plastic eggs (I got a six-pack at Walmart for $.88.)
Spackle (I got a jar at the Dollar Tree for a buck)
Acrylic paint (White and whatever colors you want.  A bit of black can come in handy too)
Paintbrushes (A larger brush for painting the whole egg, and a small brush for painting the spots)
A piece of sandpaper (I used 80 grit, available at the Dollar Tree)
A glove (latex, vinyl, dishwashing gloves, whatever you don't mind getting plaster on)

Start by separating the two halves of your egg.  You can leave them together, but it's easier to work with in two pieces
Just cut the little tab thingy.

After that, cut any remaining connector.
This is optional, but you can sand the egg to remove the shiny surface.  I don't know if this helps anything adhere, but, hey, why not?
Now for the fun part.  Put the glove on your dominant hand.  Now slather on the spackle/wall filler/plaster.  Well, maybe not slather.  You don't need a thick coat, just enough to cover the whole egg, with little to no color showing through.  Now let it dry.  COMPLETELY dry.

Yes, this will take a while.  (The jar says 1 to 4 hours.  RubyDragon says up to 24 hours)
Once the egg is completely dry, sand the plaster to smooth out any unevenness or lumps.  Wipe off dust with a damp paper towel.
Now the ACTUAL fun part.  Paint the egg with one coat of white paint (or I think there's also a black yoshi egg with white spots) and let it dry.
Take your paint color (classic Yoshi green, or pretty much whatever color you like) and paint a rough circle where you want the spot.

 It doesn't have to be a perfect circle.  I painted shapes that were a bit closer to ovals.  Then fill it in.
TIP: Squeeze a blob of acrylic paint onto your work surface and cut it with about half as much Elmer's Glue, making sure to mix it in.  Also, fabric paint (the cheap kind available at the Dollar Tree) works fine for this application.
Spread your paint inward, and don't paint too many spots.

Lean the now spotted egg against a steady surface (try not to touch said surface with the wet paint!) to let it dry.

Then that's it.
You can use them in an egg hunt, or you can decorate with them.  You can always store them with your dragon's eggs in a pretty basket.

Isn't that just nice?
They are a little fragile, and the plaster can crack and chip, but otherwise, i think they'll ultimately hold up better than just plain painted eggs.  Here's what happens when you brush the paint onto the eggs.

Not pretty.  I know.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!
See you around!  😜😸

DIY: Turning styrofoam balls into eggs

Just a quick and slightly odd DIY today.  When I was getting the supplies for yesterdays dragon eggs, I realized that styrofoam eggs aren't actually that easy to find.  Weird, I know.  Especially since Easter just passed.  In any case, I was able to find plenty of styrofoam balls (at JoAnns and Walmart).  I need small eggs for another project, so I decided to pick up a pack of 1-inch styrofoam balls and see if I could reshape them.
Turns out these things can be reshaped.  See?
I started with this....

And ended with this...

No, it's not perfect, but I'm satisfied considering it took no tools and about five minutes.
Start by holding the ball in between your thumb and middle finger like this-

Now press down.  This is the tricky part.  You need to squish the sides in gently.  It may take a few tries, but start gently and increase the pressure until the sides crunch and give a little.
You should end with this.

It kind of has a Death Star look to it, doesn't it?
Rotate it ninety degrees, and squish again.  You now have indentations on four sides.  If you're not already confused, you soon will be!  Now, using your fingers, smooth out the ridges into a nice egg shape by squishing the thing even more!
Of course, it would be easier  to buy the eggs already formed, or if you're handy with a penknife I suppose you could whittle an egg, but if neither work, try squishing it!
I hope this post was helpful to someone out there.  If not, hey, I tried!
Oh, this would probably work on larger styrofoam balls too, but would require more pressure. and you might have to use two fingers to squish with.
Bye!  😝☺

DIY: How to Make Dragon Eggs

Hello, everyone.  😊
SO, for my first DIY I decided I would do dragon eggs.  I love dragons, and I've wanted to do this project ever since I saw it on pinterest a few months ago.  Why it took me so long to make them, I'll never know, but here we go!
You'll need:
Styrofoam eggs (I got a nine pack of three different sizes for $5 at JoAnns)
Thumbtacks (a LOT of thumbtacks.  You can get packs of 300 at the Dollar Tree, and I bought three.)
Pieces of foam (I got a pack of 24 foam "gift tags" at the Dollar Tree)
Glue (whatever you can find)
Optional:
Black nail polish (this isn't necessary, but it does help- more on that later.  I got a bottle of Wet'n Wild "Black Creme" at- guess where- the Dollar Tree)
Colored nail polish (I like metallic polishes best, but use what you like.  I used a Formula X polish [bought from Sephora} called "Legend")
Nail polish clear coat (available for a buck at the Dollar Tree)

Alright.  So, we start by sticking the thumb tacks into the pieces of foam so we end up with this.

Don't push them all the way down against the foam.  They need to be like this-

Unfortunately, I can't tell you how many thumbtacks you'll need.  I've made a total of four eggs- three in one size, and one in another.  I've used 150 tacks, 133  tacks, 160 tacks, and 244 tacks respectively.  The egg I'm showing you used 244 tacks, and they were made in three separate batches.  Just know this: make MORE than you think you need.  

Once all of your tacks are stuck into the foam, paint them with black nail polish.

If any of your tacks stick together like this...

Just use the point of a pencil to break them apart.

Now let the black polish dry.  Why use the black polish?  Because it forms a mostly opaque barrier between the shiny tack and the colored polish.  Metallics tend to be streaky, and the polish with silver showing through it just looks weird to me.  I usually let the polish dry for an hour, then I go in with one coat of colored polish.

Now let that dry for an hour before adding clear nail polish.  This isn't necessary, but I like shiny.  This particular polish dries kind of gritty, so I applied two coats of topcoat.  Let that dry for AT LEAST 12 hours.  Yes, you read that right.  Twenty four hours is ideal, but...

Nope.  They don't.

Once the tacks are dry enough, take them out of the foam.  Now, you  can start either from the top of the egg or the bottom- it's your choice.  Whichever you choose, stick a tack right in the middle of the end.

Now, you just work on building up a ring around it.

Keep doing this, overlapping the tacks, until you either run out of tacks and have to make more, or until you've filled in all but the last spot.  For the last tack, stick the end in a bit of glue (Elmer's, mod podge, superglue, construction glue, whatever's handy) and stick it in place!

Why stick the last tack down?  Because there's nothing else to hold it in place, and it'll fall out otherwise.  See?

If you're paranoid, paint over that last tack and surrounding tacks with clear nail polish.  Otherwise, you're done!

Isn't that just pretty?

If you don't want to paint the tacks, that works too.  And it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay quicker.

I hope you enjoyed this (long) post!  Now, go forth and create dragon eggs!  

See you later! 😃 😏