Flower Filled Eggs

About a month ago I saw a picture somewhere of an egg box filled with eggs and overflowing with little flowers. I loved it and it just stuck with me. I must look at so many images here and there throughout the day - magazines, blogs, pinterest - but I can't for the life of me remember exactly where I saw the idea. 

So I thought I'd have a go at making my own little floral display. I bought a ceramic egg holder recently in the shape of an egg box. I forget who made it but it cost around £6 and you can get ones like this very easily online. Or you could paint or decopatch the bottom half of a cardboard egg box.

To create the egg shell vessels, you'll need a sharp knife, a couple of bowls, paint and brushes, and a way of drying the eggs - I used long plastic sundae spoons in a couple of tumblers.

Take your egg and tap a little crack into the pointed top of the shell, then quickly and confidently cut the pointed end off (as you would to a boiled egg before you put it in it's egg cup). You want the line at the top to be as clean as possible. Tip the raw egg into your waiting bowl and rinse and air dry the egg shells.

For paint, I used emulsion tester pots in an assortment of pastel colours, giving each egg three coats and drying them like this:

Don't they look pretty? There is something very appealing about their smooth, uniform shape and the pastel shades.

Then the fun bit - filling the egg shells with flowers. I tried to stick to a spring theme and used grape hyacinths, narcissi and sprigs of thyme for a bit of delicate greenery. Just carefully pour about an inch of water into each egg shell with a jug then snip your flowers to suitably short lengths and have fun arranging.

Even in the cold winter light (it was snowing when I took these photos) the colours in the flowers just glow. It would look lovely as a centre piece for an Easter lunch table.

Do you think that, through sheer force of will, I can make spring come? Maybe, if I craft enough and make enough and bake enough I can encourage the temperatures to rise and the sun to come out. I am so weary of these cold temperatures and snow showers.

In the mean time I will admire my little egg box display on my kitchen windowsill, where I can see it every time I do the washing up, and it makes me very happy.

This post is linking in with Lou's Wednesday Nature in the Home series, over at her blog littlegreenshed. Do pop over and have a look at some very inspiring ways with flowers and plants in the home.