Spring themed projects have not exactly been my thing on this blog. I’ve done a couple here and there over the years, but “Spring” is a tough topic for someone like me. When I blog about DIY projects or Decor, it’s because I’m making those things for myself, or I’m decorating my home. Typical Spring colors are pretty much the opposite aesthetic of mine, so decorating my home for Spring has been an easy theme to just avoid or skip over each year. This year I’ve decided to face the challenge and begin working toward a way to bring Spring into my home… My way. Starting with these DIY Gothic Decoupage Eggs. Why have I decided to face this challenge? Well, I have Covid to thank for that. More than a year into this pandemic, spending the majority of our time at home has become normalized for my family. My husband and I work from home. I am now homeschooling my little girl. We don’t go out and do as much as we used to. We don’t see friends like we used to. It’s just us… at home… all of the time. Days could easily become monotonous, but I refused to allow that. My response was to start celebrating anything and everything I could…. Decorating, cooking, crafting in any way I could find for any holiday or theme I could find, big or small.
So here we are. It’s Spring, and as I said…. this year, I am determined to find a way to keep my aesthetic, AND decorate my home for Spring. Once I put my mind to it, I actually came up with TONS of “Spring” projects and decorating ideas I want to try. Of course, I’ll never have time to do them all, but even adding one or two design elements that I’m happy with is a start in the right direction.
I do own some chalkboard eggs. They’re obviously meant for a bunch of cutesy phrases, but I was just surprised to see all black Easter Eggs (chalkboard or not), so it was an easy purchase. I leave them black, and display them in an antique gold bowl in my foyer. It’s really the only step I’ve taken towards finding Spring Decor with a darker aesthetic, but I do like them, so I figured I would try more eggs. I bought supplies for at least 6 different Goth-it-Yourself egg designs. I think I was overly excited about trying something new! I’m starting with a decoupage design, because I’ve done a lot of decoupage projects in the past, and have always loved how they turn out. Check out these decorative Halloween inspired Hangers, and Halloween Inspired Garden Pots (a perfect Springtime DIY) for more decoupage tutorials.
This particular design involves using stamps to create designs on tissue paper, and then decoupaging the tissue paper onto plastic eggs. Let me start by saying that these eggs are very inexpensive and easy to make. It’s a DIY worth trying because you can make a ton of them, and feel free to make mistakes. You will get better at making them as you go. I have tried to give you as many tips as I could based on my own experiences and lessons learned, but some things you’ll simply learn along the way.
Another great thing about the ease of the project is that anyone can join in on the fun. Just paint the eggs white in advance, and then set up a table with the tissue, the stamps, mod podge, and paintbrushes for all. Invite your girlfriends over for “Wine and Crafts”… or even make it a fun family project. It doesn’t matter what stamps you use, so if someone has a completely different aesthetic, they just use stamp designs that they prefer. I had the whole family sit down to make these one afternoon. Even my 5 year old joined in on the fun. She loved creating the stamped tissue paper!
Thanks to the price and ease of the project, it allowed me to create some “test” eggs without worrying about having to toss them if I wasn’t happy with them… I tested layering techniques with different stamps until I figured out what I liked best. When I started the project, I planned on making eggs that were all uniquely different… different stamps with different backgrounds, but as I completed each egg, and placed them aside in a bowl, I noticed how much I liked the eggs with the script background. At that point, I switched gears a bit, and started making more eggs using the script stamp as my background, and various stamps as my focal point. When I displayed those eggs together, I liked how the consistent background made the focal images really stand out.
It wasn’t until I started taking photos for this article that I realized the bowl of mixed design eggs looked just as good for totally different reasons. In the picture below you can see the bowl of mixed designs…. Some have different background stamps, some used just decorative tissue paper with no stamps, and one was done with a spiderweb stamp that I repeated over and over again. I love the spiderweb one, and think I may just have to do a whole bowl of just those! Anyway… the point is, there are plenty of different ways that these eggs can be displayed, so play around with the designs until you find a style that works for you.
OK.. enough chatting… let’s get down to it….
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Here’s what you’ll need:
- Plastic Eggs
- White or Cream Spray Paint
- Tissue paper – I used Tan Tissue Paper, and a patterned Tissue Paper. Here are a few patterned tissue options that would work beautifully with this project: Vintage Floral Tissue, Vintage Newspaper Tissue, Chinoiserie Tissue
- Stamps – I used a variety of Gothic and Halloween inspired stamps. Here are a few similar ones: Script Stamp, Script Stamp 2, Raven Stamp, Crow & Skull Stamp Assortment, Floral Skeleton Stamp Assortment, Anatomy Stamp Assortment
- Black Ink Pad
- Mod Podge
– I used the Matte Finish, but there is a Variety Pack
you can purchase if you’d like to try out other option
- Small Paint Brush
- Something to dry the eggs on… this could be anything you have on hand… a Craft Drying rack, an Egg Steaming Rack, an Egg Display…
– I used the Matte Finish, but there is a 
you can purchase if you’d like to try out other option
I opted to use plastic eggs for this project. I usually steer clear of plastic things when I can, but in my opinion, there was absolutely no reason to go thru the trouble of blowing out real eggs, especially since they are far more fragile. Plastic eggs are inexpensive and easy to find this time of year, and once the project is complete, you’d never know what kind of egg was used anyway. I do recommend buying somewhat decent eggs… they don’t have to be expensive.. I bought a bag for $2.. but there are some really cheaply made ones out there that just never want to stay together, and you don’t want them breaking apart in the middle of your project.
The first step is to paint the eggs in a light color. I opted for a light color as the base, because a light base provides a better canvas. Plastic eggs come in some seriously bright colors, and those colors will show through. While black would certainly cover those bright colors, the light base helps the stamped designs stand out better. There’s no need to be perfect when painting the eggs since you’ll be covering them up anyway… I just put them inside of a box, on a sheet of parchment paper, and spray painted them all together. Once dry, just rotate the eggs inside of the box and continue painting until the bright color is no longer visible.
While your eggs dry, you can prepare your designs. Grab your favorite stamps, and a black inkpad. I recommend having at least one large stamp with an allover pattern to use as a “background”. Stamp your images onto tissue paper (the kind you find with gift wrapping). I used tan tissue paper because I wanted that tea stained kind of color, and the tan tissue looks beautiful without having to actually stain the eggs. Stamp a variety of images… some onto the background design, some just on the plain tissue.
TIP… If you have a focal point image to stamp, I highly recommend not having much design behind it. I found the eggs turned out way better when the focal point image was on a plain background, or a very faint background design. The image will stand out better instead of blending in with the rest of the egg.
An alternative to the stamped tissue is patterned tissue which can be applied with or without stamps…
Once you have your designs stamped, tear the tissue into small pieces. I prefer to tear instead of cut the tissue apart. There is something about the torn edges that simply blends better as you begin to layer. For focal point images, tear around those, leaving the image intact
Once the eggs are dry, using your paintbrush, apply a layer of mod podge to a small section of the egg. Tissue paper is extremely thin, and once it becomes wet, it can easily tear. So, work in one area at a time and apply the mod podge lightly. Apply one of the torn pieces of tissue, and very gently smooth with either your finger or paintbrush (some wrinkles are unavoidable.. don’t worry – it’s part of the charm!). I finish each piece by lightly brushing a bit of glue around all of the edges to ensure it is completely adhered.
Continue applying small pieces of tissue paper, overlapping them to ensure there are no visible gaps.
TIP: if you have a focal design element, layer that piece on LAST to ensure overlapping layers do not cover it up.
Once you have covered a small area, set the egg aside to dry. It can be tempting to try to cover as much as possible… but if you continue overlapping layers of paper over already wet layers, the tissue will rip apart, leaving gaps. Tissue will also tear or remove completely if your finger touches an area that is still wet while you are trying to hold it. Believe me – it’s frustrating.
The dry time isn’t terribly long, but long enough that it makes sense to work on several eggs at a time.
I found this white grid at a thrift store. I’m not even sure what it is, but it was perfect for drying the eggs. The stands that are used to hold dyed Easter eggs are also perfect and somewhat easy to find this time of the year, but anything with an open design (that wont stick to the eggs) is fine. I listed a few options in the supply list.
Allow the tissue to dry completely, and then continue applying tissue until the egg is covered.
TIP: Mod Podge will get on your fingers while you work. Remember that it is similar to glue. If a sticky finger touches the delicate paper, the paper will rip off. So always clean the glue off of your fingers before touching a papered portion of the egg (wet or dry)…
Once the egg is completely covered in tissue paper, AND completely dry…. brush on a heavy coat of mod podge over the entire surface. Now is the time to be generous…
Allow to dry completely.
Your eggs are ready for display!
LOVE THESE! I’m going to make a metric butt-load of these and keep them out for display all year long. :-))
Awesome!! Send me a pic… or tag me if you post them somewhere! would love to see how they turn out!!
Will do!:-))
Love these, my friend. A GIY right up my street! Happy Easter Weekend to you and yours x
Love these, my friend. A GIY right up my street! Happy Easter weekend to you and yours x
Thanks Sue!! You as well!!