Tissue Paper, a Balloon, a Bottle of Liquid Starch and Two Special Friends.

It was Spring of 1968. My 3rd child was born just before Easter. We sometimes didn't plan things well in those days and this year we decided to move into another house...just before our baby was to be born. It was right at the end of my pregnancy and I was as big as a house. Moving is a big job especially when you have two kids in grade school and one on the way. The move went well and with the help of the Grandmas, the house was set in order. Our son arrived and everything had gone according to plan. I didn't have any Easter decorations out and decided not to dig through boxes to find anything. Two sweet friends came over for coffee and brought me the prettiest Easter arrangement...in a paper mache Easter egg. It was a big pastel egg filled with grass and Easter bunnies and chicks. We three friends did a lot of crafts together. I can remember making flowers out of pinecones, a plant hanger using an electric drill, candles (lots of candles)pictures using seeds of all kinds, pictures made out of watch parts, and these wonderful eggs. I learned how to make them and went on to craft them for friends and relatives. I have filled them with Easter cookies, yarn chicks, Easter eggs you name it. These are the directions for making one. This picture is from the internet and doesn't look exactly like the ones we made, but you can get the idea. Ours were larger and really much prettier. Sadly, I never took a picture of them.

Blow up a 5 cent balloon (they probably are more than 5 cents now)
Dip colored tissue paper pieces in liquid starch... and place around balloon
Repeat until entire balloon has several layers covering it
Let dry for a day..sometimes it took more than a day. It needs to be turned as it dries.
Stick in needle to puncture balloon. Now we took scissors or a craft knife and cut the egg around the top 1/3 in a jagged cracked egg pattern.
Let dry for another day or so.
Spray with acrylic sealer (this is optional...it gives the egg a sheen and probably makes the egg last longer.)

In the 60's you could find beautiful madras tissue paper in all kinds of colors. I think that we bought out the stores in our town one year. I had eggs all over the house drying.

I thought, early this morning, about how our friends sometimes do just the right thing for us. I went out to breakfast with one of those dear friends yesterday. We hadn't done this in a long time and it was so enjoyable. The waitress kept bringing the coffee and we didn't want to leave. We have laughed and cried together years ago...raising our kids and living through good times and hard times. We did all those crafts to get through hard winters, when we were cooped up. Our kids are all raised now, but we still get together and tell about how our kids are doing and the many changes in their lives. This friend was there for me, when my first husband was dying of cancer and then there, standing beside me, when I remarried. Her husband is going through some health challenges now. They are facing them together....and I hope that she feels that I am there for her.Women's friendships are like no other. We may get out of sorts from time to time, but when the chips are down...we are stuck together like the starch that holds these eggs together.

Balisha