Plastic Easter Eggs With Ribbon

I wanted to play around with plastic Easter eggs this year, but I wasn't sure what to do.  Last year, when there was an egg contest going on, I experimented with blowing out the insides from real eggs and then trying to poke holes into the shell so I could cross stitch on it.  That failed miserably, but then, this year, I thought, why not do it with plastic eggs.  Then I thought, why not use ribbon instead since it will be more bold and noticeable.  Then this happend.

(I stabbed myself in the thumb :( with the exacto and it was hard to thread the ribbons through the holes, so I would not suggest this for kids at all.  Oh, and there is a drill involved, so that's a no-no for kids too.)

Supplies:

• Plastic Easter Eggs
• Ribbon of your favorite colors (that go with the eggs) I used 6mm width, 50 cent ribbon from Michaels
• Drill with 1/8 bit (or consider using 1 bigger than this) and 3/32 bit
• Glue
• Scissors
• Metal plastic canvas needle (I broke one, so if you are going to do many eggs, you many need a couple)
• Needle Nose Pliers
• Exacto Knife and Clay Scooper Cutting Tool
• Fray Check (optional)
• Basket to put eggs in
• Easter Grass

For both designs, cut the egg hinge off.  It looks tacky and just gets in the way.

1. Cut a hole with the 3/32 bit in each end of the egg (2 holes total)
2. Clean the holes of debris (you can probably just use the exacto
3. Take one of the ribbons and cut off about a foot and a half
4. Thread needle and thread the ribbon from inside one of the egg halves to outside the egg until only about half an inch is still inside the egg.
5. Glue the little bit of ribbon still inside the egg to the side of the egg (Photo 2)
6. Leave it to dry.
7. Once it is dry, take the ribbon and bring it around the edge of the egg and then back up through the hole (Photos 3, 4 and 5) Do this over where you glued the ribbon to hide it since it will show from the outside if the ribbon is darker than the egg.
8. Go around the opposite side of the egg and then up through the middle again (Photo 6)
9. Do this two more times until you have the ribbon wrapped four times around the egg half.  You will end with the ribbon hanging freely off the bottom (Photo 7)
10. With the lose ribbon, wrap it around the inside ribbons and tie a knot (Photos 8 and 9) This will hold the ribbon in place pretty well.  If the ribbons move, just slide them along the egg so they are equal distance apart.  
11. Double knot the middle, dab some glue on the knot and cut the excess.
12. Do this to both halves (Photo 11)
13. Now just put it together.  You can make it so the ribbons don't match up as I did (photo 1) or you can have them match.  I particularly like it when it doesn't match.

This was the easy egg.  Ready for the hard one?

1. Take the 3/32 bit and drill a hole in each end.  You want the hole in the bottom fairly big, so kind of move the drill around a bit when you are drilling it to widen the hole.
2. Now you are going to make 4 rows on the egg of 6 holes each row (this is not counting the holes at each end of the egg).  Three on the top half of the egg and three on the bottom.  You can see it in the first and second pictures.  I used the 1/8 bit but I think you will more likely NOT break your needle like me if you make those holes a little bigger.
3. Clean the holes of debris.  It is going to be pretty messy (Photo 1) I used an exacto to make the outside of the holes look nice and then the clay digging tool to scoop the debris from the inside of the holes because it is hard to get to the holes on the very inside with the exacto.
4. I used about an 90 inch piece of ribbon.  Thread on a needle and take it from the inside to the outside like with the other egg.  Glue the inside tail to the inside of the egg.  I did this to just below one of the holes near the bottom.  Push it up against the side really good and let it dry.
5. When it is dry (it is good to wait because it can come off if you don't re-push it down against the side of the egg) glue the egg shut.  It is annoying if it pops open while you are working so gluing it shut now is good (Photo 3).  Let it dry.
6. You are going to do a chain stitch all the way from one end of the egg to the other.  Since the egg is shut, it is difficult, but the trick is to go in and out other holes when you are working.
7. The first stitch is easy because you should be able to do it normal.  Take the needle and go back in the hole your ribbon is coming out of (the bottom of the egg) and out the second hole from the bottom (Photo 4).
8. Catch the loop with the needle to make the chain stitch (Photo 5).
9. To do more stitches, what you need to do is go back in the hole you just came out of and just go out a random hole that you can get the needle out of.  Don't pull the ribbon tight because you need the loop for the chain stitch.  Go back in the random hole you came out of and then go back out the next hole up in the row you are working on (Photo 6).
10. Your second chain stitch is done (Photo 7).  Now continue up the same way until you are done with the last hole from the top.
11. You now need to get the needle back to the bottom of the egg.  To do this, go in the top hole and come out one of the first holes on the other half of the egg (Photo 9), this is like what you did before, go back in that hole (Photo 10) and now come out the bottom of the egg where you started (Photo 11).
12. Now repeat this with the other rows of holes.  I continued with the row right next to the one I just did (Photo 12).
13. The last row is going to be harder since you don't have any spare holes to go in and out of.  You will have to go out and in holes that already have ribbon in them (Photo 15).
14. Once you finish this row, your ribbon will be sticking out of the second to last hole from the top in the last row (Photo 16).
15. Go back in the top like you did before and get your needle out the bottom.  Glue the top of the egg where all the ribbons meet (Picture 17) and then put glue in the bottom where you went out with the needle.  Cut off the excess ribbon.  The glue should hole the end of the ribbon and if it doesn't, it will just go back into the egg and the glue at the top of the egg will hole it all together.
16. Yay, you did it!

For this egg, I had to use the needle nose pliers at times to pull the needle out of the holes.  Be careful.  I broke the eyes of one of my needles.  So be gentle if you can.

Now do this to more and more eggs.  What I did is drill holes for one egg and then glue.  While that glue is drying, drill for the other type of egg and then glue that.  Then the other one should be dry so you can do your ribboning on that egg while the other one is drying.  Or, just drill them all first, then glue them, then let them dry, then ribbon them.

When you are done, put them in your basket with some Easter grass and enjoy!  

(You better enjoy, because it is a lot of work!!!)