#### Cutout Egg Ornament

These are among the most beautiful of Easter eggs. With a hook attached for hanging, a cutout egg makes a lovely decoration for an egg tree or a Christmas tree. Or, you may prefer to glue a base to the bottom so the egg will stand upright.

#### Materials:

- Eggs
- Egg dye
- Pencil
- Darning needle
- Manicure scissors
- Clear nail polish
- White glue
- Tweezers

  #### Decorating Materials

- Glitter
- Narrow ribbon, braid, or rickrack
- Florist's clay
- Miniature figures
- Tiny beads, sequins, flowers, felt cutouts
- Small brass curtain rings for stand-up eggs
- Small discarded Christmas tree ornament tops for hanging eggs
- Tiny buttons for hanging eggs

#### Instructions:

Egg preparation:

Using the darning needle, make a small hole in one end of the egg and a slightly larger one in the other end. Be sure to pierce the inner membrane at both ends. The egg will blow out more easily if you also puncture the yolk.

Hold the egg over the bowl. Place your mouth over the small hole and blow with firm and steady force. The contents of the egg will come out the larger hole. Or if you prefer, hold the end of a drinking straw firmly against the smaller hole and blow into that.

Rinse the egg out well with water, and allow it to air-dry.

Method:

Dye the blown eggs and allow them to dry completely.

When the eggshells are dry, use a pencil to outline the area to be cut.

With the darning needle, make a hole in the eggshell near the pencil line.

Starting at the hole, cut very carefully along the line using the manicure scissors. Use small strokes and keep the points of the scissors turned in, moving the egg as you cut.

Coat the outside of the eggshell with colorless nail polish to strengthen it and add gloss. Let it dry well.

If you do not plan to use glitter or sequins on the inside of the eggshell, coat the inside of the shell with colorless nail polish and allow it to dry.

If you plan to make a hanging egg, put the hanger in place now. Carefully slip both prongs of a Christmas tree ornament-hanger through the hole in the top of the eggshell. Anchor them in place inside the eggshell by butting them through the holes of a tiny button. Tear a small piece of paper into a circle slightly larger than the button. Glue the paper in place over the bottom inside the top of the eggshell. Hanging eggs usually look better if the inside of the shell is finished with glitter or is painted with acrylic paint after the hanger is in place.

To apply glitter to the inside of the egg, coat it thinly with glue, then sprinkle on the glitter. Shake out the extra glitter. Or put a thin coating of glue on the inside of the egg and use tweezers to help you cover the inside of the shell with sequins. Let the egg dry well.

For tiny flower arrangements or miniature scenes, first put a piece of florist's clay in the bottom of the egg. With the tweezers, insert the stems of the flowers and leaves or the bottoms of the figures into the clay.

Cover the edge of the opening with glitter to match the inside of the egg or glue on an edging of narrow ribbon, rickrack, or braid.

If you wish, glue tiny felt flowers, beads or sequins to the outside of the egg.

For a stand-up egg, glue a small brass curtain ring to the bottom of the egg.