Today I wanted to share with you an easy DIY project you can use in your Easter and spring decor. Besides being a super simple project that anyone can do, it is also very inexpensive! I have always loved seeing speckled eggs used in decor. There is something so attractive about them. I imagine it is because they are a part of nature and the vitality of life. Nature always seems to come up with the most beautiful things, right? I have seen some other tutorials out there for speckled eggs but I wanted to try my hand at it. So here is my tutorial on how to make DIY painted speckled eggs. 🙂

When I was considering what eggs to use, I came across these DIY Easter eggs at Walmart. I knew I did not want to use plastic eggs, and wooden eggs can get a little spendy so these were the perfect solution. These were only $1.98 for the 12 pack! They come in a kit with some bright colored dye so you could could always get some extras to dye with your kids! The eggs are so realistic looking and have a chalky feel to them so the paint adhered to them very well.

For this project you will need:

• Easter DIY eggs (I found mine at Walmart)
• Acrylic Paint (in colors of your choice, get matte finish)
• Flat head paintbrush
• Old Toothbrush

You can paint your eggs in whatever color you want, however the most realistic colors seem to be more light and muted tones of creams, greens and blues. I already had some acrylic paint on hand that I thought would work great. You can see the colors I used in the picture above. Unfortunately the celery green color I had was in semi-gloss finish. If I would have bought it for this project, I would have gotten matte finish. I decided to try it anyway since I already had it. It wasn’t too bad however you can see the sheen of the green eggs compared to the blue and cream in some of the pictures. So my first tip…go with matte finish. 😉

To paint the eggs, I just squirted some paint onto a paper plate. I painted the first blue egg but decided it was a little bright for my taste. So I added some white into the blue to mute the color a little bit. I was very happy with the result! The blue egg is the tray below is the original color, it doesn’t come off as bright in the picture as it was in real life.

I used a flat brush to paint the eggs. This worked well to follow the contour of the egg. That first blue egg I painted left my fingers a complete mess and left fingerprints on the egg. I decided to start painting half of the egg first, letting that dry and moving onto another egg.

Try to smooth out all of the paint lines when applying the paint. They will smooth out a little bit on their own as they are drying too.  I found applying light layers of paint helped to not make too many paint lines. Set them painted side up into the trays to dry. You can paint several eggs this way in a short amount of time.

After the eggs are dry (which was fairly quickly), paint the other half. Since it is dry, now you won’t get too much paint on your fingers.

Again set them into the tray with the painted side up, allowing it to dry. I applied another coat to all the eggs. It helped with the overall coverage. You can see a little of the streakiness in the photo below. This was before I applied the second coat.

While the eggs were drying, I mixed some paint for the speckles. I wanted a nice chocolate brown for the color but all I had on hand was this lighter brown. I mixed in some black with it to get a darker brown. Initially I added too much black (shown in the left picture) so I had to add more brown until I finally ended up with the shade of brown I wanted (in the right picture).

After the second coat was completely dry, I started to add the speckles. I did not want big speckles on my eggs, I have seen some like that and I prefer smaller speckling on the eggs. So I decided to apply the speckling with an old toothbrush. If you want bigger speckles you could use a bigger brush like a paint brush. Put down some old newspaper or packing paper so you don’t get speckles all over. Dip the toothbrush into the brown paint and practice running your finger across the toothbrush to speckle the paper first. Another option is to use a box and put the eggs inside that to speckle them.

I held the egg while I speckled it. Just like when I painted the eggs, I speckled one side first, then the other after it was dry.

Repeat the process with the vintage white and celery green colors. I love the color combinations of these eggs!

I am excited to use these in my decor, I know they will be a staple every spring. In fact, I have already been using the green and cream ones in my simple Easter vignette. Check them out there. You can also see them in use in a DIY sugar mold on my soft and lovely Easter tablescape. 🙂

I am also excited to tell you that I have been learning a new skill lately…photography! You may be thinking…but you already know how to take pictures! Actually, Mr. Wonderful is the awesome photographer behind most of the pictures on A Wonderful Thought. Now I take some from time to time with the cell phone for the tutorials but he does all the heavy lifting with the DSLR pictures.

Well I have been wanting to do some more recipes on the blog and have been watching some food photography tutorials to help with the styling and photos of the recipes. After watching the tutorials and asking lots of questions to my Mr. Wonderful, I decided to start taking some pictures myself. I have been practicing taking some pictures of food so I will be sharing some recipes soon! But in the mean time I put my new skills to work and I am happy to report that I took all the pictures myself for this post!! On manual setting! 🙂 Eeeeeeek!! I am super excited about it. Now I know that a couple of the pictures could have better focus or the exposure may not be exactly right but it is a learning process. I am sure things will improve the more I practice.

I truly believe that one of the best things for you in life is to keep learning. Don’t let your fears of the unknown hold you back. I have to say that initially I was very nervous to take pictures with the “big camera”. Honestly, I was really intimidated by it. But the more I try it, the more comfortable I become. You are never too old to learn something new. If I can do it, you can too! So I hope I have inspired someone to get out there and try something new. You won’t regret it! 🙂