I had the pleasure of filming this craft segment for People.com with the 4 young, extraordinary stars of Matilda the Musical on Broadway. They sent me to see the show (don’t miss it if you are in New York…I’m serious!) and asked me to think about Easter egg projects that relate to the production or story.

I must admit, I was a little nervous. What if I didn’t like the show? What if I was totally uninspired? What if I fell asleep? (Totally possible these days.) Well, the complete opposite happened. I scribbled notes, words, and sketches on a piece of paper and all over the Playbill in the dark and snuck a phone pic when I could. The music, the set, the voices, the children…everything was so creatively executed and beautifully designed.

Matilda’s first love in the world is books, and there’s a scene when her father rips one of her treasures. So I thought, what if we could teach Matilda to turn a bruised book into something else that’s beautiful? So we took a damaged book (and a Playbill) and decoupaged eggs with its torn pages. Then we added glue dots and glitter to make it even happier and festive.

I could really go on and on about what an amazing experience it was to work with Ava, Ripley, Gabby, and Paige, but really, you should just watch the video for yourself; I think you’ll see how much fun we had. And for the instructions on how to make the egg, visit People.com.

Just 9 days after the launch of Project Kid, I have attended 4 craft events/book signings at 2 stores in my home borough of Brooklyn, NY, 1 store in New Jersey, and 1 in Connecticut. While I thought I’d be exhausted after this junket, I’m conversely so energized and excited to see my book out in the world, making kids happy!

We’ve been making cupcake-liner carnations (obviously because this late spring has forced us to craft our own flowers) and more often than not, I hear “Can I make another one?”

Special thanks to Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, River Road Books in Fair Haven, NJ, RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT, and Boulevard Books & Cafe in Brooklyn.

Next stop: Hotlanta! Woot woot! Hometown GA here we come! Check the EVENTS tab for listings in your area!

Easter eggs have become a favorite blank canvas for me recently. For years, they completely intimidated me. They were so small, so fragile, and I thought everything had been done. But after doing many an Easter egg craft story this year, I fell in love with the egg.

FamilyFun Magazine asked me to do this lovely story, teaching readers how to use beets, onion skins, and cabbage to create various egg dyes.

Visit FamlyFunMag.com to learn the recipes for these natural Easter egg dyes. And once the eggs are beautifully colored, paste leaves, petals, and feathers to the eggs with Mod Podge to the shell’s surface.

Decorating eggs with bits of nature is a great way to celebrate Spring!

Mother Nature really got it right when she designed the peacock color scheme. For this fancy fan, take inspiration from the designer herself, or go out on a limb and create your own color palette.

Here’s a tip: When painting your feathers, lay them out on a paper towel and create your stripes one color at a time across all of the feathers. Then move on to the next color. This way, you aren’t using 6 paint brushes!

I always get asked what the inspiration for this project was, and all I can really say is that…

1. I’m obsessed with pennants.
2. I’m crazy for silhouettes.

I love that campy pennant look, and I thought it would soften the expected aesthetic by adding a child’s silhouette.

(FYI…The little boy is my son Oliver on New Year’s Eve, 2012.)