Spring Nest

Here's an idea that I got from Country Living Magazine. To make the nest, simply turn a bowl upside down and cover it with plastic wrap. Cover the bowl with shredded paper (a great way to reuse shredded documents)that has been dipped in paper mache paste. You can make the paste by mixing school glue with water, or you can mix flour and water (and you can throw in some glue for good measure with that mixture if you want to). You can look up exact measurements for the paste online, or you can do what I did, simply mix until you like the consistency. Allow the paper to dry overnight, then remove the nest and plastic wrap from the bowl. Carefully peel the plastic wrap away from the nest. Tadah! A homemade nest! My girls loved making these nests with me. They liked the squishy paste. You can put candy, plastic grass, plastic eggs, etc. in the nests. Emily came up with the idea to paint real egg shells for ours. She carefully cracked the shells at the top for our scrambled eggs. We then rinsed the shells, allowed them to dry, and painted them with acrylic paints. I positioned them upside down in my nest so they look whole, but you could also leave them with the cracked side up and make a little bird to put in it. There's lots of potential with this fun craft!