My "Orange" Dress Makeover

So, not too long ago I tried to dye a dress orange. You remember that, right? If not, you can see that adventure here. Just as a refresher...the white dress turned pink. 

Not only was it pink...but it still wasn't flattering and still was quite see through. This bum did not fit in the coverage zone of that tiny built in slip you see there. 

So having only spent $11 on the dress and $9 on dye that didn't work, I decided to take it apart and see if I could remake it into something wearable. And if not, I was only out $20. More than I wanted to be out, but at least it wasn't an expensive dress I was getting set to experiment on! 

So I sat down with my seam ripper and separated it all out. Took the zipper out, separated the skirt from the bodice, and took the lining off the bodice. 

I thought this would be pretty simple. I stitched the edges of the bodice, tucked the back a little and turned it into a jacket. Easy! And then it was time for the skirt. It went fast. I added a back to the waist band and reattached the zipper. And I thought I was done! 

Cameron came home, I put it all on to show him my handiwork, and the skirt wasn't pretty. It lumped funny in back where the zipper was, the waist band folded in on itself, and it made my hips look wider than they already are post 2 kids. And then the weird slip inside still looked weird even with me wearing another slip beneath it. It just wasn't going to cut it. 

So out came the seam ripper again. Off came the zipper. Off came the waist band. Off came the built in slip completely. And off to Walmart I went (because on a Saturday evening, that was my option unless I wanted to drive an hour to the real fabric store). 

I found some decent quality white knit, bought 3 yards of it and some elastic, and headed back home to experiment some more. 

I should have taken step by step pictures, but I wasn't sure this was even going to work and by the time I got sewing it was 10 at night. I just wanted to get it done! But basically I split the knit fabric in two and sewed each section into a tube. I slipped one knit tube in the other, and then put the skirt fabric tube in the center and sewed them all together at the top and turned it right side out. From there I added the elastic, sewed a casing for it, and then hemmed the layers. Voila...a makeshift maxi skirt that was no longer see through! 

It isn't the most beautiful skirt ever, but it is miles better than what the dress was and now I can actually wear it! It was perfect for my Easter outfit yesterday! 

But...there is a Pinstrosity involved...

Apparently even though it'd been rinsed twice, not all the dye was out of the seams in the jacket. My nice new-to-me white shirt I just got at Savers now has a coral stripe around each arm. Awesome. 

Last Minute Easter "Wreath" Idea/Pin Win

Hello!
I have been MIA due to a myriad of life events, alas I am here today though! Easter is next weekend, maybe your in-laws are coming over and you are less than seasonally/holiday ready décor wise?? Or you feel like some craftiness can get you in the Easter season spirit! I haven't decorated for Spring/Easter at all but I LOVE this pin that Susanne sent us and I thought I would share. For those of you who don't feel crafty, take after Susanne and get brave! The results will be darling :) (...and in the off chance they aren't, send them our way and we will commiserate with you!).

The Original

http://www.cheeriosandlattes.com/easter-cross-wreath-diy/

A beautiful and unique piece for the Easter season, and or any other time of year for that matter!

The Pin-Win

"When I saw this Easter "Wreath" I got all excited because I thought “I can handle this!”  If you know me I am not such a crafty diy kind of gal.  So challenge accepted.  I did however call in back up, my friend who is the crafty kind of gal especially when it comes to wreaths.  I had all these long twigs sitting downstairs that I didn’t know what to do with so we broke them into the size of sticks we wanted and to give it that rustic look.  In doing the craft we noticed that the twigs we were using were way thicker than the original picture in the pin but that’s what we had so we went with it.  Here’s our results.  We left off the little flowers throughout as both of us preferred the more simple look.  We were both pleased with the results.   I would say it was a Pin Win, wouldn’t you?"

We sure would Susanne! I love it! And, I love that it isn't just for outdoors during Easter, it can be an inside piece as well!

So for all of you looking for a last minute project, look no further! The twigs you can get at Walmart in the floral department (next to crafts) or any craft store and you could use fresh or silk flowers for this arrangement as well. Most of the other supplies are household items and Susanne said this took her less than an hour to complete.

Happy crafting!

Easter- Redundo Rolls Revisited

With Easter coming this weekend lots of people will be making lots of fun Easter goodies.

One goodie that always seems to make the list, and then make the hit list are these Resurrection Rolls (or Marshmallow Rolls, or Hocus Pocus Rolls etc.). They never seem to turn out like you are hoping/expecting.

Here is a compilation of these "Redundo Rolls" that we featured last year around this time, Marquette put this together and I thought it might be helpful for someone this coming weekend! Take some pointers before you start!

 

Happy Friday all!

Marshmallow Rolls

 

You've seen them on the blog as Redundo Rolls. You've seen them on Pinterest as Hocus Pocus Rolls or Resurrection Rolls. You've seen them exploding in your ovens.  Today...we give you:

The Original Pin

http://eatatallies.com/2011/04/resurrection-rolls/

The Disappearing Marshmallow Rolls! We featured this on the blog before, but we've had quite a few entries since then. I've been saving this one though. Why? Because I tried it, followed our advice, and couldn't get it to work. I ended with results just like these:

The Pinstrosities

 "Mine turned out more like marshmallow snails. In the recipe/directions, she doesn't actually give measurements for ratio of cinnamon to sugar or how much melted butter you need, so I don't think that was the issue. Others had commented that the marshmallow melts and leaks out if you don't make sure your crescent roll "seams" are sealed well, so I made sure to try to do that. Thing is, ours didn't just leak out, they sort of exploded. After they cooled, the marshmallow size went down and they were delicious anyway, but they definitely didn't look like they were supposed to." -Jacy

 

 "I was super excited to see these marshmallow-y delights on Pinterest and decided to try them out for an easy dessert.  I have a bunch of campfire marshmallows left over from a camping season riddled with fire-bans (Colorado spent almost the whole camping season on fire ban).  I figured I could use up marshmallows and free up pantry space.  I broke out my giant marshmallows, the cinnamon and sugar, my melted butter and of course the crescent rolls, perused the directions a 3rd time since that seems to be a primary fail culprit. I took a whole marshmallow dipped it in the melted butter rolled it in the cinnamon/sugar mix then attempted to wrap it in a crescent. Not such a stellar job, but it worked, I had to stretch the dough a bit to accommodate the over-large marshmallow but it worked.  I decided after that maybe a ½ campfire-mallow would work and the next 2 were done in halves, it was still a bit of a squeeze and then I ¼’d the marshmallow.  The wrapping was much easier now but I was out of crescents so it was time to get dessert baking.  I was entertaining my sister-in-law and we were chatting at the table when she looked at the oven and said “uuhhh – is it supposed to explode?” Sure enough I had the stay-puffed marshmallow monster growing steadily in my oven reigned in only by feeble crescent bonds.  The dough looked like it was just about perfect so I pulled them out and this is what I had (this picture was taken after we had eaten some of the flattened sweeties) Thank heavens I put foil on the pan and sprayed it with Pam this was such a gooey mess! They were delicious please don’t think I’m complaining but the marshmallows most definitely didn’t disappear and the crescents didn’t hold any type of shape.  Obviously the next time I do this I’ll be using regular sized marshmallows but even the quartered ones (which ought to have been just about the same size) didn’t hold up.  Please help!  I want these to be the tastey pop-able puffs of Halloween that I imagined them to be!" -Alison

 

"I followed the recipe exactly so I'm not sure where I went wrong :( Regardless of if I knew or not, I will not be trying this one again because I have yet to clean out my oven and I just don't want to add to it. I give this one a 3 out of 5." -Jamie

 

http://pinthisnotthat.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/hocus-pocus-rolls/ -Kierra

 

"I tried to make these Crescent-Roll-Cinnamon-Sugar-Marshmallow things. Marshmallow everywhere. But they still tasted good!" -Sarah

 

"As soon as I pulled these out of the oven I knew I had to send it in. I don't know if I just did something wrong or if this doesn't really work. It said the marshmallows would disappear, but they just spewed out of the sides. I followed the recipe exactly and I even spent extra time on pinching the dough closed so that there were no openings. So here's my pinstrosity. " -Sariah

 

When I made mine I took extra time to make sure that I had pinched the dough closed very thoroughly...and I still ended up with flattened and spewed rolls. I didn't take a picture because they look like all the other photos above. I wasn't quite sure how to solve this. That is, until Carter emailed us. Carter tried out the recipe the first time and got this:

 

But Carter's no quitter. Here's the story:

 "I thought I would send in my lovely experience (and high quality images) to share! And my advice on how other pinners can avoid the hell I found with these heavenly rolls."

"I had just gotten home from a horrible accounting test and all I wanted to do was eat my feelings. I had pinned these bad boys about a week earlier, so they were still fresh on my sweet desiring radar. My boyfriend was also on his way to visit me (I live in Athens and he lives in Atlanta) so I thought I would have something delicious ready for his arrival. After a quick pit stop at the grocery store, I pulled up the original site and followed the recipe from start to finish.
One of the pictures I have included is how the rolls are supposed to look, all cute and fluffy and filled with deliciousness. When my oven timer finally went off after fifteen minutes, that was not at all what I found. The picture included is how mine appeared the exact moment I pulled them out of the oven. My roommates and I had a good laugh at first, then came time to scrape them off the pan.....thirty minutes later, we had a broken pile of cooked crescent dough on a plate. This was a pin fail for the books."

"About a week later, and the night before my business statistics test, I thought I would put the other tube of crescent rolls in my fridge to use and make these bad boys again. This time, instead of pinching them shut like the recipe calls for you to do, I wrapped them in such a way that the marshmallow could still breathe. Fifteen minutes later I pulled out perfectly fluffy, delicious treats (and they taste just as heavenly as the Easter story they represent). The point being DO NOT SEAL THESE SHUT! It will piss off your marshmallow and make for a horrendous clean up time!"

I want to try these again, and now I know what to do. Thanks so much for your help and sleuthfulness (I'm sure that's a word) Carter, you're the best! 

 

Alright Pinstrosipeeps! Who will be, or has already tried these this year!? Send us your results! The good, the bad and the ugly, and we will make another compilation of Redundo Rolls! Good luck everyone!

 

Gloppy Pretzel Pumpkins (or Carrots)

Today we have a Pinstrosity that was submitted as a fall treat, but with Easter coming you can use it this time of year as well! 

The Original Pin is for making Pumpkin Pretzels, but because I spent 2 hours in Hobby Lobby yesterday and saw all the carrots in their Easter stuff I immediately thought they were pretzel carrots (I know...they aren't shaped right for carrots, but it works). 

The Original Pin:

(Source)

Aren't those cute? I LOVE dipped pretzels. The sweet and the salty together make such a nice combination. When we lived in Tucson we were across from a store where we could get blueberry, raspberry, orange, vanilla, chocolate, or even chili flavored dipped pretzels and it was fantastic. I miss that. 

Lisa tried her hand at making these and ended up with a Pinstrosity.

The Pinstrosity:

Not quite pumpkins...or carrots. But I'm sure they're still tasty!

A few things here that might help you if you decide to give this one a try. 

• The more orange you can get your candy melts the better. They are now making candy melts in all sorts of fantastic colors. Sometimes you can find a nice bright orange, and sometimes you find the lighter more chalky orange. If you can find the bright orange melting wafers, I suggest using those! They also make food coloring and dyes specifically for chocolate. Don't use your normal food coloring droppers for chocolate! It doesn't work well (I know this from experience). 
• Add a dollop of shortening to your dipping chocolate. This will help to smooth it out a little and make dipping easier. 
• Drop your pretzels in, and then use a fork to fish them out. This way you can kinda shake or tap off the excess chocolate before putting them on the pan to set. 
• Placement of the M&M surprisingly can help make or break this. You want it at the very top of the pretzel in the "dip", but you want it so it is touching the pan, and not resting on the pretzel only. Does that make sense? 

What treats are you making for Easter?

Marshmallow Roll Revamp

It's time for another Throwback Thursday revamp! I know Easter is still 3 months away, but I figured I'd get this up and out there right now. This is a pin that people seem to go crazy about right before Easter or Halloween (which is a funny combination in my opinion). It also is one of the pins we have received the most Pinstrosities for. 

I give you 

(duh duh duh!!!)

The Resurrection/Hocus Pocus/Marshmallow Roll!

http://eatatallies.com/2011/04/resurrection-rolls/

(Oh man...of course I pick something with sugary bread goodness to post right now...makes my bowl of oatmeal look/taste extra boring. Oh well.)

This will make the 4th post we've done on these bad boys. The previous 3 posts are:

Redundo Rolls

Marshmallow Rolls: The Great Escape

Easter Round Up

These rolls just aren't easy to get to work. I tried them and ran into issues and never could quite figure them out. Today we have 3 submissions to feature, and then we'll share all the information we've gleaned on these from reading, submissions, and comments. 

Submission #1:

"I have been in a huge Pinterest recipe kick lately. And up until a few nights ago they have all turned out great. The other night I decided to make hocus pocus buns. They seemed super easy. Just dip a marshmallow in butter, roll in cinnamon and sugar, and wrap in crescent roll dough. The pin says that the marshmallow should disappear when you bake them. But as you can tell by the pics mine did not disappear. In fact they did the opposite and got HUGE! In the end I would rate this a 3 on the pinstrosity scale. Where as they did not do what I thought they would do, they were still edible. And pretty tasty. I mean you really cant go wrong with marshmallows and cinnamon sugar right?!" -Shelby

Submission #2

"The only thing that I did different was, I accidentally put brown sugar instead of cinnamon inside AND I baked it on wax paper vs the pan directly, thinking it wouldn’t burn or stick as much. Not sure what went so wrong here…." -Natalie

Submission #3

"So, my story starts out by seeing this pin several weeks ago after FINALLY giving in to Pinterest. I've become quite the pinning momma since then. Mainly my skills are put to the test on Saturday nights with my cousin and a bottle (or 2) of wine. And never baking. Well, I had been wanting to try these darling little bites of heaven out and thought they would be fun to make with my 3 year old son. Well, my hubby comes home from the store today with these flippin ginormous marshmallows that are half the size of my head and reduced fat crescent rolls. I'm not saying this had anything to do with the outcome, but I'm just sayin...Anyways, my son decided to take a nice big poopy in his pants, which in turn earned him an early nap and no baking time with mommy. So, I proceed to pop my little balls of yummy deliciousness into my oven and enjoy the wonderful aroma of cinnamon and sugar erupting from my kitchen.And then it happened, the horrid smell of burned butt. I bolted to the kitchen, opened the oven door, and there it was...my pinstrosity! What I had concocted was a large, overflowing magma of cinnamon, butter, and marshmallows coming from one large glob of crescent roll. Yep, that's my story. But! My hubby ate it all up and my son didn't know the difference. 

Sincerely, Not So Betty Crocker Reagan"

Tips and Tricks

So now for how to get these right (or at least things you can do that will help to result in less of a Pinstrosity). I'll make the main tip in each comment large and bold so it sticks out for you scanners. 

• Jessica commented and said, "I cook professionally, but I'm not a food photographer so the stuff I make from Pinterest generally looks undesirable. My suggestion with this recipe would be to lower the heat and put the rolls in a cold oven, allowing the rolls to preheat with the oven. The marshmallow will have short time to melt, rather than explode."
• An Anonymous commenter said, "Use a toothpick to hold it together! Also there are two sizes of crescent rolls. There are a larger size with 6 in a roll and smaller sized ones with 8 rolls in the can. This might be the problem. I use only the big ones when a recipe calls for crescent rolls, unless it specifically calls for the smaller ones. I like to have more to work with."
• Another Anonymous commenter said, "My boyfriend and i just did this same recipe. We used the big marshmallows, and the Pillsbury crescent rolls. Instead of using the crescent rolls in the shape of a triangle we mushed each piece into it's own ball and then flattened it out like mini pizza crusts. And when you put it on the pan make sure to have it pinched side down, it won't stopped the leakage of marshmallow but it certainly minimizes it. They were absolutely delicious though! i think next time we make this we'll sprinkle some of the left over cinnamon sugar on top. yum..."
• Brenda Lady said, "I make these all the time and they always turn out great!!!! The problem is the dough you used!! Buy regular frozen bread rolls (NO CRESCENT ROLLS!!!), I use Rhodes. Allow rolls to thaw in a single layer for about an hour, until the dough is pliable. Flatten out each roll (but don't be too rough or you'll end up with overly tough bread) and wrap around a large marshmallow, seal edges as best you can and then roll in cinnamon sugar. Bake according to package directions, but start checking on half way through and every 5-10 mins (this might seem a little extreme, but I've found that even a minor difference in temp between ovens can have a huge effect on how these guys turn out). Also, don't crowd the pan!!! The marshmallows SHOULD melt out of the roll, leaving a hollow inside, but the point is they SHOULD MELT. You'll end up with a clear, sticky, sweet layer of melted marshmallow at the bottom of the pan and hollow rolls."
• Morgan said, "I learned how to make these as a young girl in church. We always used regular biscuit dough that came in a rolled can (Pillsburry)instead of crescent dough. We never had any issue with marshmallow leaking out of the pan. I have done them both in muffin pans and regular baking sheets. You do need to make sure that all seams are closed tightly though. With a weak seam you will get the inside running out. I do wonder if there is a bigger chance of a weak seam because crescents are a more flaky dough than regular biscuit dough?" 
• There are many comments about making sure that the seams are all pinched very tight in order to contain the marshmallow. 
• Carter (from this post) tried these once and got a Pinstrosity, and then tried them again. He said, "This time, instead of pinching them shut like the recipe calls for you to do, I wrapped them in such a way that the marshmallow could still breathe. Fifteen minutes later I pulled out perfectly fluffy, delicious treats (and they taste just as heavenly as the easter story they represent). The point being DO NOT SEAL THESE SHUT! It will piss off your marshmallow and make for a horrendous clean up time!"
• ValGal said, "This recipe has been around for YEARS, and while I admire the blog lady's attempt to make the process about religion, she's leaving out an important step... put them in a cupcake or muffin tin for baking. We also usually bake them at 375 instead of 350. Anyways I googled it to check and every other site with this recipe recommends a muffin tin, including Pillsbury's own site.
  http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/magic-marshmallow-crescent-puffs/291cfc34-4b0c-4338-8797-597804aadda1#
  In the comments someone asks if they can use a cookie sheet instead. Someone commented and said..."NO do not try to make these on a cookie sheet. The marshmallow inside melts along with the butter and other sugars and creates almost a syrup that gets soaked into the dough. In fact even in a muffin cup you run the risk of some of this syrup overflowing.If you try to make these on a cookie sheet they will leak and burn and you will end up throwing it away. Also,when they are baked they are hollow. The marshmallow melts and flavors the dough so don't expect to break one open and find it inside. I actually would suggest making these in jumbo cups just in case to avoid a mess."
  Anyways here are the other recipes I found, definitely use a muffin tin and you will have much better luck. In other news, you can use Peeps instead of the cinnamon/sugar marshmallow for added fun ;)
  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/magic-marshmallow-crescent-puffs-recipe/index.html
  http://www.food.com/recipe/stuffed-cinnamon-crescent-rolls-126936
  http://www.livelovepasta.com/2012/03/cinnamon-sugar-marshmallow-crescent-roll-cupcakes/"
• There are also a ton of comments saying to try using mini marshmallows instead of the large ones. Could work. 
• And now for the Brown Sugar. Here's what I learned: 
• "All sugars, both brown and white included, start as sap in tropical sugarcane plants. Those are crushed, and the juice is extracted. It is then heated– a process that yields molasses. That molasses contains very dark sugar crystals. Manufacturers spin that in a centrifuge and the molasses is removed. The final product is white sugar. Decades ago, brown sugar was simply white sugar before all of the molasses was taken out. These days, though, brown sugar is white sugar where the molasses has been added back into the mix. The darker the sugar, the more molasses in the package. In most cases, you can use brown and white sugar interchangeably, but you may notice a real difference in the texture of your baked goods. Remember that brown sugar is naturally moister, so you can bet that your baked goods with be a bit softer and moister as well. What’s more is that your baked goods may come out slightly darker than you’d expected if you use brown sugar instead of the more traditional white sugar." - See more at: http://www.escali.com/blog/brown-sugar-vs-white-sugar-whats-the-difference/#sthash.oletQnt2.dpuf

So these can be done, but they are quite temperamental. With that said though...most people say that even when this one turns into a visual Pinstrosity, it's still a complete Pin Win in taste! 

Egg Dyeing Techniques Tested

Remember how on Tuesday I said I was testing a few pins...well, I ended up testing 4! I'll show you 3 of those today. All of them are about methods of dyeing eggs. I thought I had a ton of eggs in the fridge, but I only had 6. But it's just Cameron and I here and we really don't need a butt load of cooked eggs sitting in the fridge. More than that and they'd just be "eggstra". C'mon. You knew I had to throw that in somewhere, right? Right. 

So the first method I tried was the Volcano Eggs. 

The Original Pin

http://www.toddlerapproved.com/2012/04/volcano-egg-dyeing.html

Carolyn was perusing Pinterest one day while her son was napping and found the Volcano Eggs. She says, "I rushed to my cupboard and fridge, and pulled the supplies out.  I decided I would use blue and green for my baking soda paint, then use the red and yellow die to just drop directly onto the egg.  My paint brushes were in the back bedroom, which was locked… and the door sticks really bad.  So I decided to use spoons to “paint” the egg with.  Then I dripped some yellow die on.  Rather boring I thought.  But I was too lazy to do much more. I grabbed the vinegar and poured some on.  Whoa!!  Crazy colorful volcanoes!!!  It was awesome!  Sadly the color was annoyingly pale." 

The Pinstrosity

This sounded like fun to me, so I thought I'd try it out and see what I could get. 

The Investigation:

I followed the instructions from the original pin and got my baking soda paint mixed together. It looked bright and vibrant. 

I was just going to use clear vinegar, but I thought I'd take it a step further and see what vinegar with food coloring in it did too. 

There's the fizzing. Just like Carolyn found, the colors did go quite pale and boring. 

So I thought I'd leave the baking soda paint on for longer to see if that helped. Nope. Didn't do anything. The colored Vinegar was fun and made different colors run differently. In the end the egg was neat, but not near as vibrant and fun as the original. I'm thinking she must have used neon food coloring or put more than the 6 drops I put in the baking soda (which I thought was a lot).  

So, not a fail...but not as cool as I had hoped. And mine didn't really fizz all that good. I'd rather just dip eggs, it's less of a hassle. 

Alright, on to method #2. 

The Original Pin

http://elhadadepapel.blogspot.com/2012/04/huevos-eggs-eier.html

The directions say, "Leave the eggs some minutes in the color and then add some more water. Do the same till the eggs are completely covered by the water."

Jamie, aka The Pinning Pirate, found these and decided to give it a try. Here's her story: "First of all, from the picture, I couldn't tell if the eggs were peeled or not. I left the shell on my eggs. I used the closest version of glasses I had of the original picture. As you can see here..."

"I started out by making the purple, orange, mint green and rose red colors from the directions on the  food coloring box. 26 red 14 blue, etc. and did the last two glasses red and green. After getting the color in the glass, I added 1 tablespoon of water and let it sit for about 10 minutes. After each 10 minute interval, I added a tablespoon of water until the whole egg was submerged. This took about 4 'layers' of water so I was hoping for 4 beautiful layers."

The Pinstrosity

"The first problem I encountered was the egg not wanting to stay upright. As you can see in the front left glass, the egg just gave up and fell over. Quick death. The more water I added, the less the eggs stood up. The second problem was in the middle of my experiment, I looked at the box of food coloring and noticed that I was using the increments for white cake mix. The next column on the box was for white frosting and lo and behold, the last column had increments for "egg dye" and the amount needed was waaaaaaay different from cake mix. Obviously."

"Wonderful. Just another reason I messed this up. I had that failure instinct before I was even done with this. Shall we see what the final outcome was?"

"Pretty right?! The one on the left even looks like JUPITER!! And the cracks? Beautiful. Not at all what they were supposed to look like."

So I decided to give this a try and see what I could come up with. 

The Investigation:

So the first thing I thought I would try to trouble shoot is how to keep the egg upright. I used two toothpicks to prop up one corner of my glasses, hoping that would lean the egg in the corner enough. Also, eggs float some (the more fresh they are, the less they will float...but still they don't just stay put). If your eggs are cooked fully they won't want to wander as much...but they will still wander some. 

That worked at first. I was able to add water once even and they stayed upright. But the 2nd time I added water the orange egg fell over.   

 So when I went to pour in water in the purple egg I held the egg still and upright with a measuring spoon. That worked wonders! No tippage. 

In then end, this worked out pretty good. Not fabulous, but not bad either. I forgot to take a picture of just the two "ombre" eggs...so here's the whole set of 6 eggs and their various colorings...with the 2 ombre ones mixed in there. 

This method actually wasn't too bad. The hardest part is keeping your egg upright, but that can be done. 

And finally I tried this one out:

The Original Pin

http://www.kimberlycun.com/2011/04/22/how-to-make-surprise-marbled-easter-eggs/

Belle tried this out and here's what she got:

The Pinstrosity

This looked like fun! I was on this one quicker than a raccoon can steal eggs.  

The Investigation:

I had my cooked eggs and went to gently crack the shells...but my method of cooking (which I'll discuss on Saturday) made the shells more brittle than I was expecting and I couldn't get fine little cracks. Not to mention the bottoms (where the air bubble is) fell completely out. Oh well. I poured my food coloring over the egg in the bag and put the two eggs in the fridge for about 40 minutes (while I colored the other eggs). I pulled them out and they were vibrant! I was so excited. And then I rinsed them with water as instructed and the dye mostly rinsed off. 

 But I still had high hopes for the insides. I did the vinegar rinse and then let them dry. Once they were dry I peeled them and here they are:

Not bad. The lines are thicker than I hoped, but at least they are there. I'm wondering if because the egg shells were more brittle than normal if it let in too much dye, causing the thick lines. Here's what they looked like cut open: 

All in all, not bad. I had fun at least. I learned some fun techniques for the future. Next year I think I'll try the tie-dyed silk print eggs. 

Check back on Saturday to see the pin I tested for cooking these eggs!