I love to decorate and craft for the seasons and holidays, especially Christmas and Valentine’s. My Easter crafts are a bit more subtle. But I still make a few decorations for the mantle, like this paper mache egg decoration.

I’ve already made a spring scrap yarn wreath for my front door and paper vases for the mantle the season. Like those crafts, this one uses materials you are likely to have around the house. It’s a very affordable and easy DIY.

To decorate the paper mache egg, I used spring images from my sister site Pictureboxblue. The site has a collection of vintage rabbit illustrations and daffodil images. I have edited these pictures to make them into clipart images. You can download these for free to use for this craft.

We’re a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Making Paper Mache Eggs

Paper Mache is a very affordable and hardwearing material that can be shaped into almost anything. I’ve made a Paper Mache rabbit head and large decorated bowls with it before.

It is a very green craft as you recycle and repurpose materials such as newspapers and other printed papers. Also, paper mache is fully compostable, adding to its green credentials.

What You Need

• Scrap paper such as newspapers, but other papers will do. We read our newspapers online these days, so I didn’t have any. But I had plenty of old computer paper, so I used that instead.
• Small balloon – I used a small water balloon as my mould to achieve the egg shape for this spring mantle decoration.
• White craft glue, such as Mod Podge.
• Double-sided sticky foam pads
• Old-style wooden cotton reel spool
• Creamy white paint – acrylic or latex paint. I just used some leftover house paint I had in my home.
• Talcum (baby) powder
• For Easter paper images, you can download the rabbit and floral ones I used below (in the steps). Or you might want to use others. There are some good books that are full of wonderful images to collage with.

How To Make The Paper Mache Egg

Step 1: First, inflate the balloon to the size you would like the egg decoration to be. Then tear up the paper into small squares about 1 inch in length.

Dilute the glue with water 50/50. Soak the paper squares in the glue mixture and then add them to the balloon one by one. The wet paper will mould around the curves of the balloon easier than dry paper.

Top Tip: If the paper is very thin and delicate and tears easily when wet, brush the balloon with the glue-water mixture first, then add the dry paper sheets.

Step 2: Carry adding the squares of paper until the whole balloon is covered. I used an egg cup to keep the balloon upright. Another method is to hang the balloon with string while the paper mache dries.

I used three layers of paper, letting each layer dry in between. Even though the eggs will be thin, the combination of paper and glue will make them quite strong.

Step 3: Once the paper mache has dried, pop the balloon with a pin. Then cover the hole with a couple of squares of paper. When that has dried with scissors, cut the side of the paper mache egg open.

Painting And Decorating The Egg

Step 4: Mix talcum powder into the paint to give the paper mache egg a plaster-type finish. Add the talcum powder a little bit at a time, and stir it into the paint until it is a very thick consistency.

Step 5: Paint the egg inside and outside with the thick paint mixture. Two coats of paint should give the egg a rough plaster appearance.

Step 6: To further decorate these eggs and give them a spring feel, I used cutout paper images of rabbits and daffodils.

You can download the images I used below. Just click on the title above each clip art sheet. A higher-resolution image will open in a new window in your browser. If you right-click on the image with your mouse, you can save the image to your hard drive.

Vintage Rabbit Clip Art

Vintage Daffodil Clip Art

Step 7: Use paper glue to stick the cutout images to the egg.

Step 8: To finish this Easter mantle decoration, make a stand for the paper mache egg using an old wooden cotton reel. Use a sticky foam pad on the top of the reel to hold the paper mache egg in place.

The decoration looks great on my mantle. It’s a very cute, subtle spring decoration. Other paper cutouts could be used for different holidays to update the decoration throughout the year.

If you liked this craft, you might want to check out some other Easter crafts on Pillarboxblue, such as the paper bunny treat bags, Marimekko decorated eggs, and the real egg Easter wreath.

Or, if you love paper mache crafts, check out these cute paper mache vintage teacups; they can also be decorated for Easter.

Visit allfreepapercrafts for more paper crafting ideas.