Swan weather vane and tutorial in patina on copper

We have wanted a weather vane for awhile. I think I have wanted one since I saw Mary Poppins as a kid. I remember one on the roof of the weather telling neighbor. 

My ideal weather vane has always been a swan since I am so swan obsessed. It is hard to find a pretty one that is not too abstract or too small.  I found ours online at East Coast Weather Vanes.com. It was on sale so Pink Boy said to order it.

We decided to make it look older to make a patina on it.

Here are the steps to age copper:

We just did the swan not the brass NSEW thing.

Spray with window cleaner leave it wet

Mix distilled vinegar, ammonia and kosher salt in the quart spray bottle. Shake till blended.

Make the spray nozzle a fine mist and spray entire piece evenly. We hung it upside down between the inside of a ladder then we over entire ladder with thin plastic drop cloths sort of tented it. 

Check on it about an hour later it will be  changing some and respray any area you missed.

Wait about 8 hours and check again and install. Do no wipe it or remove any of the greenish powder. 

Have a Pink day!

Dying blown out eggs tutorial

 Dyed eggs drying. I use cake decorating colors not the stuff in grocery stores for Easter

 Inseret skewer into hole in egg or egg will float

 I used kitty litter to hold up drying eggs to avoid marks on them floral clay also works

 Tin foil underneath catches drips no mess

 My ribbons

 Dye the eggs in a metal bowl holds heat longer and I add 2 T of white vinegar to set color

 I used paper flowers I found in antique shop

 Glue them on with craft glue or a glue gun

 Decorated eggs so fun to do will last for years if packed away in plastic container

 I love ribbon wrapped eggs! I pretend they are Marie Antoinette's Easter eggs

 Laduree ribbon on this one

Dying eggs and decorating them are so fun! I wanted to do them a little bit more formal this year so I channeled Marie Antoinette and tried to create eggs that she would have in her basket --if they had that at her time which I do not think they made eggs for Easter. Next year I will order even larger eggs these were goose eggs from Bracken Ridge Ranch - just type that in on line and you can order all sizes of eggs that are blown out. They come so well packed not one egg was damaged all perfect!

My favorite are the ones with bows on top. I will do more of those next time and I also will spray some with spray glue next time after dying and then glitter them.

Trying to figure out a way to put my MA monogram on them. I tried it freehand with a glue pen it was not easy not happy with the look.

Joining in on Pink Saturday and Wow Us Wednesday:

http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/pink-saturday/

Have a Pink day!