Wreaths are a wonderful way to decorate and celebrate the changing seasons. We normally associate them with Christmas but in recent years I have noticed them on the doors of more than a few houses in the local area at different times of the year. I was really keen to join in this Spring and it seemed like the perfect excuse to indulge in a spot of Easter Craft. After some consideration I decided upon a natural look for my wreath, but wanted lots of speckled eggs in different colours, so finding a way to paint my own was definitely the way to go.

First I needed to make a wreath ring. For this I made use of some trees in my garden, winding some thin branches around one another into a circle. I then secured them with string.

Then I gathered the rest of my materials to decorate the wreath. Here's what I used:

Polystyrene eggs

Acrylic paints

Toothpicks

Craft feathers

Craft 'Moss' (found in the florist section of my local craft shop)

A glue gun and glue sticks

Ribbon

Using the acrylic paint, I mixed a few different shades for the base colour on each of the eggs. I chose to mix a dusky peach, a grey and a duck-egg blue. Then I inserted a toothpick into the bottom of each of the polystyrene eggs. This would make the process of painting and drying much easier.

After painting each one I placed the eggs into a larger piece of polystyrene and left them to dry. Acrylic paints normally dry fast but they actually take much longer when applied to polystyrene so the longer you can leave them, the better.

Once the eggs had dried they were ready for their speckled details. I watered down some brown acrylic paint to make it translucent.

To apply the speckles I used a toothpick to dab and dot the paint around. Then I lightly tapped the egg all over with my finger. This acted like a stamp to multiply the speckles and prevent any really dark spots or hard edges. Once I'd repeated this all around the egg, the result was really great. Again, they then had to be left to fully dry before the next stage.

Finally for the assembly stage a glue gun is a must! The way I assembled my wreath was to place the moss down first. Then add a few feathers, glueing the tip and weaving them in to secure. I then added the eggs before finally going back with a few more feathers, which I placed close to the eggs, almost like a nest around each one.

Once all of the glue had dried I threaded the ribbon through the back of the wreath and it was finally ready to hang on my cottage door!