Gold Leaf Marbled Easter Eggs & Nest

Gold is one of my favorite hot colors right now, so with Easter coming soon, I decided to bring the gold trend into my Easter home decor by making some gorgeous gold leaf Easter eggs!

These Easter eggs are very easy to make, but look so luxurious and unique.  They are a great way to welcome spring into your home, and look amazing tucked inside a homemade bird nest that is also easy to make.  I’ll show you how!

Gold leaf Easter eggs supplies:

• 2.5 inch wood eggs
• Spray paint (in various colors- I used Design Master)
• Foam brushes – two
• Studio 71 Gesso or Mod Podge
• Gold leaf sheets
• Spray sealer

Nest supplies:

• Angel hair vine filler
• Spanish moss (I used the grey and green colors)
• Thin wire
• Wire cutters
• Bowl (any bowl from your kitchen will work- it will be used as a mold)
• Glue gun

To Make the gold leaf Easter eggs:

Step 1:  Spray paint the wood Easter eggs in your desired colors.  It is always best to use multiple light coats of paint to avoid dripping.  Apply two coats for a more vibrant color, and let dry between coats.  I used a piece of styrofoam, and stuck sucker sticks (toothpicks work as well) into the foam to make a surface to easily paint the eggs on without them rolling and ruining the paint.

Step 2:  Using a foam brush, apply the gesso or Mod Podge onto the painted Easter egg by brushing on a thin coat wherever you would like the gold to be.  I did about a third of the egg at a time to make it a bit easier.

Step 3: Take a piece of the gold leaf and stick it on to where you just applied the gesso.  Gently press down onto the gold leaf with your finger.

Step 4: Let dry for a  minute or two, and then use a soft brush or a clean dry foam brush to gently brush the gold leaf in one direction to make sure the gold leaf is properly adhered and to brush away any of the excess gold.  Repeat this process for the rest of the egg, and for each of the painted eggs.  Each Easter egg will look unique, and you can manipulate how you want each one to look.  If you want more gold, then apply another thin bit of gesso or Mod Podge, and add more gold leaf and brush off the excess.  If you want more color showing through and less gold, then brush away more of the gold leaf off the egg with the brush.

Step 5:  Once all of the eggs have their gold leaf applied, use a spray sealer to seal the egg.  Don’t skip this step!  If you don’t seal it, then you will have gold leaf falling off and your Easter eggs won’t last as long.  Save all your hard work and seal the eggs.  I used two thin coats on each side of my eggs, and the gold leaf isn’t going anywhere!

To make the nests:

Step 1:  Find a bowl in your kitchen that is about the same size as you want your nest to be.  Flip the bowl upside down on a table or counter, and wrap the angel hair vine filler around the bowl to form a nest.  You can trim away any excess filler that you don’t need.  Cut a few short pieces of thin wire and use it to adhere the two sides of the nest together.  I used three or four pieces of wire, and it worked perfectly!  Remove the nest from the bowl, and trim any pieces the you don’t need from the nest.  The nest will keep its’ form, but you can also move things around a bit if you need to to get a nice round nest shape.

Step 2:   Apply some hot glue to the inside of the nest and add natural and green Spanish moss to the glue.

Use a stick or a hot pad to press down on the moss to make sure that it adheres to the basket- do NOT use your hand, or you might burn it!

Add your gold leafed Easter eggs to your birds nest and there you have it-  a gorgeous homemade spring/Easter decoration that is sure to wow!

And since you used wooden eggs, you can keep these eggs from year to year without fear of them getting broken like my marbled Easter eggs did here…  lesson learned. 🙂