Nashville Wife

Lifestyle Blog | Recipes | Home Decor | Money Saving | DIY Wedding Planning

Bluegrass

My Tennessee Easter Egg–Featured in Food Network Magazine

by 42 Comments

Nashville Wife in Food Network MagazineHappy First Day of Spring! We had plenty of spring weather earlier this month, although, ironically, today feels more like winter. But never mind the wind and rain–I have an exciting announcement to share with all my wonderful readers.

A few months ago, I was contacted by a representative from Food Network Magazine and asked to play a role in the April edition. The issue has officially hit the newsstands, so I am finally able to share the details of my involvement.

In celebration of Easter, Food Network Magazine wrote a story that features a decorated Easter egg from all 50 states, and I was given the honor of decorating the Tennessee egg. Naturally, I decided to tap into my husband’s artistic talent to create this unique work of art. (For those who don’t know, Mr. Handsome is a painter.) The two of us had a blast working together on this project.

We chose a banjo to represent the Americana, country, and bluegrass music that Tennessee has helped mold and create. We chose a river to represent the great waterways that flow through Tennessee and set the state apart as a center for industry and trade. We superimposed these images over the Great Smoky Mountains, which represent the beauty of nature that all Tennesseans know and love.

We did several practice runs, some with hard boiled eggs and others with “empty” eggs, and tried a few different designs. (If you poke a hole in both ends of an egg, you can blow the yolk out and be left with just the shell.) We always started with a pencil sketch.

Tennessee Easter Egg tutorial

It took a bit of time to find the right medium. We first used artist-grade colored pencils (better quality than the colored pencils used by children) but decided they weren’t quite bold enough.

Tennessee Easter Egg tutorial

After spending some time wandering around our local Hobby Lobby, I ended up purchasing a small set of acrylic paints and some tiny, tiny brushes. The brushes have a max of about 10 thin bristles per brush–so small that they are nearly microscopic!

Tennessee Easter Egg tutorial
The Food Network sent me an Eggnot (a fake egg that looks and feels real) on which to do the final design. The other option was to use a real hard boiled egg for the finished product, but something about sending a hard boiled egg through the mail to New York City just seemed a little strange to me.

Of course, we made several mistakes along the way, like attempting to draw or paint on a hard boiled egg that was either too hot, which made the paint run, or too cold, which created condensation. We managed to get paint all over our fingers and dining table. Thankfully, that was before I refinished the table (tutorial coming soon) or else I might have had a small panic attack.

Tennessee Easter Egg tutorial
On a couple of the trial eggs, we added the cityscapes of the three major Tennessee cities (Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville) but decided that they made the egg look too cluttered.

Tennessee Easter Egg tutorial
After much trial and error, we came up with a design that we loved.
Tennessee Easter Egg tutorial

Be sure to pick up a copy of the April issue of Food Network Magazine to see all the creative Easter eggs reflecting our 50 states.

Food Network Magazine United States of Easter Eggs
Food Network Magazine United States of Easter Eggs

How to Sew a Christmas Stocking

by 18 Comments

This year, my husband’s birthday fell during the week of Thanksgiving, so we were able to celebrate with family and friends

After a delicious breakfast of donuts and fruit, he and his father and two brothers played basketball at the local rec center. Later that afternoon, the two of us, along with four of his siblings, spent an hour shooting recurve bows at an indoor archery range.

That evening, Mr. Handsome, expecting a simple dinner with his parents and siblings, was shocked when three close friends from his college days and their wives walked through the front door and yelled “Surprise!”

My husband was speechless! He had mentioned a few months before that he missed spending time with these guys and would love to see them again, which gave my mother-in-law and me the idea for the surprise party. The three boys, who also happen to be brothers, come from a family of eight kids.

In addition to planning the reunion, I gave Mr. Handsome two gifts. The first was a set of CDs, which I purchased inexpensively on Amazon, for him to listen to in the car. Four of the CDs are a mix of Southern gospel and bluegrass music, and the other features songs from ThePianoGuys, a band that creates melodic, classical versions of popular hymns and other songs.

The second gift was a Christmas stocking (shown above), which I spent several hours sewing. For those who are interested, here is the tutorial I used: