Papier-mache eggs encrusted with tiny glass marbles (available by the bag in a rainbow of colors and metallic finishes) really dazzle when paired with white.

We've displayed ours in simple serving pieces taken right from the cupboard: a tray, egg cups, dessert goblets, and a footed hobnail compote.

When your Easter celebration is finished, let guests pick out an egg to take home, or pack the decorations away in tissue-paper-lined shoeboxes. They'll look just as fresh next spring.

 

Ready to whip up a baker's dozen of these pretty Easter accents? Visit a crafts store for papier-mache eggs, crafts paints, and two "magic" ingredients: double-sided tape and tiny glass marbles, which are poppy-seed-size beads available by the bag in a rainbow of colors and metallic finishes.

 

Start with a 2- or 4-inch papier-mache egg that you have painted the same color as the beads. After it dries, cover the egg with slightly overlapping vertical strips of 3/8-inch-wide double-sided tape. (Work on a surface covered with freezer paper, shiny side up, so that if you need to set down a taped egg, it won't stick.)

 

If you want a patterned egg, such as the one with daisies, or with zigzags, cut shapes out of freezer paper and stick them, shiny side down, to the taped egg. Hold the egg over a shoebox and carefully pour beads over the egg until the surface is covered. (The paint color will show through the clear tape, disguising any areas the beads don't stick to.) Remove the freezer-paper cutouts, then pour a different color of beads onto the areas the stickers left bare.

 

To add dimension to flower petals and centers, or to make raised polka dots, squeeze puff paint onto the beaded egg, then sprinkle the paint with the same color of beads. Apply puff paint to one side of the egg at a time, and let it dry overnight before painting the other side.

 

To make a plaid egg, place strips of 1/8-inch-wide double-sided tape vertically on top of the beaded egg; remove the tape backing. Apply more strips of tape around the egg horizontally, but leave the backing on. Pour beads onto the vertical strips; remove the backing from the horizontal strips, then pour a different color of beads onto those.