If you are looking for a fun DIY Easter project, this is a way to decorate eggs using your own designs!  With your Cricut or Silhouette, you can cut any designs you wish, then screen print them on tissue paper using my screen printing with vinyl process.

Once the ink is dry, you can use this custom printed tissue paper to decoupage your own eggs.  Use blown eggs or faux craft eggs and you can display them year after year.

Supplies Needed for this Project

• Screen Printing Frame
• Squeegee or Speedball Graphic Squeegee
• Acrylic Screen Printing Ink
• Oracal 651 Vinyl
• Cricut Maker
• My Favorite Transfer Tape
• Painter’s Tape
• Heat Gun
• Tissue Paper
• Decorating Eggs
• Food Coloring (if you wish to dye your eggs)
• Egg Tongs
• Vinegar and Water (for dyeing eggs)
• Mod Podge
• Paintbrush

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Cut your design on Oracal 651 using your Cricut Maker or Silhouette cutting machine.
2. Transfer the design to your Screen Printing Frame using Transfer Tape.
3. Place your frame over a piece of tissue paper and squeegee Acrylic Screen Printing Ink over your design.
4. Repeat the process until you have enough prints to cover your eggs.
5. Allow the ink to air dry for a couple hours.  You can speed up this process with a heat gun.
6. Cut out your designs and Mod Podge them to your eggs.  I used a coat of Mod Podge on the egg, pressed on the tissue paper design, and added another coat of Mod Podge on top.
7. Allow the eggs to air dry and you are ready to display them!

Tips for Screen Printing on Tissue Paper

Screen printing on tissue paper is perfect for this project, but it would be fun to make custom tissue paper for wrapping too! When you are screen printing on a surface like tissue paper, a common problem is bleeding.  The nice part about this project is that you can practice your screen printing until you get enough prints for your eggs.  If you mess up a few prints, it's not a big loss. I found that using a Speedball Graphic Squeegee was more successful than my usual fabric squeegee.

You want to use firm pressure as you squeegee acrylic ink over your tissue paper. One squeegee of ink was enough to coat the surface for me.  If you try to squeegee more ink than needed, the excess doesn't absorb into paper like it does a t-shirt.  This excess ink can squish outside your vinyl design. Just keep practicing until you get the hang of it.

READY TO LEARN HOW TO SCREEN PRINT WITH VINYL?

In this easy to follow video course, I will show you everything you need to know to screen print with vinyl so you can start making better quality shirts at home using your Cricut or Silhouette today! Once you learn the process, you'll find that you can screen print more than just t-shirts – like the tissue paper used in this project!  

I know trying a new craft can be overwhelming. Let me show you 10 simple steps to screen printing success so you can have the confidence to start your own projects right away.