...and an Emu in a Gum Tree (!)

I cut and decorated this egg a few years ago to give to my mum - then couldn't bear to part with it (anybody else ever do that? lol)  It sits on the hall table in my entry year 'round... but I do only open it at Christmas, well usually!  I've never "shared" this before, I hope you find it interesting.
One of the songs we have here for Christmas is an Aussie version of the Twelve Days of Christmas, where we have "an emu in a gum tree" instead of a partridge in a pear tree...   this is an emu egg, in a Christmas theme so it always brings that song to mind.  There's a lot of photos, but with this sort of project it's all about the detail so I hope you forgive me, the inside of the egg was the most work, so feel free to skip to them, lol

Emu eggs are between a Goose and Ostrich egg in size and are a gorgeous dark teal colour, unfortunately that didn't go with my theme so I painted the outside of the egg (after cutting it; very smelly and very fiddly!) with Warm White Jo Sonja acrylic paint, then sealed it.

The poinsettias are made from goose eggs, using the natural curve of the egg makes them more lifelike somehow.  They were painted pale pink then loads of very fine Star Dust glitter was added, very fine gold cord outlines them, the centres are tiny hole-less gold beads with some Swarowski crystals added for even more bling!  The  duck egg leaves were painted green with a Gold Crystal very fine glitter, gold cord outlines and "veins" .

 The "loops" on the front were finished with clear beads AB Crystals and Siam Crystals,  I added Texture Paste to the swirls on the sides before adding Star Dust glitter to them too. 
The findings all came from my local craft shop, which has unfortunately closed down now - it had such a wide range of products I miss it dearly! 
It's where I did my fabergé egg classes and got the pattern for this egg from too.

The back of the egg was cut in a lattice pattern like the front but plainer ;-)  I put a scene inside made from a Christmas card, it's hard to see in the pics.  
I then decorated the inside of the egg to look like a living room on Christmas morning - just without all the wrapping paper and people in pjs, lol.I painted the inside of the egg pink, adding detail to make it look like wallpaper. I made a fireplace from card,there's a photo of Santa in a gold frame over it, and candlesticks made from toothpicks too!  It's trimmed in true Christmas fashion with holly and (red bead) berries.  There's a toothpick fire in the hearth.  I made the rolled ribbon roses for the little tree, and added tiny bows too. 

The pièce de résistance is the lights on the tree, they light up when you press a button hidden under the (fabric) carpet.  A Christmas medley plays and the lights flash for about a minute.  I put a red globe in the fire too, so that flickers.  Every child that presses that button has a look of such wonder on their face, it fills my heart :-)  I've taken a picture, it is of necessity dark and sort of captures it, but as with most things crafty it's much nicer in real life!

I'm entering my egg in a number of challenges - I did try and weed out the challenges I thought were only for Papercraft -  if you think it's not appropriate for your challenge, please feel free to remove my entry, I hope you enjoyed looking at my project anyway :-)

Those challenges are:  
Papertake Weekly Anything Goes

Crafty Creations Anything Goes

Craft Us Crazy Christmas/New Year

Joanna Sheen With Love at Christmas

2 Sisters Challenge Anything But A Card

Cutie Pie Challenge Cute Christmas (the inside is cute, and it's for Christmas)

That Craft Place Christmas

Oozak Anything Goes + Pink and Bling

Creatalicious Challenges Christmas (non traditional colours)

By the Cute and Girly Cute and Girly

My Mums Craft Shop Anything Goes

I'll be back in a few days with a card - and a lot less photos, promise!

Until then, Happy Crafting, Donna