Martha Stewart may have time to sit with her dogs in Connecticut and carefully lay gold leaf onto her precious Easter eggs. While her assistants poke holes into the shells and blow out the yolks, college students are cramming for exams or figuring out what new recipe they can make from macaroni and cheese and old salad dressing. Forget the recession and the Easter holiday, for years they’ve been trying to turn water to wine. But this year, decorating eggs can be an easy and fun way to put old odds and ends to good use. And cheap to boot. MATERIALS: -two dozen eggs -white vinegar -cheap egg dying kit with basic colors -more fanciful egg dying kit like glitter or metallics (optional) -knick-knacks and paddy-whacks from around the house -glue -googly eyes -old newspaper *Most materials can be found in any grocery store, or around any college apartment. GETTING STARTED: 1. Hard boiling eggs can be tricky. One rule of thumb is to put the water in a pot so that it just covers the top of the eggs. To make it easy, put the eggs in the water right away and turn the burner to medium. 2. After 20 minutes, the eggs will be hard boiled. Dump out the hot water from the pot and rinse with cool water. Make sure the eggs are room temperature before dying. 3. Lay newspaper down on the surface where the egg dye will be while eggs are cooling. Spread out the googly eyes or other fun materials like stencils and stickers. 4. Follow directions on the basic egg dying kit for a quick and easy rainbow of colors. Usually one tablespoon of white vinegar in each color is enough. SEXY EGGS: Excite that Easter appeal out of any egg by dressing it in its own lingerie for a different, patterned effect. 1. Wrap a scrap of lace around the egg. Size and shape do not matter. Fasten with a rubberband or one of those twist ties that come with boxes of garbage bags. 2. Dunk egg to dye. The fabric will soak up more of the dye than just the shell, making some parts darker than others. 3. Take eggs out to dry. Make sure lace and eggs are fully dry before removing the lace. -In at home trials, it was hard to see the design from more than six inches away. Although, the lace wrapped around any of the eggs made them seem classier and good gift ideas. ALL-KNOWING EGGS: 1. It’s not as important to dye the egg for this technique, but feel free to experiment. 2. Take assorted googly eyes (bought for 25 cents a package at Ben Franklin downtown) and start to glue them anywhere. Use all the same size for a more uniform omniscient egg presence, or put different ones on to make a creepier version. 3. Let the glue dry between sides to make sure everything stays where it should. WHAT TO DO WITH AN EGG THAT DIDN’T MAKE IT THROUGH THE BOILING PROCESS: 1. Don’t lose faith in an egg that was cracked while boiling. And don’t take it out on yourself. This is a great opportunity to truly experiment. 2. Dying the egg at this stage will make the cracks darker, like an egg that has been thinking really hard. Stop here if you want to make an egg for a stressed out person that you know. 3. Another option is to make a Mr. Magoo-type of egg. Glue two leftover googly eyes on the egg to make a face. Extra neat with horizontal cracks. 4. When the eyes have dried, use a Sharpie marker to color the little bits of egg that escaped from the shell. Draw on a nose or even glasses. Hello little mustache man (or woman)! *Use a Sharpie marker for messages on dried eggs. It’s not a cop-out because Sharpies can be used for good details or crazy designs. If all else fails, gluing almost anything to an egg makes it hilarious. Bigger things like army men or Barbie shoes will need a hot glue gun in order to stick. Sequins and string also make eggs look more expensive, but as Levar Burton from Reading Rainbow’ might say, ‘Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it.’