DIY Paper Basket

With Spring in full gear now we are going to share with you a little how-to Spring/Easter basket that you can make. These are perfect to use as an afternoon craft project with the kids on Spring Break so they can have them ready for egg collecting on Easter morning or you can use them as decorations or even as a goodie “bag” at a party or gift basket to give to someone. They can be as cute or as sophisticated as you want them to be.

Here’s how to make them...

We actually made two different sized baskets. The first one (blue) is made from regular sized paper that we cut into a 8 ¼ x 8 ¼ inch square. You can really use any size paper but it needs to be cut into a square. The bigger the paper the bigger the basket. We also made one (pink) that was slightly larger so we made that a 12x12 inch square. We have also provided lots of step by step by step pictures as some of the steps are hard to explain.

So the process at the start is the same for any size. You will need to start off with a square then you mark it into thirds in both directions so you end up with nine smaller equal squares.

Then you cut the two lines on the bottom third and the two lines on the top third (as shown in the picture below).

Now fold all the side towards the middle along the lines.

Here’s where things get a little different.

Blue Basket (wider shallower basket): Put glue on the sides of the bottom middle square and then glue the bottom corner squares to the middle so it forms a triangle. Repeat at the top.

Then use scissors to round the four corners of the basket.

Take a long thin strip (ours is from what was left over of the paper that we made into a square which was about 8 ½ inches long but you can make yours whatever size you like) and glue the strip on like a handle.

Now you can decorate. We used some punches but you can draw, stamp, or sticker things to it. Keep in mind that stamping and drawing would be more difficult when the basket is already assembled.

Pink Basket (taller deep basket): Take each corner and spilt into thirds again and cut. 

Now take the middle bottom square and mark the middle of the edge and cut into a triangle and do the same on the other side. Fold along lines. 

Glue the inner third from the right hand side to the inner third from the left hand side so they are perpendicular to each other.

Then continue overlapping and gluing sides, adding thirds and alternating sides until you’ve used them all.

The last ones should be in line with each other.

Glue the remaining triangles upward to hide all of the overlapping gluing that you’ve just done and probably to hold things in place as well.

Fold little one inch circles (ours probably could have been a little bigger) to help hide all of the edges and corners at the top

Attach a handle. Again it can be whatever size and colour you choose. Lastly, decorate!

Mother's Day 3D Heart Flower Card

It’s the countdown to Mother’s Day this week and it’s a busy busy week for us. We thought the best thing to start off with is a card because that’s what we are pros at. ;)

Nicole came across a cool idea for a framed picture of  3D heart flowers. Take a look at the link here http://wonderfuldiy.com/wonderful-diy-paper-flower-heart-wall-art/3d-paper-flower-heart-wonderfuldiy2/. She thought that this would look good as a card for Mother’s Day and I agreed. Instead of making these 3D heart flowers into the shape of a heart, Nicole is making a flowery design because a big heart on a card is a bit tricky to do.

It does take some time and prep and to make because you need to punch out a bunch of hearts, but it’s not too difficult of a design.

We’re doing a bright and cheerful yellow and white card with a splash of light green. Perfect for Spring and perfect for Mother’s Day.

All you really need to do for this card is cut out a card and then punch a variety of mini to medium hearts and then fold them in half and arrange them in a circle with the points in the middle and all facing the same way. We’ve done our flowers all the same shade of yellow for each and then added the mini green hearts as vines/leaves.

Take a look at our creation.

Give one a go and personalize it for your mom or make her a framed big heart picture like the one we showed you earlier.

Painted Terra Cotta Pots and Garden Markers

It must be true what they say about April showers because today is a rainy April day. The sun’s been out for the most part of the week, but today has been a rainy Friday. In preparation for the sunny Spring days ahead, we are doing a craft that you can use to display your herbs and flowers. We are going to paint terra cotta pots and make garden/plant markers.

It’s actually a super relaxing and fun craft to do. I’ve painted them at birthday parties and have painted a bunch and used them as party favours (kinda like a basket filled with treats and wrapped in cellophane).

First off you’ll want to go to your local garden center and pick out some terra cotta pots. We chose a few smaller sizes, but you can get really big ones too if that’s what you want. Or you can get a nice variety of sizes.

Then pick some paint (from our many crafting adventures, we had lots of paints and brushes/sponges leftover to use).

Make sure you cover your workspace with some newspaper or an old table cloth as it can be a bit messy at times to paint these. You’ll also want to make sure you have some paper towels on hand, painters tape, and paper plates.

You can just go for it or carefully plan out your design. I will admit I started doing one and then completely changed it after not liking the way it looked. I free handed mine, whereas Nicole taped out her design on the larger pot she painted. I’ve also painted ones with scenes on them

For my little pot, I had a grey theme. I mixed some blues together for the main part and then painted on grey and blue hearts. I did it freestyle so they’re not perfect. I wanted to do a bright and colourful theme for my larger pot so I used pink, orange, purple, and blue and just did a couple of sizes of polka dots on it using circular sponges.

Nicole did a very geometrical purple and white design on her larger pot. After painting the pot completely white, she used painters tape and laid out her design and sponged on the purple. For her little pot, she went with an earthy theme and used paper towel to make it have a spongy effect.

It’s important to let your pots dry for a few days before touching them or taking off any tape. Once they look the way you want them to, you can spray them with a protective coating so they can withstand the elements outside.

Another fun thing we thought we’d do is make little garden markers to go in the pots. They are simple to make and handy to have to mark the flowers and herbs that you plant.

For these you will need larger wooden sticks, paint, felts, and 3D sticky letters.

First of all, paint the sticks. You can make them match the pots or do whatever design you want. After they are dry, you use a marker to write on them or you can use 3D sticky letters. We found some bright foamy ones that we decided to try out. Then you can spell out your herbs and flowers. 

Here are our finished products.