Altered basket for Easter

I posted a project with one of these paper mache baskets back in February, and thought they'd make great little Easter baskets too.


They start off plain like this...

I thought they'd look cute with some basket weaving on the outside, so I got out my Universal Backgrounds stamp set which has a wood grain image and started stamping.

I wanted to make the weaves slightly different in color so I chose Desert Sand (left) and Bamboo (right) card stock. The Desert Sand piece will be the base so I cut it to match the sides of the basket. I stamped both with Desert Sand ink, making sure to stamp the base horizontally and the strips vertically.

I cut the vertically stamped piece into strips 3/8 inch each. I had to make 16 strips total for the whole basket, each side requiring four strips.

I used my Xacto blade and made a slit every half inch, making sure not to cut all the way off the sides. I got really close, but didn't go all the way.

Then started weaving. I added a little touch of glue here and there so things stayed in place.

To accommodate the handles on the sides, I had to cut an area away so I could slide these into place.

I inked the corner edges of the basket to cover where the paper didn't meet up. I added some wide grosgrain ribbon to the handle. In this case, 5/8 inch Creme Brulee fit perfectly. Later I added some coordinating Creme Brulee ribbon tied into bows to cover the raw edge of ribbon on the handle sides.

I added a flower made from the same background stamp set, using the script stamp plus my newest Spellbinders die "Blossom Three". The little bunny is from "A Hop" stamp set.


Thank you for stopping by today. Let me know what you think of this little basket idea.