Somehow in the last 9+ years of parenting I’ve left myself out of the Easter Basket equation. This year I vowed to change that. After all, Easter candy is really my FAVORITE candy of the year, and why should the kids get all the fun? So I made myself an Easter basket yesterday, and I’m quite happy because I can pretty much guarantee that the Easter Bunny is going to leave me EXACTLY what I love!
I used the Lucy Bird line from Imaginisce…I have all boys so I don’t pull out birds and girly flowers very often, but let me say that I was SO excited this week to have a reason to scrap in pink!! This line is so cute and whimsical, and the coordinating stickers, flowers, and chipboard are adorable.

After I had the basket finished, I decided I needed some cute flowers coming out of it. So be sure to keep reading, I included a tutorial at the end to show just how easy it is to make these. I only made a few since I needed to leave some room for the candy, but these are so cute in a glass vase with LOTS of them in a variety of lengths.

Basket:

1. Find a container to weave around. I used an oatmeal container cut down to 5 inches.

2. Cut six 1 inch strips of two coordinating papers. Take one of the piles of strips and cut them in half width-wise to make twelve 6×1 strips. Then cut twelve half inch strips from another coordinating paper that matches, and cut those in half width-wise also…to make twenty-four .5×1 strips.

3. Using the 6 inch tall strips, run a little bit of Tombow Mono Permanant along one end of each one and place them on the bottom of your container. Go all the way around alternating strips. I did one 1 inch, and then two half inch pieces all the way around.

4. Take one 12 inch strip and start weaving it in and out horizontally. TIP: I found that running a strip of Tombow Permanant Dots along the twelve inch pieces really helped keep things in place.

5. Continue weaving the 12 inch pieces all the way up, making sure to go in and out of the OPPOSITE row as the strip below it. That will give you the “basket” effect. You should use five of them.

6. Fold the ends of the 6 inch strips over the top of your basket, securing with Tombow Mono Aqua glue.

7. Take the remaining 12 inch strip, cover the back with Tombow mono Aqua glue, and place it on the inside of your container to hide the uneven ends and give it a finished look.

8. Decorate the basket with a name card, I used a Imaginisce Chipboard piece.

9. Fill with plastic or paper grass (AND CANDY!)

The Flowers:

These flowers are so simple, and look great with any paper you use. I love them using vellum (make sure to use Tombow Mono Vellum Adhesive so your adhesive doesn’t show!) and using a patterned paper with a tiny print. For this project since I’m going to toss them out after Easter I actually used regular printer paper…don’t tell the Acid Free police please.   Although there are a bunch of steps, they come together quickly. My kids helped me make them, I gave each one a job and we had these done in no time.

You need any paper, floral wire (less than .50 for a large package at any craft store), and floral tape.

1. Cut circles of any size. (I like using several different punches for one project, it gives the look of the flowers in varying stages of growth.) I used a 2 inch circle punch.
2. Fold them in half.
3. Fold them in half again.
4. Fold the outside edge to the inside edge, flip it over, and do it again. (Look at the picture if you’re confused…it’s really hard to explain this step!!)
5. Round the edge of your pie shape.
6. Open the flower up.
7. Cut 1 and a half petals off.
8. Run a strip of Tombow Permanant Dots on the remaining half petal.
9. Place the half petal underneath the next full petal next to it. It should be slightly coned shaped now.
10. Using your fingers, pinch the petal ends all the way around to give a little dimension.
11. Using a pair of tweezers, roll the end of a piece of wire into a circle. Wrap it with a little bit of floral tape.
12. Poke the floral wire down through your flower bud.
13. Take a long strip of floral tape and wrap it tightly around the wire from the bottom of the bud all the way to the end. TIP: The floral tape gets sticker when it’s stretched, so if you’re having a hard time with it staying, just pull it tighter to stretch it, and it should stick better.

14. Fill a jar, a vase, or Easter basket!

P.S. My boys would like me to point out that the flowers also make perfect lace collars for Lego men. Although this one doesn’t look too thrilled to have his on…