Easter Basket

We made these cute Easter Baskets at my Stamp Camp last week end.  They are very simple to make and I hope everyone enjoyed them.  I found them on a blog that I used to go to.  This Blogger, Rachel Ricks,  seems to have stopped blogging.  I think maybe she has had a baby, but I really like the things she used to post, so every once and a while I go back and look through the old posts.  If anyone knows her, tell her she is still an inspiration even though she is no longer in cyber world!   Anyway, here is her cute basket.  You can make it with any size square.  The smaller one in the photo is from a 6 x 6 piece of paper, the larger is 8 x 8.   The first thing you need to do is score it like a tic tac toe board, evenly divided into 9 squares.

Then you need to divide the end corners into three sections, all in the same direction.  The measurements depend on what size square you are using.  If you have a score board, its pretty simple to divide because you can count the notches in the board and work that way. 

Then you need to cut it like this.  The center squares stay intact, the corners need to have the three strips, and the center gets cut into a triangle.  I used my grid paper to find the center of the center square, then cut from the center to the corner on both sides.  I think this sounds confusing, so hopefully the pictures make this easy to follow :) 

Next you shorten the inner two strips by about 1/4 inch, on all four corners. 

Now you are going to start to fold up the sides.  I added just a little bit of glue stick to the tips of the strips, that way as I was folding up the sides, they sort of stuck just a bit so I could line them up and redo them if need.  I used a bit more glue on the inside of the triangle.  The top strips are straight across, but the second and third go up at an angle.  You may need to snip the tip off the triangle, and maybe even one of the top strips. 

Next punch two circles, I used a 3/4 inch circle punch on the smaller basket and a 1 inch circle punch on the larger one.  Fold it in half and attach it to the basket over the top of the triangle.

  

Use a small hold punch and punch a hole on each side of the circle, on both sides of your basket.  The handles are 6in by 1/2 inch on the smaller basket, 8in by 1/2 inch on the larger basket.  I rounded the ends of the handles with a corner rounder.  You will also need to punch a hole in the ends of the handles.  Use brads to attach the handles to your basket.

To hide the brad closers on the inside of the basket I added a strip of paper punched with the scallop border punch.  I also used ribbon to do this on the larger basket.  Open your handles wide and add sticky strip to the inside of your basket.  Then add your ribbon or paper.

I made a tag and attached it to the baskets with ribbon and bakers twine.  I added some filler and chocolates.  Cute right?  My daughter asked me make one for her dolls so they could have a picnic basket.