Mini Easter baskets

It occurred to me there may be a few desperadoes who need a good Easter craft, so here’s what I made yesterday.

These are incredibly simple to make, as they are designed by yours truly (I hate complicated patterns for crafts that shouldn’t be complicated…). Here is a picture of what you’ll need:

Supplies:
* Cardstock (I used white, but pastel colors would work too)
* Pencil
* Ruler
* Scotch tape
* glue stick (I like Elmer’s Disappearing Purple for crafts)
* A paper cutter that has a scoring attachment

1) Cut a piece of cardstock into a square. My cardstock was 6.5×4.5 in, so I made a 4.5×4.5 in square. Set aside.

2) Take the waste rectangle (mine was 2 in across) and measure 3/4 in. Cut out the handle. Set aside.

3) On square, measure with a ruler and make a mark 1 inch in from both sides. Continue making marks on all sides. There should be eight marks total. On mine, I marked each side at 1″ and 3.75″.

4) Change the cutter blade to a scoring blade (or use a fingernail or a coin). Score the cardstock along each line, so that the lines make a medium square in the middle.

It should now look like this:

5) Don’t freak out, but we’re going to turn the basket diagonally and score the cardstock in the little squares only. Repeat, we will score only from the outside corner of the cardstock to the opposite corner of the little squares. Do not score through the middle square. Doing so will make this craft more complicated. So, don’t freak out, and line the paper up carefully.

It should look like this:

When it does, do the same thing to the other boxes. Note: all little box lines should be pointing toward the cardstock’s center square, as though we’ve drawn a big X through the square but erased the middle. It should look like this:

Yes, the eyes want to complete the picture, but trust me, DO NOT go through the middle.

6) Fold each side of the basket along the horizontal line, open, and fold the triangles in.

7) There are two ways to proceed from here. Obviously, we want the sides to come up to make a basket, but we have options of straight basket or asymmetrical. I like asymmetry, so put glue on the left triangles only. Then I stuck them to the side, two at a time.

8) Now take the handle strip and glue a small section of each end. Attach to opposite sides of the basket and hold.

9) Use a small piece of tape to reinforce the handle bottoms.

10) Fold out the triangles just a little for flare.

Done!

These are small enough for jelly beans, or as favors for Easter dinner, or whatever.
More later!