A Tisket, A Tasket

A Barely Banana Basket! ;-)

I must work on projects in my sleep sometimes because I woke up with this basket in mind, lol! I headed to my stamping room and got started with all the details already worked out. I wish it was that easy everyday! I chose to use Barely Banana and Lavender Lace for my basket, with a touch of Whisper White.

Materials:
ScallopEnvelope die
4 pieces of Barely Banana card stock 4.25" x 5.25"- die cut one envelope from each
1 strip of Lavender Lace card stock 2" x 11"
1 scrap of Lavender Lace card stock 2"x 3"
1 strip of Whisper White card stock 1.75" x 11"
1 strip of Barely Banana card stock 1/2" x 11"
Eyelet Border Punch
Trio Flower punch
Stamps and inks of choice
2 brads

To create this basket, die cut four Scallop Envelopes from Barely Banana. You will notice on your envelope die cut that you have two narrow side flaps where the envelope bottom will fold up and attach to the sides to create the envelope. You have a right narrow flap and a left narrow flap. Along the score line impression on the right side of each envelope die cut, you will cut the right narrow flap off of each of the envelopes. Use your bone folder and fold the remaining left side flap and bottom flap in toward the score lines. The top of the envelope that has the scalloped edge will be folded toward the opposite side. After you have creased your folds, adhere the remaining left side flap to the inside of the right side of the next envelope- where you cut off the flap. Make sure your edges are lined up. You will want all of your flaps on the inside of the basket. Adhere all the sides together to form a square box and then fold in and adhere the bottom flaps to form a square box. Cut a square 3 1/8" to adhere to the inside bottom of your basket. You will have a tiny opening in the bottom after adhering the bottom flaps, so the 3 1/8" square will cover that nicely.

For the handle of the basket, cut Whisper White card stock into a 1.75" x 11" strip. With the Eyelet Border punch, punch each side of the strip. Center and adhere a 1/2" x 11" strip of Barely Banana to the Whisper White Eyelet border strip. To attach the handle, find the center of two opposite sides of your basket and pierce a hole in each of the two sides about a 1/2" from the top edge of the fold where the scalloped edge flap of the envelope would fold down. Do not pierce the scalloped edge flap of the envelope. Attach the handle with brads from the inside of the basket so the prongs are on the outside, making sure the scalloped edge flaps are up and that you do not put the brads through them. The prongs will be covered in the next step.

I stamped Lavender Lace with one of my Razzle Dazzle stamps in Lavender Lace ink to create the stripes on my basket. Cut the Lavendar Lace in a 2" x 11" strip and stamp the entire strip. You will need to stamp another strip 2" x 3" for the last side of the basket. From your 2" x 11" stamped strip, cut three pieces 2" x 3", center and adhere to your basket sides, scalloped edge flaps up so you can fold them down later. Adhere your last stamped 2" x 3" Lavender Lace strip to the last side of the basket. Punch out seven little flowers with the Trio Flower punch and shape them with a stylus (see instructions for the flowers below). Die cut leaves from Old Olive with the Little Leaves die and cut the leaves apart. Adhere the leaves to the centers of the scalloped edge flaps and then adhere a prepared flower in the center of the leaves. I chose to adhere my flaps down over my Lavender Lace striped card stock, but you could leave them loose if you want to. Repeat with each flap.

Adhere three flowers and leaves to the center of the basket handle. I added some gems in the centers of my flowers before I adhered them to my basket, but you could also use brads for the centers. Cut very thin strips of Lavender Lace card stock, about 1/16" - 1/8" x 11" for each strip, and crumple the strips in your hands for the filling in your basket. I learned this trick from another Stampin' Up demo :-). Cool, huh? OK, one last view of the side of the basket.

To create the flowers: Punch out the flowers with the Trio Flower punch. Place the flowers on the thick foam mat from the Mat Pack. If you don't have the Mat Pack, thick Fun Foam will work. Using the large ball end of your stylus press gently while at the same time moving the ball in a circular motion in the center of each flower petal until you have formed a nice rounded indentation in 'each' petal. After you have done all the petals, flip the flower over on the foam pad and press down into the center of the flower with your stylus. Not too hard though- you just want to shape the flower, you don't want to put a hole through the center. At this point you can add a gem or a tiny brad in the center of your flower. And that's it- you have created a 3D flower!

Fill your basket with small Easter candies, a plastic egg filled with little treats or a small gift, or a real Easter Egg! Of course, these little baskets are great for other uses too, not just for Easter baskets ;-). Just picture a cute little flower girl basket for a wedding shower table, in pink or blue for a baby shower... these would pretty much work for a lot of holidays and themes. I hope you have fun making your basket!! Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a wonderful day today!

Blessings!
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Razzle Dazzle- 116714
Paper: Barely Banana- 102701, Lavender Lace- 101614, Old Olive- 100702,
Whisper White- 100730
Classic Stampin' Ink: Lavender Lace- 101305
Dies: Scallop Envelope- 113462, Little Leaves- 114511
Punches: Trio Flower- 109783, Eyelet Border- 113692
Other: Lavender gems