Easy Paper Easter Basket Tutorial

Well Easter is less than 2 weeks away so I figured I would break down and do an Easter craft :).  This is another one of those holidays that I like, but typically don't decorate for so I usually stick to making stuff for the kids.  Last year I picked up a couple little treats to give to my neighbor's kids and when I went to put everything together, I realized that I forgot to get something to put the treats in.  Luckily, Lauren and I had been at Scrapbooks Etc. a couple weeks earlier and saw a super cute little Easter basket made of scrapbook paper so I whipped up a couple of my own!  This is a quick and easy project, and since I already had all of the supplies on hand it was FREE!  Well...if you ask my husband he would disagree and say that I had to buy all the stuff at some point in the past so it's not technically free, but WHATEVER!

First, a preview of the finished product...

Here's what you'll need:

1-12 x 12 card stock for basket (plain or patterned)

1-12 x 1.75 strip of card stock for handle

6-3.75 x 3.75 paper squares in coordinating paper (if desired)

pencil

ruler

scissors/paper cutter

adhesive  

brads, ribbon, flowers or whatever else you want to embellish with

And here's what you do:

On the wrong side of the 12 x 12 paper, divide it into 9 equal 4 x 4 squares and mark it with a pencil.  I labeled below where to make your cuts for the next step.

Make the 4 cuts and then crease the paper on the remaining lines...it should look something like this when you're done. 

This next step is optional.  Since I used solid card stock for the main part of the basket, I wanted to make it a little more fancy with a coordinating patterned paper.  I cut 6 squares (3.75 x 3.75) each.

Flip over your 12 x 12 paper (right side facing up) and glue your squares like so...

Now flip your paper back over and fold the ends in toward the middle (kinda hard to explain but like in this picture).

Apply glue to secure both sides in place...

...so it looks like this when it's all put together.

Now cut a 12 x 1.75 strip of card stock for the basket handle.

Apply glue to both inside ends of the strip.

Attach handle to basket.  I added a brad to each side for extra support since the basket holds a pretty decent amount of goodies! 

That's it...super easy!  You can leave it nice and simple or add extra embellishments for fun.

I also tried a smaller version using 6 x 6 paper for the main basket...I thought these might make cute little treats for my son's preschool class.

 Here are the ones I made last year for my neighbor's kids: