Spring Basket/Easter Basket Craft

In honor of March being National Craft Month, I have a craft to share!

I have a thing for glitter.  I love it.  You might have guessed that from the numerous craft posts that I've done with glitter as a main "ingredient".  I think that glitter makes everything better and more beautiful.  Have an old pair of shoes that just don't look good?  Put glitter on them!  Suddenly you're Dorothy and have just landed in Oz.  Did you get an F on your most recent school assignment?  Cover it with glitter and stick it proudly on the fridge!  Everyone will be so impressed.

My hubby, however, does not like glitter.  Whenever he sees my glitter box or glitter containers out, a look of fear washes over his face, and the utterance of "oh, no" may escape from his lips.  He knows that when I get the glitter out, he will find it EVERYWHERE.  Despite my best attempts to contain the bio-hazardous material, he will eventually find a fleck or two smack-dab in the center of his forehead, but only after he has had a super-important meeting with someone at work. 

What has this to do with a project?  Well, in an attempt to get myself out of the winter doldrums and into the spring spirit, I bought some supplies to make a spring-themed basket: a pretty blue wire basket, some green moss, some wide ribbon, and two packages of wooden eggs.  Do you see where I'm going with this?  You got it--a sparkly springtime egg basket!

Since we don't do Easter bunny stuff (because 1: we don't have kids, and 2: even if we did, we probably wouldn't do Easter bunny stuff), I'm calling this a spring egg basket, which can sit out as a decoration until the temps outside finally warm up--which might not be until July, so I figure that I'll get plenty of use out of this cute little basket.

First, gather your supplies:

• Wooden Eggs (Hobby Lobby, $4/pk of 4, or less if they're on sale or you have a coupon)--these should be in the woodworking aisle/section
• Basket of your choice
• Moss (I found mine in the floral section)
• Decorative ribbon of your choice
• All-purpose glue
• Glitter colors of your choice (spring colors are nice!)
• Paint brush
• Acrylic sealer (always a good idea to help with glitter flaking, although some glitter will come off regardless)
• Paper plate, newspaper, etc. to protect your surfaces and collect extra glitter

Next, prepare your basket:

I laced my ribbon through the openings on the side of the basket.  If you can't do that, you can opt to either just tie it around the bottom, wind it around the handle, make a big bow, etc.  Do what looks good to you!

I only laced the ribbon through two spokes in the back of the basket to keep it in place.

Tie a big pretty bow and trim the ribbon to your desired length.

Fill the basket with moss:

Then, the glitter!
Paint the eggs with the all-purpose glue and sprinkle on the glitter, making sure to not leave any bare spots.  It might take a few applications.  Allow to dry.

I held the eggs with my finger at the top and thumb on the bottom, and turned it as I painted on the glue.  I let them dry and then went back and painted the egg's top and bottom, holding it gently in the middle.

If it's warm enough, take the eggs outside and spray them with the acrylic sealer.  Allow the sealer to dry overnight in a well-ventilated area.  If it's not warm enough where you live yet, just wait until it is.  The glitter will be fine until then, as long as the eggs are not handled much.

Voila!

Because I had some of the supplies for this, like the glitter, glue, and acrylic sealer, this project cost me well under $25 for the remaining supplies.  This is a pretty family/kid-friendly project, and you can keep the eggs forever as keepsakes, as opposed to real eggs that get peeled and eaten.  If you don't want the mess of glitter, though, just use regular acrylic paints and let the kids decorate them that way!

Spring Wreath, Inspired by Pinterest

"For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God." Hebrews 6:7, NASB

Today is a beautiful Sunday!  I have spring fever, for sure.  The temp is in the 60s, and I have some windows open for the first time in 2013.  I'm listening to a new CD by one of my favorite musicians, and felt like being a little crafty.  I saw a pin on Pinterest a while ago and have wanted to make it for spring decorating, and today seemed like the perfect lazy Sunday to do so.  It's really easy to do, and you can even make it while you are watching your favorite program on TV.  You can also customize it to fit the season, if you use a little imagination.  Let's get started!

Supplies

• One 12" green foam wreath form
• One skein of Yarn Bee brand haute fur, cypress color, 76 yards (I found it at Hobby Lobby)
• One roll of 1 1/2" wide by 9' wired satin ribbon, your choice (you could go a little wider, too)
• One yard of 7/8" daisy ribbon trim (I couldn't find rolls of it, but I found it for sale by the yard at JoAnn crafts)
• One package of 1 1/2" long pearlized pins, your choice of color heads
• Fray check (not pictured)

Step One: Wrapping the yarn
Start wrapping the yard around the form by holding a short length of the yarn with your thumb, while bringing the yarn over the piece you are holding with your thumb.  Wrapping the yarn over the piece you hold with your thumb will hold the loose end in place as you continue around the wreath form.

Try to wrap this part tightly and keep the strings close together.  Once you have the beginning piece completely covered, you can start going faster, wrapping the strands more loosely and then pushing them together.

 

Continue in this fashion until you've covered the entire form.  It'll probably take about an hour.  I listened to/watched two episodes of Good Eats while I worked on this.

Step Two: Securing the end of the yarn
When you finally get to the end of the wreath, pat yourself on the back.  Then leave about 8"-10" of string attached after you cut the end.

Take out a pin, and tie the end of the yarn around your finger.  Not tightly, and not in a knot.

Take the loop off of your finger, but don't tighten it yet.  Take the pin and insert it through the loop you made on your finger.  Tighten it around the top of the pin, underneath the pin head.  Then wrap the remaining little end of string around the rest of the pin, wrap the length of string around the wreath form.  Insert the pin into the foam to hold the end in place permanently.

 

Now your wreath should look like this!




Step Three: The bow and hanging ribbon
Cut a piece of ribbon about 2 1/2' long for the bow.  Then cut another length of ribbon for hanging; this length depends on how long you want the wreath to hang down.  I cut my length at about 3', but then shortened it quite a bit later.  Wrap the 2 1/2' length of ribbon around the same spot that you pinned the end of the yarn, and tie it once loosely.  Now, take the hanging ribbon and thread it through the bow ribbon.

Now, tighten the bow ribbon, and tie a knot.  This will secure the ribbon.  Then tie the bow.  Remember when  you were first learning how to tie your shoes, with bunny ears?  I've found that to be an easy way to get a decent-looking bow that stays fairly straight and neat.  That's the method I used to make my bow.

We'll trim and treat the edges of the ribbons later.

Step Four: The flowers
Now we need to separate the flowers.  Cut each apart and set them in a cute little pile.

Arrange the flowers on the wreath before you pin them in place.  Once you have them where you want, pin away!  Put as many on as you like.

 

Step Five: Trim the ribbon ends and treat them
Cut the ends of the ribbon, either by angling them or cutting them in a wedge.  Spread a thin layer of Fray Check along the cut edges.  Tie the hanging ribbon to your desired length and cut an angle along the edges of those ribbons.  Treat these ends with Fray Check as well.

Step Six: Hang and enjoy!

All told, I used a bunch of coupons between Hobby Lobby and JoAnn Fabrics, and the total of all of the materials came to around $20.  Not bad, I thought!