Handmade Easter Baskets (trash to treasure project)

ETA: Sorry - I have to remove this project for publication - I will re-upload these photos once the project is published.

Do these felt baskets look vaguely familiar to you? If you live anywhere near a Target, you probably saw them at the Target Dollar Spot, looking a lot more like this before their makeovers:

They came with assorted felt embellishments which I decided to remove and pretty them up a bit. Armed with a craft knife to scrape away stubborn glue and residue, and a bit of elbow grease, I removed the attachments on the front of the baskets. It's okay if they leave a mark of some kind as you can cover that up with the greeting card images. Now, the fun part. I printed out vintage greetings in colors coordinating with the baskets, on Office Max's Premium Coated Canvas Paper for inkjet printers (this is real artist's canvas paper - sold in 8.5" x 11" sheets at OMax. It's a bit tricky printing -- you may have to stand by your printer and make sure it catches - manually feed it in versus letting it sit in the autofeed tray. I set my printer to the heavy matte paper setting and I also saturated the images a bit as the canvas absorbed more of the color than I wanted it to on the first pass. Also, try to use images that have lighter backgrounds. Dark backgrounds muddy up the look. I printed 4" x 6" images and then trimmed them down a bit to fit on the front of the baskets. I backstitched them with a tough, durable white cord/thread to the front of the basket as regular cotton thread won't do for the canvas. Then I applied glue and clear Martha glitter to the fronts of the greetings to make them appear glittered up (mine is very subtle and not really evident from the photos - but very pretty IRL).  Then you can hot glue trim around the bottom, add a bit of ribbon, and at $1 per basket you're done! I loved the scalloped handle on the blue one - the other one, I stitched shell buttons to the handle. You can now pretty them up even further with all sorts of Easter goodies and they end up transformed from ducklings into swans, plus they make gorgeous easter baskets for gifting or as a centerpiece. I love the sweet paper doll I found online, which you can download for free here: Paper Doll Review . I printed out two of them and flipped her image horizontally for the second basket.

Comments

[Meera]

Yeah.. I need these baskets and that paper to print it on. These turned out TOO cute! And I passed these baskets, and once again did not see the possibilities. The bunny faces kinda threw me off!

[Alisa N.]

Brilliant!

[Martha]

Way cool!!!!

[Giosmama26]

Beyond amazing..

[Donna Kjellander Karlan]

Ranjini-
You are helping me to "see with new eyes". These baskets are just one example. Very clever!

[Abby]

I have to agree with Meera here Ranjini. I saw these at Target and I just thought they were too cutesy and too seasonal. But seeing what you've done with it, I think I may have to go stop by Target to grab some for my girls and maybe to give as a gift for my new niece! Thanks for always sharing your creativity with us!

[Sandy Navarro]

How cute are these! Ran to Target as soon as I saw your post! They were quite a bit smaller than I expected, but that makes them all the more precious! I bought 2 blue ones; love the scalloped handles. I'm going to keep one & use it as a pattern to make more. Thanks so much for sharing your talent.

[Cynthia]

Oh soooo pretty! I did not see this at Target, but I have tried to stay away from the $1 spot

[Lisa M]

Ranjini,

Where did you find the vintage images to print out? The baskets are sooo cute!

[Sherry B]

These are gorgeous!

[Jan]

Ranjini,
I LOVE these! How clever! Target here I come :) Thanks for all your wonderful ideas you share with us :)
Jan

[Danielle]

So cute!!! These are adorable! Can I ask where you get the little birds? I've been looking for some of those just like them. Thanks!!!!