Paper Easter Treat Baskets

What would Easter be without baskets of sweet treats? A quick, inexpensive way to make multiple baskets is to cut them out from paper using a Sizzix die and a Big Shot machine. These baskets used the Bigz die (bag with heart handles) and just one 12x12 cardstock sheet per basket. There are lots of rubber stamps with Easter themes available at Ben Franklin Crafts. The basket in the middle has an image from Hero Arts. (The other two are from The Greeting Farm.) If you stamp out all your designs, color them, and then cut them out, you can work assembly-line style to quickly put together baskets for a whole classroom. The lace ruffle in the middle basket was made by using a Martha Stewart jumbo border punch and scrap computer paper. There are lots of 12x12 papers which would make good baskets but the solid embossed basketweave paper (middle basket) looks very realistic when lightly rubbed with ink to bring out the pattern. The word stamps are from Dandelion Designs and Studio G. Oh, the rabbit ears on two of the baskets were embellished with white Fun Flock to give them a fuzzy look. I also sprinkled Martha Stewart glitter and microbeads here and there just because I wanted to play with my new glittery MS sets. In projects to come I will show you ways to use the fabulous MS glitters. Well, that's it for today. I hope that you'll make paper Easter treat baskets and fill them with sweet goodies for all your friends so they'll know that some 'bunny' loves them!