Inspire Me Monday: Sweet & Simple Basket!

Hello peeps! Before a holiday, I always search out ideas for fun little projects to deliver a little love to my kiddos. Yes, my son is 22 and my daughter is 15, but they still need a little handmade love from their mama, right? So, today, I am going to show you a super duper easy way to make an Easter treat basket! If you choose not to stamp on this little project, you can literally make this box in minutes. I chose to put my own spin on it and show you how to add a little digital design in the process!

Let's get started!

I started by creating a template for my box. I made it 6" wide and 6" tall and then added guides every two inches both horizontally and vertically around each edge in Photoshop Elements. Not sure how to "add a guide?" At the top navigation bar, click on "View" and then in the dropdown menu, click on New Guide. A window will pop up allowing you to choose vertical or horizontal as well as where you want your guide to land. I chose 2" and 4" both horizontally and vertically.

From there, I opened up the Vintage Easter Egg digital stamp and knew I wanted to use just the flower. So, I clicked on the background, chose that color and then, using the brush tool, started "erasing" parts of the image.

You can see when I was done, I used the flower to create a kind of border at the top and bottom of my soon to be basket!

I didn't want my basket to be white, so I ended up removing the white background and dropping in this fun pink polka dot design that I found online.

And here's my project all trimmed up, scored at 2" around and then cut at the flaps. 

I ended up only using a few colors to bring my scene to life! And, I sped colored, just scribbling in from dark to light some color. There are times when you really want to get lost in the coloring and make it a masterpiece. This is not one of those times. ;-) Here's a peek at the two greens I used. I went over the whole leaf with G20 afterward. 

Scribbled on these yellows, again going dark to light.... 

And lastly, the pinks -- from dark to light! I blended the whole flower with RV00. 

As you are assembling your basket, you want to bring the corner of the flap from one side to meet the corner of the flap from the other side. (I took this photo before I colored up those little tiny daisy-like leaves! ;-) )

I cut a piece of decorative paper to be 1" wide by 10" long and decided to use this as my handle!

Before I attached the handle, I lined it all up and then punched my hole so that my handle would be in perfect position. I just used a pencil to make a mark and show me where to punch.  The sparkly brad I made using one of those flat brads and a 1/2" circle punch and some sparkly yellow paper.

And here's what my little basket looks like when it is all colored and assembled! I think this is just such a fun and darling project! Add a little easter grass (sorry, blue is all I had -- might swap that out before I give this one away) and then, of course, some candy!

And, here's a peek at the basket from the end angle. I sure hope you give this little project a try! Like I said, it's super easy and with some fun digital stamps, you can really make this your own and personalize each basket too! You could even add the name of the person you plan to give it to! The options are endless!

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing a little time with us here on the Power Poppy blog! Have a wonderful week and if I don't "see" you beforehand, have a Blessed Easter!

~Julie