Pipe-Cleaner Easter Baskets

More Easter Baskets! Chris and I love to give each other baskets full of goodies on Easter morning. It reminds us of how Chris proposed. A few days before Easter Chris gave me a basket full of Easter eggs and took me to different locations that we had had a special moment. At each place, I opened one egg where there was a special memory inside. The final egg had the ring inside! It was such a sweet day and exchanging baskets is such great way to remember our engagement. 

This project is truly simple! Make spokes of your basket by tying four pipe cleaners together. Add a ninth spoke and trim to the length of the other spokes. If you want to customize your basket and make it smaller or larger, add/delete the number of spokes. Make sure that you have an odd number of spokes, otherwise the weaving will not work. 

Weave in another pipe cleaner, over and under the spokes. When the pipe cleaner ends, twist twice the end to the beginning of another pipe cleaner. Curve spokes upward to form the sides of the basket. Continue until you are satisfied with the shape and size. Tuck the spokes into the previous rows, trim excess. Finally, twist two pipe cleaners together to form handle, and hook onto the top of the basket. Enjoy!

Play with patterns and colors!

Happy Easter!

Origami Easter Baskets

Easter is in one week! I can barely believe it. Chris and I will be celebrating throughout this week by reading scripture to prepare our hearts in rememberance of Jesus' death and resurrection. It is truly the heart of what we believe and a special time for our relationship with Jesus. Another thing that Easter represents is Spring coming, and I couldn't be more happy to celebrate. Never in my life has seasons change meant so much as they do this year as I continually adjust to the colder climate. Flowers are beginning to bloom here in Portland and it's a much welcomed change. 

On this blog, I'll also be celebrating by sharing Easter crafts and tutorials every day this week. I hope that you come back each day, get inspired, and make something special for your own Easter celebration. 

Today, I made some easy easter baskets. Have you ever bought a pack of Japanese origami paper? I remember having some as a youngster, but I haven't since. I fell in love with these patterns and the directions included an little basket, perfect! The pattern actually really reminds me of my friend and fellow PMQG member, Monica's fabric Happy Mochi Yum Yum, I couldn't resist! Unfortunately, "reading" and following the directions via pictures and no words (they are all in Japanese) is not my strong suit. After four attempts and failures of making the basket, I gave up and went the internet. I found lots of great videos for cute origami baskets, none of the one I had orginally tried to make, but these are so much fun and promise, very easy! 

Check out Meilris' Easter Origami Tutorial to make the star-like basket. Her video is so cute with fun music and her cute Japanese accent. 

The other tutorial is by Brenda Quintana, it's a video little dry, but I love how this siimple basket turns out.

Fill with Easter candy, my favorite is chocolate mini cadbury eggs, and enjoy! Give to co-workers, family, and friends to brighten their day!