Easter Basket Tutorial - Picket Style

***ETA*** Down below in the direction area, I had originally written that the posts should be 3" x 5/8", BUT, they should be 3" x 3/8".  Thanks T. Philips for figuring it out!

Good morning Clear Dollar Fans new and old alike!  Its Katie again which also means that its Tuesday and I get another opportunity to showcase something fun, at least I hope you think so :)  Well as you know... Easter is really just around the corner (April 12th) and guess what?  I am prepared and ready to go - Yahoo! 

I am not a huge holiday "stuff" person, but I do like to have a little something special for the kids.  I was browsing Easter Baskets and came across this really cute picket fence planter and wanted to recreate it for my boys.  I decided to stick with a basic white for my picket fence basket.

Let's get going with your main ingredients:

•   ONE - 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Acetate
•   ONE - 1 1/2" x 9 1/2" cardstock for handle
•   28 - 3" x 3/8" pieces of cardstock
•   8 - 3 1/2" x 1/2" pieces of cardstock

Adhesive
Scissors
Paper Cutter
Scor-Pal
Bunny Nugget Stamp Set
Carrot Stamp

Optional:
Nestabilities, punches, Copics, Fun Flock, Border Punch

Once you've cut your acetate, you will need to score each side at 2 1/2"

The wonderful aspect about this acetate is that its very sturdy, but still pliable.  After I score my lines, I gather the acetate and pinch it together towards the center to get my crease started.

I then use my fingers to finish up folding the crease and get it nice and crisp with the bone folder.

After I've folded all four sides, its just a matter of cutting so I can fold up my box.  Cut only on 2 opposite sides.

 

The picture below shows how the box will fold up with the cut flaps.

Now, in the picture below, I went and used Scor-tape to adhere my 2 side flaps together because it allows me more control versus using just a tape runner.

After the flaps are glued then I also apply adhesive to the 3 edges of the flap that will finish my clear box.

Now your box is assembled so put that aside for now and we'll get ready to create our fence posts.  For those you will need to cut a piece of cardstock that measures 3" by either 12" or 8 1/2", whatever size you will be using.  You want all your fence posts to measure 3/8" thick so their end measurement will be 3" x 3/8" and you will need 28 total. 

I found that my Fiskars cutter worked best for this task and that I could cut easier moving my cardstock to the right by measuring to the right.  That is the biggest feature that I like about this cutter are those extra right measurements.  I've pictured my cardstock at the exact 5/8 measurement.

 

Creating the picket fence post is super easy.  Its just a matter of snipping 2 corners away.  All you have to do is get one that you like and use that as your guide.  I placed my "guide" on top of 2 or 3 pieces of cardstock and cut away!

Before you can start attaching your fence posts though, I created 2 slats by cutting 8 pieces that measure 3 1/2" x 1/2"  I placed one flush to the top of my box and the bottom one was attached about an 1/8" above the bottom.

Yay! Now its time for the fence posts.  This was really quite fun and went pretty quickly.  I began by attaching posts on each end (of one side), then placed the middle one - just eye ball it here.

Next, you'll fill in each of the divided sections.  Each side will have a total of 7 posts.  Again, just eye ball it here.  You can always put your post down, just don't push too hard and you can adjust it as you go.

When all the sides are done, you get to attach the handle.  I used a small white brad for mine, but the possibilities are endless.  As I'm typing, I was just thinking that a really cute flower at the base of the handle would be uber cute.

Remember that 2 sides will only have 1 layer and the other 2 sides will actually be made up of 3 layers.  Keep this in mind when you are using a hole punch.

 
Here is your finished basket :)

So now, I wanted to share a super cute way to fill your Easter basket.  What about some SUPER CUTE Easter Bunny Nuggets.  Oh my, I love these little critters.

So what you need to make it even easier are some sort of address labels and of course this stamp set called Bunny Nuggets.

How simple is that?

Look at these very cute bunny faces.  Again, the options are limitless and for those of you out there who are afraid of cutting out stamped images - fear not!  These are quite easy to cut out and are just too cute not too.  I attached the faces to the nuggets with glue dots.

And finally, I wanted the boys to have a chocolate bunny of course, but I didn't want to get them big huge ones.  This size was perfect, but sadly he was all covered up so I just "had" to expose all his chocolatey goodness in a super cute box! 

The carrot is a single stamp that can be purchased at Clear Dollar (link up above) and that little tag was created using a stamp from the Bunny Nugget Stamp Set (link up above).

And one last time... a picture of the whole picket fence basket. 

Well, that's it for me.  If you have any questions about anything you see here, make sure to ask!  Thanks for spending you time with me and Clear Dollar Stamps and yay, there is plenty of time to make all the little Easter Baskets you need before Easter!  Think about making these in a scaled down version for table favors - those would be the cutest!

This is Katie signing off for Clearly iStamp.  Have a great Tuesday!

Comments

[Nora]

Katie, these are so cute! Thanks for sharing!

[Tonniece]

OMG, this is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TFS

[Callie]

What a cool project! Thanks for sharing. Now I need to go and buy some more acetate!

[peggysue]

That is really cute!

[Codi Jo]

This is very cute. I love fence!!

[Katie]

Hi Ann! I just used cheapy grocery store egg basket grass stuffing - the plastic kind. I did see some really nice shredded green paper grass at Michael's, but it was too much money for me (no coupon at the time). And if you really wanted to get crazy, you could make your own grass by using a crimper and scissors.

I layered the grass, added some of those candy eggs, a bit more grass, a bit more candy and then the bunnies. Seriously, that little basket will hold a ton of stuff - way more than anybody should eat in one sitting - not that I eat that much chocolate in one sitting (lol)!

I also have to mention that those nuggets are the dark chocolate with truffle inside - yummy.

[ann]

what kind of stuffing did you use underneath your candies so that all of them are all strategically on top of the shreds... thank you thank you wonderful tutorial. cant wait to try this one!

[Ree Donnelly]

I am completely in love with the Bunny Nuggets!! I don't know wht I never saw them before... but thanks for enabling me!! :o)

[Diane Noble]

This basket is about the cutest ever, Katie! Love it! So clever, great size, adorable design. Absolutely fabulous!

[Terri Bills]

Katie, this is adorable.

[Judy]

Katie ~ You are AWESOME!! I think you have the best tutorials out there!! Judy

[Mel M. M. M.]

This is sublime!!! So original and beautiful. What an amazing tutorial. WOWzas. :O)

[Shawne]

This is sooo cute! I'm going to do this with my kids, they will love this craft! I never knew you could sore acetate! Love it, great tutorial!

[Danielle]

This is so stinkin' cute!!! Thank you for sharing such a great tutorial.....I know what I'll be making!!! I can't get over how cute it is..omg :)

[Stacy SCS Twinshappy]

This is adorable and so fun. Great tutorial and what an awesome gift idea.

[Candyf]

Katie - You have outdone yourself this week. This basket is soooo cute and it is the perfect size.

[Cassie]

This is so completely adorable! Thanks for sharing it!