Try one or all of these fun, easy, and creative ideas:
Bubble Blower:
Fill a bucket with water and a squirt or two of liquid soap. Dip bottom of basket into the soap solution and wave slowly in the air to make hundreds of tiny bubbles.
Crazy Paint:
Press the bottom of the basket into one or more colors of paint. Using the basket like a stamp, press it onto fabric, or a home made book cover, or furniture such as a table, stool or chair.
Snowflakes:
Cut out the bottom of the basket. Use it "as is" or make extra snips to get your desired snowflake shape. You can also cut away the sides of the basket so that you have 5 flat sections of basket material; then, use scissors to snip away portions of the basket to get your desired shape. Dip in glue, dip in glitter and attach a hanger.
Doll Houses:
Cut away sides of basket so that you end up with five flat pieces. Cut these up to make fencing, lattice, garden arbors, etc...
Decorative Containers:
Get out some inexpensive supplies and craft a pretty container using one of the following quick and easy methods:
- Cover berry basket with paper mache. When the paper mache is dry, paint your container using any method you desire.
- Paper mache the baskets using pieces of tissue paper. If you use several different colors of tissue paper you’ll end up with a stained glass effect.
- You can use Paper mache with comics, newspaper, or magazine pictures and do not cover or paint!
- Glue or weave ribbon, lace, raffia, fabric trims or fabric strips onto basket.
- Glue on strips of gently used gift wrap or other pretty paper that you’ve cut to fit the height of the basket and folded both the top and bottom edges into the center to give the top and bottom a clean edge.
You can use your finished, decorated containers to hold:
- Baked goodies or candies to take on a hospital visit, to work, as a hostess gift, to a favorite teacher, to cheer up a friend
- Coasters
- Cocktail napkins
- Matchbooks
- Small desk items
- Small items on a dressing table or bathroom counter
If you need a handle for your berry basket, you can use one of the following items twisted into two of the top squares of the basket:
- Pipe cleaners
- Twisted raffia – either don’t untwist the raffia when you buy it, or take a few strands and twist them tightly together
- Wire saved from a used spiral notebook, wrapped in ribbon or fabric strips
This article was submitted by Irish author Kathleane O'Leary. Her latest book, An Irish Attic, is chock full of crafts and projects using recycled items. You can find out more about her and more ideas at www.kco1.net/irishattic.
