Let’s Make a Personalized DIY Easter Basket

One day last week, I wandered through the Dollar Tree (one of my favorite stores) and came across the cutest flat wooded rabbit. Of course, it went into my cart immediately. Do you ever do that? It was like it just jumped in my cart.

However, I had no idea what I would do with it.

I kept telling myself if I didn’t have a use for it, it didn’t need to go home with me. So, as you can imagine, my craft cupboards are full of treasures that I did not intentionally use.

As I wandered the isles, I gave it some thought. “How about an Easter Basket” so off to the craft department I went to see what I could use to turn my rabbit into an Easter basket.

And this magically came to my mind! (Don’t you love it when that happens)

Supply List for the personalized DIY Easter Basket

Two flat wooden Rabbits  (Dollar Tree)

Two prints of rabbit art (If you would like to purchase these for $5.00 you can e-mail me at wendy@wmdesignhouse.com)

Once you have the files for the art, you need to have them printed on 11×17″ paper. ( I had this done at FedEx printing)

One image of your child or grandchild cut the paper to 3.75″ x 5.75″ (I printed these on the computer using regular paper)

One printout of their name cut the piece to 3.75″ x 5.75″ (I printed these on the computer using regular paper)

One wooden tray  (Dollar Tree)

Two black easels with wood frame (Dollar Tree)

1 Bag of white pom poms (Dollar Tree)

You will need 1 tea bag to dye your pom poms

Mod Podge

Chip brush

White or Ivory chalk paint

Distress Archival Ink

Pink acrylic paint

Dark wax

Clear wax

A strip of poster board that is 1.5″ wide x 20″ long  for the handle

20″ of crochet ribbon  or checked ribbon for the handle

Twenty inches  of solid ribbon for the handle

my dream Glue gun  or a primary glue gun

Glue Sticks

Spray adhesive

Ribbon of your choice for around the rabbit’s neck

Now let’s get this party started and make our Personalized Easter Baskets.

First, you need to remove the small inner wood piece on the ears and the tail of the wooden rabbit. I found this to be easier on some rabbits than others. If you create a mess, you can sand the rabbit after removing the pieces, and you could always fill it with wood filler if needed. I had a few boo-boos, but I just painted over them.

Now we are going to paint the inside of the rabbit pink.

Keep in mind that both rabbits are facing the same direction, so you need to be sure you are painting the interior of the rabbits only! So the opposite side of one is painted.

Let this dry for a while.

Second, we will Mod Podge the printed rabbit onto the wooden rabbit.

I created the art for this DIY Easter basket

which is not perfect, so bear with me. cut the body and head away from the ears. ( It is much easier to attach the ears separately)

I then cut the feet off as I wanted them to line up nicely.

Try it without cutting the feet off first. Then, If it doesn’t work, you can cut them and glue them on top. This process is more straightforward than I am making it should.

Paint the wooden ears of the rabbit with Mod Podge and place the paper ears on top, rub out any bubbles or creases.

Now paint the body with Mod Podge place the paper rabbit on top of the wooden rabbit. Be sure to do this carefully, so you do not get bubbles.

If you cut the feet off,  brush on some mod podge onto the feet and place the paper feet onto the wooden feet of the rabbit.

Remember we are going to antique the rabbit. In the end, you will not see any seams of where you glued the feet or ears.

Repeat this process on the other rabbit on the reverse side.

Set the rabbits aside to dry.

Trim the excess paper once they are dry.

Now, let’s get the paint out for our DIY Personalized Easter Baskets

First, remove the easel part on the back of the chalkboards.

Using white or ivory chalk paint, paint both chalkboards on both sides, frame and all.

Paint the box as well, two coats for all three pieces.

Next, you will Mod Podge your images onto the front side of the easel pieces.

Make sure your images fit into the square well, trim if needed before you glue them in.

Paint Mod Podge on the inside of the frame, place your image or text on top of the glue. Then, smooth out the paper using your fingers.

Now using the glue gun, we will hot glue the pieces of our Easter Basket together.

Start by gluing one easel to each end of the box,

Next, you will antique this piece using clear and dark wax. I like to dilute the dark wax with the clear as the dark by itself can be too dark. Start by using about a tablespoon of clear wax to a 1/4 teaspoon of dark wax. Waxing is a process you may want to practice on a piece of paper first. I wax right over the images that I have glued into the frames. Start with a coat of clear over the images and then add in some of the dark wax.

The beauty is if you get too much dark wax on the project, you can use clear wax to remove some of the dark.

Use a rag or an old T-shirt to wax your pieces.

Put a small amount of the wax on the rag and rub in one direction.

Put enough wax on until you are happy with the look. Then, of course, you can always add more, but you cannot easily remove it, so start cautiously.

Now it is time to antique your Rabbit

I start with the Distress Archival Ink around all of the edges of the rabbit. (I mostly use the colors, vintage photos, and ground espresso)Rub on a bit of the ink to the side edge, and then using your finger, rub on the front side of the rabbit, and the color will bleed a bit. Start this process a little as you can always add more, but you cannot take it away.

You can also use a fine spray mist water bottle

Spray the area on the paper rabbit you want to antique more, and then add some ink and rub with your finger.

I also add some ink onto some of the inner body lines of the rabbit using the edge of the distress ink pad.

You may want to practice this process on a piece of cardboard or something you have at home.

Once you are happy with your antiquing of the rabbits, you can glue them onto the sides of the box and easels. I know the inside of my rabbit is not pink in this image, so I decided to add pink later. However, it is much easier to paint them before putting the rabbits together.

At this stage of the project, you need to add a coat of clear wax to the entire exterior of the DIY Easter Basket.

If you want to add more dark wax, now is the time.

Let this sit overnight.

I took two of the white pom poms for the rabbit’s tail and dipped them in a hot bowl of tea. The dying process only took a few minutes. Once you get the color you like, take them out of the tea and drain as much liquid from them as you can.

Let them dry overnight with the rabbit.

The next day, you can hot glue the tails onto the rabbit.

Now it is time to make the handle.

First, cut a strip of poster board that is 1.5″ wide x 20″ long

Spray the spray adhesive onto one side of the strip of the poster board.

Attach the solid color ribbon to this side and smooth it out.

Now spray the opposite side of the strip of poster board

Attach the crochet ribbon to this side.

Trim the ends into a shape you desire.

Hot glue the handle onto the two sides to create the handle.

Tie a bow around the rabbit’s neck on both sides for the perfect finishing touch.

You can use several types of shreds or cheesecloth to line the inside of the basket, I used a pink cheesecloth.

And if by chance you are not a crafter, or you just don’t have time to craft, you may like one of these adorable personalized Easter baskets.

Hoping you have a Hippity Hoppity Easter my friends!

 

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