Decorate To Celebrate Design Team Challenge - "Not Your Kid's Easter Basket!"

MY STORY

     In addition to being with family, nothing says Easter to me as much as yellow Peeps, jellybeans and solid chocolate bunnies.

     However, many of my friends are trying to shy away from the sweets whether for medical reasons or no appropriate points plus value on the Weight Watchers plan! :)

     I have come up with an alternative to the "sweet" Easter basket, although I do think this is still very sweet but kinder to your teeth and waistline.

     This basket was made for my friend who loves gardening and birds.

YOUR TURN

     When you start shopping for supplies, (I know me too I already have tons) I find it easier to have a theme or a color palette in mind.  For this basket, I concentrated on garden/birds and mostly the blue/green/cream family.  I gathered up what I thought looked good together and a bonus is that they were all on sale!  Oh happy day.

     
     Before you start gluing anything down, play around with your elements.  Similar to flower arranging, you want to create different heights, figure out your focal pieces, make sure it looks good from every angle, etc.  I added different size styrofoam at the bottom of the basket to create different planes.  

     Start adding your tallest elements....these old fashioned eggs come on wire sticks so some of them I cut so they were not all the same height (in addition to having different sizes of styrofoam).

    To keep with my bird/gardening theme, I loved these unfinished wood plant stakes.  Using spray ink, cover your plant stake.  Let dry between coats for a deeper color.  Also spray ink your little cut out bird (more  on him later).

     I also found pretty stickers and loved that the theme and the color were in line with my basket.  Adhere the sticker to your plant stake once it is dry.

     Once you have added all your elements use plastic grass and fill in all your holes.  I love the grass I found at Michaels...it was not as "plastic" as the drugstore type and came in a pretty cream color.

   I always get a little craft high when I find a product I had never heard of and can use in my project.  Waverly makes these soap petals.  So not only do they add a nice finishing touch around the basket, but they smell beautifully and my gardening friend can peel off a petal and wash her hands after a long day digging in the soil.

     Now back to our little bird friend.....adhere him to the front of your basket.

     And you are done!  These ideas can be used with any theme or for any occasion.  Think about Christmas for the holidays or soups and hot chocolate for the fall.  And when you hit the sales at the right time, you can create a custom gift to give (or keep for yourself!!) for not a lot of money.

"All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!"  Lucy Van Pelt, "Peanuts"