Holiday Crafter - craft ideas, projects, and tips for every holiday!

This bright red, white, and blue basket makes an excellent craft project for crafters young and old. We left ours plain in the photo, but we went ahead and added a few of our favorite patriotic quotes around the sides, handle, and individual weavings, which made us like it even more! We chose a lightweight oval basket with very wide weavings, both because it was easy to paint and because of how inexpensive it was. We completed this project for less than $2.00.

Cover your work surface thoroughly with newspaper. Choose a strip of basket to start with and using your pencil, mark a R for red in each section of the strip. Find the next strip and mark a W for white in each section of that strip. Repeat, alternating colors for each strip. If you do not do this it is too easy to get confused and paint a strip (or two or fifty!) the wrong color which will ruin your pattern. Once you have your pattern worked out, paint all of the red stripes on the outside of the basket, using the small brush to get into the tighter areas. Then paint all the white areas on the outside of the basket. Place the basket upside down to dry. Let the paint dry thoroughly. Place the basket right side up and paint the stripes red and white on the interior of the basket just like you did the exterior stripes. Let dry thoroughly. Paint the handle and rim of the basket blue. Let the paint dry thoroughly. If necessary, add another coat of paint to any areas that need it. Let the paint dry thoroughly. Add a coat of acrylic sealer as directed by the manufacturer to protect the basket.

This festive basket is a wonderful and easy project that makes a great gift or rainy day craft. Use it as a gift basket, to hold linens, as a centerpiece, to collect assorted summer finds like shells and stones, or for anything else you can think of.