Simple and Stylish Easter Baskets that you can do yourself in less than 30 Minutes! A friend of mine recently ordered two Easter Baskets with her kid’s names embroidered on them! They were cute, but not for $40.00 a piece, but it did give me a great idea on how to make my own at a fraction of the price! Not only are mine cuter than the ones that she purchased, but they totaled a whopping $12.00 for all the material and I had extra materials and crafts left to use for future occasions!
First, find a basket with a cloth lining inside and make sure it has a handle on it to decorate, you don’t necessarily need the handle, but it looks great an allows for easy carrying. Next you will need a spool of ribbon that is an inch in width (big enough for you to glue letters on, so the bigger you buy the letters, the wider your ribbon will need to be), and when you buy the spool it’s about three yards. You will also need to purchase some pre-cut flowers or Easter themed small cut outs that are made of material, you can also add rhinestones for a more “bedazzled” look. The two baskets I made were for girls, so I also purchased a small spool of ribbon with flowers on it, but if it’s for a boy, you can do a solid color or Easter themed. You will need to purchase a pack of sparkly letters or cute cut letters, depending on if it’s a boy or girl. Lastly, you will also need to have a glue gun, glue sticks, and scissors for cutting.
Once you have all of your material, you are ready to begin. to start, you can heat up your glue gun and begin with the thin ribbon with the flowers on it, Easter themed ribbon, or solid color ribbon. All you do is weave the ribbon throughout the bottom of the basket. Do this all around the entire bottom of basket, you can do it as many times as you want, depending on the size of the basket. Next you can start to glue all of your pre-cut flowers onto the outer and inner lining of the basket. All you really need to do is put the flowers/rhinestones/decorations the outer lining that is showing, but it’s pretty if you do the inside and if you have enough flowers. Next, take your thick one inch ribbon and wrapped the handle(s) of the basket. Make sure you have enough ribbon left for a big bow. Once you have wrapped the handle, make a bow on the handle, leaving enough ribbon to hang over the basket. Now that you have your bow and enough ribbon hanging from the bottom of the bow, you can glue the letter on. You can add any extra flowers, rhinestones, or other decorations that you may have. If it’s for a boy, an Easter theme may be more appropriate, such as eggs, bunnies, candy. Add up your total cost and sit back, smile, and watch your kids love this basket that they can use over and over for the Easter Bunny to fill up! Remember, the bigger the basket, the better, wink wink.
There are hundreds of ways one can go about decorating eggs for the Easter holiday. The ideas can range from simple to extreme. However one chooses to decorate Easter eggs, it can be a fun family activity for both young and old alike. All one needs are some eggs and a little bit of creativity.
The classic way of decorating eggs involves nothing more than combining paste food coloring, 1 cup of water, and ¼ cup of vinegar. The amount of paste used will determine soft or bold colors. Simply dip a hard-boiled egg into the dye and keep it there until the perfect color is reached. The longer the egg stays in the dye, the darker the color will be.
An interesting way to decorate Easter eggs does not involve the use of dye at all. Crayons and warm hard-boiled eggs make a great combination. The heat from the warm egg melts the crayon wax, creating smoothness between the colors. When decorating this way, it is important to note that the eggs should be cooled just enough so they are easy to handle. The other eggs should stay in the hot water to keep warm until they are ready to be decorated.
Tie-dyed Easter eggs are a fun dyeing technique everyone enjoys. All that is needed is a colander, hard-boiled eggs, ½ cup white vinegar, and food coloring. Begin by placing the eggs into the colander and splashing them with the vinegar. Drip some food coloring onto the eggs and gently shake the colander to help spread the color. Give the color at least a minute to set on the eggs before adding the next color. Repeat the process with one or two more colors, letting each color sit for a minute before adding the next color. Once all the colors have been added and the eggs have been allowed to set, rinse them lightly with water. Place the eggs on paper towels to drain and dry. It should be noted that only two or three colors should be used for best results.
As many readers are aware, our Guest Author Program kicked off in late 2008, with the hope that we could dig up a few like minded people, to help everyone get just a bit more experience, on their own DIY Projects. We are thrilled to announce the participation of a very well known Do it Yourself Expert, Lou Manfredini, the Ace Helpful Hardware Man!
Who is Lou Manfredini?
After more than 10 successful years in construction, Manfredini had gained a tremendous amount of knowledge on homes that he began to consider ways to more broadly share his expertise with others. He believed that a house “was more like a living entity than an inanimate collection of lumber, wiring and plumbing.” By showing people how various systems and components in a house rely on each other and instilling a greater understanding of a house as a “whole,” Manfredini thought everyone could have greater success in their home improvement and do-it-yourself (DIY) projects.
Lou will be providing several tips and resources for readers, based off the topics that are currently on the minds of everyone! To see a sample of the quality advice from Lou, visit the Helpful Hardware Man Projects page.
Armed with his expertise and enthusiasm, Manfredini began his media career when WGN Radio in Chicago launched his idea for a home improvement call-in radio show. The show quickly caught on: today, The Mr. Fix-It Show is the number one Saturday morning radio program in Chicago.
Not long thereafter, Manfredini branched into television and print media. Currently, he is the official home improvement expert for NBC’s Today Show and a frequent guest on numerous network television stations across the United States as well as programming for CNN, HGTV, Discovery, and the History Channel. Most recently, Manfredini is the host of his own television show, HouseSmarts, which airs on the NBC affiliate in Chicago.
Reaching millions of DIYers every month with his friendly persona and down-to-earth project advice, Manfredini also has authored these successful DIY books: Lou Manfredini’s Bath Smarts (2004), Kitchen Smarts (2004), Room Smarts (2004) and House Smarts (2002); Mr. Fix-It Introduces You to Your Home (2002); and Mr. Fix-It: 101 Answers to the Most Commonly Asked Questions About Repairing Your Home (2000). These books have been featured in national magazines such as People and Newsweek, as well as major-market newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.
Manfredini is a nationally recognized DIY expert, sought after both for his expertise and his energetic, entertaining style. In an extension of his ongoing effort to help people maximize the value and enjoyment of their homes, he is also Ace Hardware’s “Helpful Hardware Man” and editorial media spokesperson. Along with his wife and four children, Manfredini lives in Chicago, where they also own and operate a neighborhood Ace Hardware store.
Replacing the Video Card on your PC may need to be done for man y reasons. Whether you are simply upgrading to a better GPU for gaming reasons, or the card itself is broken, the process is the same.
When replacing a PC’s video card, you should first check to see which type of video card slot is on their motherboard. It will either be AGP, PCI, or PCI-Express.This information is readily available in your PC user manual, or you can go to the manufacturers website and find the specs based on your serial number. …Read more about How to Replace your PC Video Card Yourself
Hey – You Found Us!
The Do it Yourself Reviews and Product Information website is scheduled to go live to the public in early October 2008!
As you can see on our about page, the goal of the DIY Reviews website is to provide homeowners a place to go and read all about how others, just like themselves, have completed Do it Yourself Projects around their homes, cars, or just about anywhere!
As our DIY Website grows in the coming years, you will find we not only bring alot of our own knowledge to the market, but also try to make it fun along the way! We will have several sections or categories of projects you can choose from to learn more about your own upcoming project, here’s just a few: …Read more about Do it Yourself Reviews Goes Public!
