When Valentine's Day comes around, there's nothing handier than a little Valentine gift basket that you can fill with candy or small gifts. Wouldn't it be great if you could make one yourself-maybe a heart-shaped one? Well, you can, and it's easy, so easy that you can make them as gifts to give to all your friends. Here's how it's done:
Materials Needed
One piece of red construction paper
One strip of white construction paper
Tape or paste
Scissors
Stickers, stars, colored paper scraps, crayons, etc., to decorate your basket
The secret to making this project is to use pieces of paper that are about three times as long as they are wide. That means that if your paper is 18 inches long, you should cut a piece 6 inches wide. You can make the basket in any size as long as you follow these proportions.
Regular-sized paper is 11 inches long, so you will need to cut pieces about 3¾ inches wide. Fold the paper in half the long way, and then cut along the folded line. Then cut a strip about a half inch wide off one long side of this new, narrow piece. Save this half-inch strip to use as a handle.
Cut the paper as described above, then take one red piece and one white piece and put them together (save the leftovers to make another basket later).
Fold the two pieces in half the short way, and then use the scissors to round off the ends away from the fold. You can cut all 4 layers of paper at once.
Now lay one of the pieces across the other, and line the folds up with the edge of the paper. Then fold them over.
Tape or paste the two front layers of paper to each other and the back two layers to each other. Make sure that you don't paste or tape the back to the front, or you won't be able to open the basket.
Tape one of the half-inch strips of paper-either red or white will do-to the inside of both the front and the back of the basket. This forms a loop, making the basket's handle.
Decorate your basket with crayons, stickers or anything else you want. When you're done, your basket will look wonderful and be strong enough to hold a Valentine surprise for your sweetheart.
Happy Valentine's Day to all.
Article provided by Homesteader
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