Cooking With Cricut Challenge: Easter

Happy Wednesday!  I am finally up and running after our recent move -- the computer and the Cricut are connected; and the adhesive, cutting mats, cartridges, misc. tools, and paper have been located and kind of unpacked.  There are still boxes everywhere and I don't know where most things are . . . the most frequent conversation at our house is:  "Do you know where _______ is?"  "Yep.  In a box . . . somewhere."  We are getting a little better at actually managing to tell each other which room the needed box is in -- progress!

Anyway, I really needed to participate in this week's Design Team challenge at Cooking With Cricut.  Yes, NEEDED!  My poor Cricut was feeling quite neglected and I don't know about you . .  but when I don't create on a regular basis it makes me quite grumpy.  My 8 year old daughter told me the other day that I needed to go play with my paper and get happy!  So I did and this is what I came up with . . .

The inspiration for this little basket came from a blog I stumbled across the other day.  I loved the look of it and decided to see if I could adapt it for my Cricut.  

The basket base is cut from a single piece of 12" x 12" paper.   I scored the paper at 4" and 8" (both vertically and horizontally) BEFORE I cut it.   Here's the recipe:

Cindy Loo cartridge:

• Doily 2, page 69 - cut from Bazzill's Chablis #T1-130 at 11 1/4" x 11 1/4".  I hid all of the interior cuts using my Cricut Design Studio.

Easter 2010 cartridge:

• Jagged edge circle - cut from white card stock at 2 3/4" x 2 3/4".
• Jagged edge circle - cut from scraps (DCWV Cherry Limeade Stack) at 2 1/2" x 2 1/2".
• Chick - cut from scraps at 1 3/4" x 1 3/4".
• Lamb - cut from scraps at 2" wide x 1 1/2" high.
• Bunny - cut from scraps at 1 1/2" wide x 1 3/4" high.
• Egg - cut from scraps (DCWV Cherry Limeade Stack) at 1 1/2" wide x 1 3/4" high.
• Rick-Rack - cut from white card stock at 10 1/2" wide x 1/2" high.  (I welded six individual pieces together.)

I also used a 1" wide by 12" long piece of Bazzill's Chablis for the handle.

After I cut the scored paper out for the basket base, I folded the sides up to see where I needed to score a diagonal line for the corners.  After scoring the corners, I held the box together at each corner and punched a hole through all of the pieces and threaded some pale pink polka-dotted sheer ribbon and tied it in a bow to hold the box together.

I pop-dotted the critters and the egg after I embellished them with chalk, pens and bling and added them to my layered jagged-edge circles.  The handle is adhered to the inside of the box using some terrifically tacky tape (red line).  I added a little Easter grass and some plastic eggs for a super cute table decoration.  

My daughter has already chastised me for not putting anything in the eggs (candy) and has declared that this little basket is "Way too cute, Momma!  It's mine!  Right?"  

Hop on over to Cooking With Cricut and check out what all of the other Design Team members have created -- some really cute stuff going on over there!  I hope that you'll link up your Easter-themed project this week -- you could be our next Top Chef!

May you each have a wonderful Easter with the ones you love!  And if Easter isn't your thing, then have a wonderful Sunday spending time with the people you cherish and that cherish you!

~ Jen