Patriotic Painted Basket

It’s time to show your red, white and blue! When I was looking for some easy crafts for summertime festivities, I came across the idea for this red, white, and blue painted basket at Michael’s. This didn’t take much time to paint or dry. I found the basket, bandannas, and star garland at The Dollar Tree.

This basket is perfect for chips or pretzels, or can be used for displaying napkins and plastic utensils. It’s both decorative and useful!

For my basket, I chose to omit white paint and to use just red and blue, leaving the color of the basket as “white”. You can use any combination of colors you like. I also used the weave of the basket as a guide to measure thickness of each stripe. You can paint several thin stripes, a few thick ones, or any combination. Be creative! The directions below are for the basket as shown. I used the star garland as a personal touch. Try experimenting with ribbon or other materials.

 

Supplies:                                                                                                                               

basket

red and blue acrylic paint

paint brush

red or blue bandannas

star garland

tape (optional)

 

Directions:

Step 1:

I used a piece of aluminum foil and a paper plate for my paint palette. If it’s difficult to keep in the “lines”, use tape as a guide for your stripe. Squeeze paint onto your palette and paint a stripe in your first color.

 

 

 

Step 2:                                                                                                           

For my basket, I removed the tape and left the middle stripe plain for “white”.

Step 3:

Next, paint the third stripe the same width at the bottom of the basket.                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4:                                                                                                                                                          

After the paint dries, measure the garland so there’s enough to spiral around the top of the basket. Secure the garland at the top by wrapping one end through the top of the basket several times. It’s easiest to find spots in the basket where the weave is loose.

Step 5:

Spiral the garland around the top of the basket through areas where the weave is loose. Secure the end of the garland the same way and back in the same place where you started.

Step 6:

Place red or blue bandannas in the basket. Use the basket on any table as a decorative bowl for snacks!