A Tisket, A Tasket, Making May Baskets

May begins next week, can you believe it? I can’t. I’m not sure I’m ready for it.

However, I am ready for May 1st, or May Day. May Day is a holiday of many meanings in many places. For me, however, I think of it as the day for May baskets. As a youngster, I remember the excitement of finding little baskets on our step from kind friends and neighbors. Beautiful baskets filled with treats. What a great way to start the month.

Need some inspiration?

Here is the how-to for the baskets above.

Felt Ombre

Collect a plastic cup and related hues of felt. Cut the felt into narrow strips.  All the baskets are made with cleaned out yogurt cups.

Cut slits in the side of the yogurt cup and loop a strip of felt through. Use hot glue to secure it. Begin wrapping and gluing the felt strips from the bottom.

Add a darker color.

And finish with the darkest.

Color Fringe

For this basket, get another plastic cup and pick some fantastic colors of tissue paper (plus twine, not pictured). I used two different widths of tissue. After cutting the sheets in half, I cut one of the halves into 1/3 and 2/3 strips.

Stack up the colors and cut the tissue into a fringe.

Wrap and glue both widths of tissue fringe to the cup.

To finish off the basket, I knotted some twine through slits on the sides for a handle and I wrapped twine around the top of the basket.

Pink Flower

Another plastic cup for this basket as well. Also gather some twine, pink felt and a little green felt. Cut the pink felt into tear shape petals, the green into leaves. I did two different sizes of petals, one a little larger than the other.

Add a handle.

To make the petals, add a line of glue to the bottom third of the tear shape. Pinch the glue together. Glue the petals around the top of the cup.

The little ones are on top, the larger ones below.

At the base, I wrapped twine to cover the base of the petals and the plastic cup.

La-la-lovely.

Once the baskets are done, it’s time to fill them up.

A yellow center for the flower.

Oat cereal for the fringe basket. I decided this one looks a little hippie-ish or ‘natural’, so the cereal fits. :)

And some caramels for the ombre basket.

And if you have more than one friend, make a couple more.

It feels good to be prepared. At least for May 1st. Not so much for all the other days.

Oh well.

Take care.