Hello! I'm going to share the "how-to's" for my fun yardstick basket with y'all today, but first you have to listen to a fun fact about my family. Or just skip ahead. I can't very well make you read all this can I? My kids have weird Easter baskets. Not weird, necessarily, more like . . . unique. It began with our eldest child. When she was a toddler I found a beautiful wooden {not woven} basket with a butterfly carved and painted on the side. She got lots of attention over it at her first Easter egg hunt that year, which she loved.
So when baby number two came along we decided that he needed a basket equal to hers in uniqueness. When I found an old tool box in my parent's garage that I had made in Jr. High shop class, I knew we had found just the thing. Plus, my kids would forever know that I got an A on that project because my teacher had written it on the bottom. I stained the outside a dark walnut and painted the inside yellow and it was perfect.
Sorry for the horrible photo. I couldn't find it on my computer so I had to scan in a scrapbook page. You get the idea though, right? Then baby number three came along when number two was only 18 months old and I was completely overwhelmed. So he just got a boring old basket I picked up at Michael's. And eleven years later he is still using that old thing.
It was fine. I mean, a basket's a basket. But unique baskets are kinda' our thing. It was time he got a new one. I found a wire basket in the dollar section at Target that I thought was pretty cool, but my husband didn't think it was any better than the old one. I got to
It took a little digging, but I found the source for the image: A little shop in Georgia called Beyond the Door. Oh, how I wish I could shop there! It looks glorious. Since I can't shop there, I decided to give it a go and attempt to make my own version. I had the wire basket to use as a base so I decided to glue my yardstick pieces to that. I found that the cheapest place {by far!} to buy yardsticks is Lowe's at 79 cents a pop. Ideally, it would have been nice to buy vintage yardsticks somewhere, but I was too impatient to bother looking.
By doing a little quick math to find the diameter of the bottom of my basket and dividing that by the width of my yardsticks, I knew that I would need 13 pieces to fit around my basket. The pieces needed to be 6.5 inches tall, so I needed 3 yardsticks. I wanted a little variation so I got two at Lowe's and bought one slightly more expensive one at Hobby Lobby. {It was only $2 on sale.}
I didn't want all the Lowes branding on my cheap yardsticks {Sorry, Lowe's!} My
My husband cut all the yardsticks into 6.5 inch chunks -- see, now he's my favorite -- then I used E6000 glue to attach the sticks to the wire basket, covering as many of the wire slats as I could with the wood. I used blue painter's tape to hold the yardstick pieces in place while the glue set up.
I let it sit overnight just to be sure it would hold up. As an additional measure to secure it all for good {and to hide the metal ring going around the center of my base basket}, I attached a metal strap from the hardware store around the center and tightened it all up. Those yardsticks aren't goin' anywhere anytime soon!
Looking at it now I wish I had spent more time rounding the corners of the yardstick slats and doing a little antiquing of the wood, but in general I'm pleased with how it turned out. The newer-looking yardsticks and metal strap lend it a more modern industrial flavor, which is great for a boy!
{Read more about that "chocolate" bunny in this post.} It's so much more fun than just a plain old basket. I think I'd like to make a couple more, staying more true to the original inspiration, to use in my pantry. What do you think? Are we crazy with our odd Easter basket obsession?
I wish you all the happiest of Easter weekends, my friends!! Of all the blessings in my life for which I am profoundly grateful, the atonement and resurrection of my Savior, Jesus Christ, brings me the most joy and peace. Enjoy your day tomorrow.
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