You know you have these ugly things somewhere....

Easter...
Special dresses, new shoes, and a pretty basket for your eggs.

My oldest son's first easter basket had real grass. Seriously. I planned ahead, lined the basket, filled it with dirt, and grew sweet little green grass for his easter eggs from the bunny.

Oh, how things change.

Last year my daughter(#3), had a beautiful dress I had slaved over(seen here), but she collected her eggs in a plastic grocery sack.

As parents, I think most of us have ended up with one of these inexpensive easter baskets. It may have come filled with stuff the kids loved, but the basket is tossed aside. I decided to make use of mine.




If you need storage for your crap stuff, these are seriously the cheapest thing you could find. Probably 10 cents at a garage sale or thrift store, or free from anyone that has them lying around.



I'll get to these guys in a second.
I bet you're having a hard time breaking your eyes away from the stunning painting of a snowy pond in a forest, but please keep up.



First, I took off the handle. It was barely even attatched, probably assembled by a small child in China.
Then, I spray painted the baskets dark brown.
I chose a dark color because the dye in the basket would most likely bleed through without a primer, and I am trying to keep this simple and cheap.




I then made the liners.
If you want complete instructions on how to do this, leave me a comment and I will send them to you.




Tah-dah!! Cute huh?

What to put in it??
Crayons, desk supplies, vitamin bottles, nail polish,




...or maybe napkins.


Remember the ugly frame?? I made it into a memo board for my(super awesome) neighbor.




A blue paint finish, some foam core board, batting and fabric.

She will probably fill her basket with lotion. She showed me her secret stash one day, and WOW - she is a lotion hoarder.




I made the memo board out of the empty frame, not the one with the lovely painting.

Speaking of easter, I need to post pictures of the easter dress I made for Lilly this year. (mostly because I know you are all waiting with baited breath to see it).
I stayed up until 4 am 3 nights in a row to finish it, so humor me, please...