From second hand baskets found at thrift stores or yard sales to old tin pails or Easter baskets you can make a great green flower girl basket for your wedding. Some containers may only need minor changes to give them a makeover while others may need a complete overhaul to breathe new life into them.
Thrift Store Baskets
With the abundance of baskets available at thrift stores, second hand shops, and yard sales I don’t really see a reason to ever purchase brand new baskets: most of the time you can find great baskets for under $1. I’ve bought as many as ten for $1 at one yard sale. With a few supplies you can easily transform a second hand basket into something beautiful and unique for your wedding. And the best thing is you will have a one of a kind piece that no other bride will have.
Supplies Needed:
- 1 Gently Used Basket
- Hot Glue Gun
- Glue Sticks
- Ribbon
- Lace (Optional)
- Roll of Beads (Optional)
- Small Artificial Flowers (Optional)
- Artificial Ivy (Optional)
Green Supply Options
- Used Baskets
- Any Supplies That You Already Have (maybe tucked away in your craft box)
- Ribbon Made from Organic and Natural Materials like natural Lokta twist paper ribbon, or 100% biodegradable ribbon sold by Sweet Organics and Naturals, Cream City Ribbon or Paporganics
Instructions:
- Start out by choosing a basket with good bones, one that is solid and sturdy. You’ll also want to choose one that will fit in with your wedding theme, feel or color scheme or can be altered to do so.
- Clean the basket. If it is a good basket you can hose it down, let it dry and it will be none the worse for wear.
- Decide what you want to do with it; ribbons, lace, flowers, ivy? What will fit in with your style? Many baskets can be easily spruced up just by wrapping some ribbon around the handle and adding a lace edge around the opening.
- If you want to wrap the handle do that first. Start at one end and start twisting dabbing just a small bit of hot glue on the underside of the handle at each interval where the ribbon will wrap.
- Next add your lace (if that’s your thing). Start at the edge of one handle and start with a small bead of hot glue then work your way all around a little at a time (don’t get ahead of yourself with the hot glue or it will dry before you get the lace to it) until you get to the other handle.
- Cut your lace to match up with the other end and glue down.
- Now choose what else to do. You can leave it as is or add ivy, flowers, beads or whatever else you want.
It is your wedding and your basket. Make it pretty, make it funky, make it you. It’s easy to add anything you want, just use the glue gun to attach everything.
Wenona Napolitano - Wenona Napolitano is a freelance writer, poet and mother of three. She writes everything from articles to web content. She is a trained ...
