Wednesday 14 September 2011

Gift-basket tutorial.


This year, be prepared and get some giftbaskets done in advance - way ahead for Christmas.
This is a re-post from last year- but you wil really enjoy this project and it's the right time of year to get this done! So get going and enjoy!!

For your Christmas gift basket you will need:

 2 pots of home-made jam ( see ideas and recipes page ).

1 cardboard box ( an empty Whiskas 12-pouch catfood-carton will do just fine- an empty Felix- cardboard box  is OK, too, I am not partial .)



Two or three handfuls of  hay - you will find this in a petfood shop and /or a  country store , like  SCATS         http://www.scatscountrystores.co.uk
1 roll of brown packing paper - from the post-office or a stationary shop. 
1 Glue-stick.
1 Pretty ribbon( about 2 meters long )  from for instance : East of India-see:  http://www.eden247.co.uk/ribbon-merry-christmas.ir?cName=east-of-india-gifts-home-ribbons-by-east-of-india

How to make the basket:
Lower the height of the cardboard-box by cutting the top 7 or 10 centimeters off with scissors.
Roll out about 1 meter of the brown paper - cut this off, and put the cardboard box on it, so the paper forms a lozenge under the box- see below.
Spread glue with the glue-stick on the 4 sides of the card-board box and press the brown paper against the glued sides.To do this, hold one hand within the cardboard box, and with the other hand press the brown paper hard against the outside of the box so it sticks to the glue and the cardboard.The paper will stand up in peaks  - if it is too high, cut it off a bit.
Put some hay on the bottom of the box. Put both pots with jam in the card-board box , and put them both in at an angle, one pot to the left, one to the right.
Fill the rest of the space in the box with the hay so the jam-pots can not  move about and are wedged tight.
Fold the brown paper back a bit like below.




If it comes away from the cardboard, use a bit more glue and pressure to secure it to the cardboard box.
Secure a ribbon all around the middle of the cardboard box so it sits between the pot of jam to the right and the pot of jam to the left.
Knot a pretty bow on the front of the gift basket.That's it! You're done!!


Congratulate yourself and have a stiff drink or a cup of tea- or whatever you may fancy.
Have a great rest of the week!!
XOXO
Bea


linking to
Tablescape Thursday
feathered nest friday

8 comments:

Sawdust Girl said...

Very cute presentation. I'm going to have to figure out how many apples 1.2 kilos equals. :-) Thanks for linking up.

Sandra

Vanessa said...

Hi! This is so cute and clever and I definitely have Christmas on the brain so this is perfect timing! Thanks so much for coming over and joining the party this week and I hope to see much more of you in the future! :-)
Vanessa

Modern Country Lady said...

Hi Sandra- thanks for stopping by and for the nice feedback!! I suppose 1.2 Kilo's would be about 6 to 8 apples- hope that helps!!!
Hopefully see you again on my blog!!
Hi Vanessa, thanks for the welcome and for the positive comments!!
Yes, I hope we will se each other soon in blog-land- your blog or mine !!Thanks for stopping by!!!

Sherri said...

A simple and ADORABLE basket! I love that you recycled a box for it. Great idea.

Mariette VandenMunckhof-Vedder said...

Dearest Bea,

Wow, what a great way to present a 'labor of love'gift! Well worth posting this again and just timely.
Got back at 2:00 AM this morning from our 16-day Europe trip (The Netherlands and Germany). Still not in my rithm but by Sunday I will be fine. So much to unpack and put up...
Love to you,

Mariette

Anonymous said...

I love to see new gift presentation ideas especially with the holiday season approaching. I have lots of straw! :)

Unknown said...

Very neat! Thanks for sharing!

Maria said...

An excellent reminder that it's time to start thinking about Christmas! Clever presentation for your homemade jam!