Wednesday, April 28

May Basket Fun!!!

May Day is coming up this Saturday so last night, I was busy making a special May basket that I will deliver to a special someone! Did you make May baskets when you were a kid? I did and it was such a fun tradition. My mother would help us make our little baskets from paper cups trimmed in crepe paper and bits of lace and trims. Then they were filled with candy and we took them to our friends. The custom was to leave the basket hanging on the doorknob, then knock and run and hide. If the friend opened the door and saw you, they were to run after you and give you a kiss. I had a certain little boy that I always hoped would run after me, but it was his mother who would answer the door. Ah, young love. :-)
This is the special May basket that I made last night. It's easy to make and so I've added a tutorial for those of you who might want to give a special friend a little May Day treat! The tutorial follows but first let me show you some examples of similar baskets so that you can gather some ideas to make your own creation. I should tell you that I think I never grew up. I'm 60 years old and still enjoy the traditions that I knew as a child. I've always loved any holiday or occasion to celebrate and was always making projects with my kids and the neighbor kids. Glitter was a permanent fixture that was waxed into our kitchen floor! We covered all the holidays and crafts.........Valentines, puppets, rock painting, nature crafts, Halloween projects, Christmas ornaments, and May baskets! I might run out of bread and milk but I always had craft supplies on hand! When my own kids grew up, I started teaching kids classes in our community education program and at the library.

I taught the kids how to make simple May baskets like the cone shapes above. I cut a circle of construction paper then covered it with a doily and decorated it with a bit of glitter, a sticker and ribbons.

In the photo above I scalloped the edges of this basket by cutting around a white doily glued to construction paper, then added the purple flower doily, and glitter ....... of course!
Here again, it's just a paper doily glued to blue construction paper and then I glued a pretty angel sticker on the back.........and I really had fun with the glitter on this one!

If you double-click on the photo on the right, you can see a close-up of the angel. Here's how I did the border around her. I was using glitter glue that comes in a squeeze bottle. First, I placed a row of pink glitter around the angel. Then I added a wider blue rim of glitter and then the purple rim of glitter. Next, I took a toothpick and beginning with the pink rim, I pulled the toothpick out to the purple rim and beyond to get the points you see around the angel. I managed to do it fairly evenly and really liked the effect. :-)
Last year, I made a couple of cloth covered May baskets. I added a tiny heart and a special button to this lace trimmed creation.
And for this yellow one, I fussy cut some little blue flowers from fabric and then fused them to the yellow fabric circle and trimmed it with some pretty gold loop trim.

I keep these around just for decoration and as samples when I'm teaching a class. The old tradition of May baskets called for real flowers in the baskets but I don't have any growing in my yard so sweet candies are all you'll find in my May baskets. And every time I make one, I think of the little boy who never answered the door and so I never got that kiss! LOL!!
Now if you want to make one of your own for you or a friend, just read on and I'll tell you exactly how you can do it!
Sandi

12 comments:

Barb said...

Soooooooooooooo cute...what a fun thing to do as wel.

annemarie said...

Lovely baskets - such memories they bring back.

Anonymous said...

Very, very cute!

Owl Lady said...

What a lovely idea and easy to make (I read the tutorial and checked out the pictures)! I could fill mine with lilacs this year.

Latane Barton said...

I had never heard of May baskets until we moved to Annapolis (during Elbert's Navy career). We used flat sided woven baskets and filled them with flowers and hung them on our door for May day. But, we moved away and I quit doing it. I mean, living out at the end of a country road in Alabama.... who would see a May basket? The cows?

Pat said...

Where I grew up (NJ), I never heard of this tradition, but it seems to be a fun one. Thanks for showing us all these lovely baskets (and I'm sorry you never got that kiss from that special little boy!!! LOL)

Kaye said...

Living in NY I never heard of May baskets, but we did dance around the May Pole. The basket idea is so nice. Remind us earlier next year, I would like to do it with Katie for some neighbors

Needled Mom said...

We had the same tradition growing up in the midwest, but, sadly, no one does it here.

I wonder where that little boy is these days!!!

Micki said...

Looks like a really fun project!
Micki

Sue said...

What a lovely tradition. thanks for sharing your tutorial with us
Sandi.
I've just introduced a new blogger on my blog which inspired me to go back to my first post. Did you know you made the first comment ever on my blog. Thanks for the encouragement. I've followed you ever since.

Joanna said...

Very pretty. We always acknowledge May Day, but usually with flowers. Thank you for the tutorial.

Nanette Merrill said...

What a great idea. Darling darling baskets.

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