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