Teaser blurb:

Easter is just around the corner—be ready for this fun holiday with a hand-decorated Easter Pail.

Easter Basket Pail
By LeNae Gerig

Want to make this Easter special? Create a personalized hand-decorated pail for your child or someone special. LeNae used “spring-theme” wood pieces and paint pens to embellish this metal pail. It’s great for a gift or decoration.

Instructions:

Remove the pail lid. Trace the egg pattern and place it over the sponge. Cut out four egg shapes. Pour a quarter-sized puddle of each paint onto the paper plate. Using both sides of the sponges randomly sponge eggs along the bottom edge of the pail at different angles and let dry.

Use the paint pens to decorate the eggs with stripes, dots and zig zags as shown. Draw clusters of 4-5 blades of grass with a green pen along the pail’s bottom edge. Draw 1/4” dashes along the pail top on the ridge.

Write “Happy Easter” and your name on the front with the blue paint pen. Draw yellow dots around each letter, then draw 5/8” yellow squares 3/4” apart along the top rim. Lightly spray the pail with sealer and let dry.

Glue the wood pieces to the pail as shown. Cut the ribbon in half. Wrap one length around a handle base and tie it into a shoestring bow (see sidebar) with 1 1/2” loops and 6” tails. Trim the tails at an angle. Repeat for a bow on the opposite handle base. Insert the grass into the tin, then place eggs on top.

How to Make a Shoestring Bow

1. Measure the desired tail length from the end of the ribbon, then make a loop in the specified length. Wrap the free end of the ribbon loosely around the bow center.

2. Form a loop and push it through the center loop. Pull the loops in opposite directions to tighten, then pull the tails to adjust size of the loops. Trim each tail at an angle.

Supply List

• 6 3/4” x 7 1/4” round white metal pail with handle
• painted “spring-theme” wood pieces: six 1” pink tulips, six 1” yellow daffodils, one 1 1/4” tan bunny, one 1 1/2” butterfly
• 1 yard of 5/8” wide pink sheer ribbon
• acrylic paints for metal: light blue, orange, yellow, teal
• medium-point paint pens: yellow, pink, navy blue, purple, green, yellow
• two 2 1/2” x 4” rectangles of compressed sponge
• spray matte sealer
• tracing paper
• Easter grass and pastel plastic eggs
• paper plate
• scissors
• tacky craft glue
• ruler or measuring tape

Project reprinted from Your Name Goes Here, a craft book by designer LeNae Gerig. Your Name Goes Here contains 49 fun and easy projects with step-by-step instructions and retails for $7.99.