New for us Friday!

I am so excited to be linking up with one of my VERY favorite blogs, Teach Mama, to share something new that Owen and I did today! 

If you haven't read this blog before, you should definitely check it out.  It's full of great ideas that I use both at school and at home to help make learning fun.
Our "New For Us Friday" was inspired by my sweet grandpa, who I call Paw.  He loves to eat lunch at the local senior center where he lives to catch up with friends while enjoying a tasty meal.  On St. Patrick's Day they had little treats in small "baskets" made from cupcake papers and other simple materials.  Knowing that I could definitely use the idea, he saved his basket and sent it to me.  Isn't he the cutest grandpa ever?? 

Paw's basket inspired Owen and I to make not one, not two...but 50 adorable mini baskets for my kiddos and all of his friends in his class!  Here are our finished products!

They were very simple to create.  To make your own, you will need:

• One paper cupcake liner
• 1/2 of a chenille stem (pipe cleaner)
• 1 inch by 8 inch strip of scrapbooking or construction paper
• Foam shape or sticker
• Hot glue
• Stapler

After making so many, I created a "system."  It made things go much more smoothly!  I only wish I would have taken pictures of each step.  I'll do my best to explain without photos!

First, I bent the pipe cleaner into a handle shape and hot glued it to the outside of the cupcake liner.  Then, I formed the paper strip into a circle and stapled it once on the end.  I placed the stapled paper circle on the counter, and pushed the cupcake liner inside the circle.  I stapled near the pipe cleaner on one side of the paper circle to hold it in place, then hot glued around to attach the rest of the paper circle to the cupcake liner.  Owen helped me with the last step (the fun part!).  Once all of the baskets were created, Owen and I chose a coordinating foam shape and stuck it to the front of the basket.  Easy, and super cute!  Here are some close up shots of some of our favorites:

These were Owen's favorites...

And these were some of my favorites! 

They all turned out uniquely, and I think they are adorable!  The children in both classes are sure to enjoy them, especially filled with some special treats - a piece or two of candy, and some Plumdoodles Easter crayons!  I think I'll put some bunnies and eggs in them...



I hope you enjoyed our "New For Us Friday" - if you decide to make the mini baskets, please email me or leave a comment here - I'd love to hear how they turn out!  And if you'd like some Plumdoodles recycled crayons to fill them with, feel free to check out my website (http://www.plumdoodles.weebly.com/) or find my page on Facebook!