Make a Basket with only one piece of 12×12 paper

This morning was spent making a bunch of mini muffins with my sweet little four year old helper.  We ended up making so many muffins that we decided we should probably give some away to neighbors and friends lest we eat them all ourselves!  Of course this decision was made last minute and I quickly came to the realization that I didn’t have any containers to give away.  Fear not, for there is a super simple way to make a crazy adorable paper basket with just one piece of 12×12 scrapbook paper.  And it truly takes less than five minutes per basket.  Let’s get right into it…there are a ton of pictures here!

You’ll start with a single piece of 12×12 paper with the pattern facing down.  Measure 4 inches in on each side and mark with a small pencil dot.  I am showing a full line for demonstration only.  You’ll want to keep your marks small as they may be visible when the basket is complete.

This picture is showing you all four sides of the paper with the fold lines all marked.  You’ll also see the final fold marks which I will get to describing in just a moment.

Okay, now it is time to start our folds.  I like to use a ruler to hold on the marked line so that I can keep the line straight and crisp.

Continue folding all four sides in by four inches.  You should end up having nine identical squares.

Now take a peek at this picture again…see the dark lines?  We are going to fold these.  You want to make sure that you are only folding this mark in one quadrant.  The best way to make this fold is by carefully pulling the paper over onto itself.  It may take you a minute of playing with it to get it, but once you do, it is super easy.

Now we are going to take the same folds that we just worked on and fold them to make them stick out.  You’ll want to push the line from underneath to make it pop up so that you can grab it.

Go ahead and grab those pieces that you just folded out and hold all four together in the middle.

Now you’ll need to pull out a hole punch and ribbon (or you could just tape it, if you’d like).  Punch through all layers and simply tie a ribbon to hold it all together.

Now you’re free to fill it up however you choose.  The possibilities for this are endless!

Linked at Practically Functional, Sondra Lyn at Home, C.R.A.F.T., So Much Better With Age, Glitter Glue and Paint and Crafts a la mode