How to Paint a Shabby Chic Easter Basket

This shabby chic Easter basket makes a great adult craft. Fill this basket with jellybean scented candles, rich chocolates and more adult Easter treats. The paint technique described will work best on a wooden basket.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Spray-on primer
• Wood basket
• Antique white spray paint
• Paintbrush
• Newspaper
• Pastel paint
• 1-inch paintbrush
• Matte sealer

1. Lay out some newspaper on your work table. You can also use a drop cloth.
2. Buy an antique white spray paint kit at your local home improvement store. This can be bought in the spray paint section or faux paint techniques section.
3. Spray a coat of primer on your wooden Easter basket. Apply one coat to the entire surface. Let it dry.
4. Paint the entire basket out in the antique white spray paint kit. Follow their directions. Each different brand will leave different instructions for their product. Let this dry.
5. Pour some pastel colored paint into a small cup. This can be any pastel color of your choice.
6. Dip ½ inch of your paintbrush into the paint. Dab the paintbrush on your newspaper to remove most of the paint.
7. Gently apply the paint brush over the edges and raised details on the basket. Lightly brush small amount of paints on in the pastel color to accent the details. Let this dry.
8. Paint a coat of clear matte sealer onto the basket.

Tips & Warnings

• Pastel colors like yellow, purple, pink and baby blue will all work as the accent color on the wooden Easter basket.
• Use shredded tissue paper in place of plastic green Easter grass in this basket to complete the shabby chic Easter look. You can also use a shredded sheet of hand-made paper or raffia. Hay is also a great alternative.
• You can also dry brush on your primer and use an antique white paint finish to get a look on the Easter basket that allows some of the wood to show through.
• Rub a wax candle on the wood basket before you prime or paint. Follow the above directions in the same manner. Once all the paint is dry you can rub some fine grit sandpaper across the areas that had wax applied first. This will take the paint on the basket completely off to reveal accents of wood.
• To age the basket and make it look old try rubbing on some wood gel stain with a clean dry cloth.