Layered Paper Easter Basket
Create a beautiful layered paper Easter basket for spring using cardstock and foam adhesive dots! A unique Easter decoration for your home that can be displayed in an easel or on the wall.
Hello Crafty Friends! Using just cardstock and foam dots you can create a stunning layered paper Easter basket to display in your home. I love creating layered paper projects. They have so much dimension and family and friends always ask me, “Is that made of wood??”. The intricate cut outs and the level of detail you can get with your cutting machine really make these projects stand out.
I created this Easter basket featuring a cute bunny and colorful eggs in Cricut Design Space. The design is made by layering six pieces of cardstock. While you could use regular adhesive, like glue or a tape runner, to attach the layers the magic happens when you use foam dots. This helps separate each piece of cardstock and give dimension and shape to the design.
Display the finished Easter basket in an easel, as I did, or you can hang it on the wall. If you choose to use an easel I recommend backing the design with a layer of chipboard. The chipboard will keep the paper from curving backwards.
The finished design measures 10″ tall and about 8.5″ wide. You can resize the image in Design Space but I like this size because it’s small enough to fit on a 12″x12″ sheet of cardstock but large enough that the intricate cut outs are effective.
Creating layered paper designs is one of my favorite crafts to do with my Cricut! It is a craft I personally wouldn’t want to do by hand, though I’m sure you could with a good craft knife and patience. I have create a few other layered paper crafts like my Mandala Frame, Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle, and Paw Print Dog Frame.
Easter Basket Layered Paper Project
Choosing the Paper
For my layered paper projects, I like to choose a sturdy cardstock that is also solid core. Solid core means the paper is the same color on the outside as it is on the inside. White core, or printed cardstock, is paper that is colored on just the front and back and the inside is white. I find with the intricate cuts of the design, that solid core cardstock gives a more polished look and there is no white visible that may distract from the design.
I used textured cardstock that is 80lb, a combination of cardstock from AC Cardstock and Park Lane. The sturdier cardstock will hold up better, especially if you display the basket in an easel. I recommend using a layer of chipboard on the back of the basket to give the frame even more structure and keep it from flopping over in an easel.
Supplies Needed
- Cut File – Use the file I designed in Cricut Design Space. It is free for Cricut Access.
- Cardstock
- 12″x 12″ paper in six colors. I used purple, white, pink, green, blue, and yellow. I used 80lb textured cardstock from AC Cardstock Tropical and Park Lane Solid Core Precision Cardstock Brights.
- 2″ x 1.5″ Small scrap of dark purple paper for the bunny’s face.
- Chipboard – I used this 12″ x 12″ chipboard because it is really thick, but my Explore did not cut all the way through it and I had to use a craft knife to finish cutting it out.
- Adhesive
- Cutting machine and tools
- Cricut cutting machine
- Cricut Supplies: Cutting mat, Cricut tools and Cricut scraper
- Wooden Easel – I used a Walnut easel by Aboofx, this Wooden easel is the same but a darker wood. These black metal stands are also nice!
Cutting the Design
Step One: Cut the Easter basket design using your cutting machine. My layered paper Easter Basket Design can be found in Cricut Design Space. You can change the color of the papers in Design Space as well as the size before starting to cut the file. When cutting the paper don’t forget to save the inside of the letters on the purple layer. There will be five small cut-outs that need to be saved for the two As, two Ps and R.
Assembling the Mandala
Step Two: Assemble the mandala by layering the paper together using foam tape. Below is the order the paper should be stacked from top to bottom. The bunny’s face and paws are added to the second white layer before moving on to the third pink layer. The last layer pictures in tan is chipboard.
Tips for placing the foam dots:
- Place them evenly around the edges and then fill in the middle areas.
- Place them in the round areas of the swirl designs.
- If you need smaller foam pieces, cut a row of dots in half before removing them from the sheet.
- Place the foam dots in the same place on each layer you add – most important around the edges.
- The Cricut weeding tool is really helpful with removing the paper backing from each dot.
The top layer is the trickiest one to add foam dots to because of the small areas of the bunny outline. I cut dots in half to fit in these areas. Below you can see the back of my purple layer with foam dots added before I attached it to the white layer. The foam dots are marked in yellow so you can see where I placed mine. Not all of the layers will need this many dots – this one just has the most detail to go around so I went crazy with adhesive dots!
Add the cut-out letter pieces using foam dots then glue the bunny’s face to the white layer.
Next, add the paws using foam dots. The paws should overlap the purple layer.
Continue adding the rest of the paper layers using foam dots. I tried to keep my dots in the same place, especially around the edges of the design.
Add the Chipboard Layer
I cut a backing layer from chipboard to give the design stability. This is important if it will be displayed in an easel. Glue the bottom layer, in my case the yellow paper, to the chipboard. Then attach the rest of the design using foam dots.
The layered paper Easter basket is complete! I love how it turned out! Mine basket ended up being just about 1/2″ thick and looks beautiful being displayed in my wooden easel.
I hope you enjoyed this paper craft! I really had a lot of fun making it. For more paper crafts, check out my Paper Crafts Project Page! If you love creating layered paper art, check out my Layered Paper Paw Print Dog Frame and my 3D Paper Hogwarts Castle.
