Looking for a fun and easy Christmas Craft? Want to create a cute little basket to hold candy or treats? This Swedish Woven Heart Paper Craft is a Swedish Christmas tradition. They are easy and fun to make!

Swedish Woven Heart Paper Craft

These cute paper baskets make great holders for treats to give to friends and family. They can also be hung on the Christmas tree as an ornament. Either way these are fairly simple to make and the result is a sharp looking decorative basket!

Supplies:

• 2 sheets of A4 or Letter size card stock (choose contrasting or complimentary colors)
• scissors
• glue
• ribbon
• Heart Basket Template
• Christmas wrapped candy (optional)

Directions:

1. Print the Heart Basket Template on the number of papers you are going to use. You will need two different color sheets of card stock for each basket you make.
2. Cut out 1 template piece from two different colored pages.
3. Fold each template in half and cut along the 3 lines on the folded side. {To keep the printed lines from showing on your basket, unfold the paper after cutting all the lines. Then fold the paper inside out so the printed lines are on the inside.}
4. Use a pencil to label  the tips of the 4 strips on each template. This will make it easier to follow the weaving steps. Label the template on your left side D-C-B-A and the one on your right 1-2-3-4.
5. Place the right template under the left. Rotate to the side so you can weave them together
6. Take Strip 1 and weave it through the loop of Strip A.
7. Next weave Strip 1 around Strip B.
8. Then weave Strip 1 through the loop of Strip C.
9. Finish weaving Strip 1 by weaving it around Strip D.
10. Slide Strip 1 up until it touches the top.
11. Now you will weave Strip 2 around Strip A.
12. Then weave Strip 2 through Strip B
13. Continue by weaving Strip 2 around Strip C.
14. Finish by weaving Strip 2 through Strip D.
15. Slide Strip 2 up until it touches Strip 1.
16. Weave Strip 3 like you weaved Strip 1 (See steps 5 – 10)
17. Weave Strip 4 like you weaved Strip 2 (See steps 11 – 15)
18. Evenly spread the strips out and erase the pencil marks.
19. Use a piece of ribbon (we cut ours to each be 8 inches long) to make the handle by gluing the ends inside the heart basket.
20. Once the glue is dry you can fill it with candy or treats.

Be sure to watch through our Swedish Woven Heart Basket Paper Craft tutorial video (below) before beginning the project yourself. Then go back and replay the video, pausing at each step and re-watching as needed.

Woven Heart Paper Craft Variations

1. Make them with felt. You can do this by tracing the template onto the felt. You can also sew on cute accents like buttons.
2. Cut wavy lines.
3. Cut 4 or 5 lines for a tighter weave.
4. Use different colors for other holidays. For example green and gold for St. Patrick’s Day or red, pink and white for Valentine’s Day, or red, white, and blue for our American patriotic holiday’s like Memorial Day or the 4th of July.
5. Decorate with glitter or stickers.
6. Use one solid color and one patterned piece of paper.

Christmas Around the World

We did this as part of our Christmas Around the World Unit Study from Techie Homeschool Mom. The Christmas Around the World Online Unit Study offers a fun and educational option for the holiday season. In this study you learn geography, history and facts about countries around the world, Christmas traditions around the world, and it even includes projects for each country such as this Swedish Woven Heart Paper Craft project!

Want to know more? Check out this video about the Christmas Around the World Online Unit Study!

More Christmas Fun