Some of you have probably seen the cute wooden baskets in the stores around Easter time. I thought they would
make a nice way to display some of the many Easter and Spring images we make. It's a pretty basic tute, a few
vector shapes here and there that we all know how to do! I won't go into great detail of how to make it or the
cutout settings, since this tute is for advanced user we should all know how to do them by now!
 

First open a 500x400 transparent canvas.

We all know the drill of vectors so I won't walk you through the basics but will instead show you screenshots of what
my vectors look like. You can do the shapes on one layer or on separate layers, whichever way works best for
you. I saved my work as I made my vector shapes so that I could use it to make different style boxes later if I wished.

For all my vector shapes I used the preset rectangle shape, create as a vector and antialias both checked with only a
background color set.

1.) Decide what color you want to make your basket, then draw out you first rectangle to make the bottom part of the
basket. Below is the screenshot showing where and how I placed my nodes.

 

2.) Next, I drew out another rectangle to make the handle, below is the screenshot of my node placement for it.

3.) Next came the bow, I drew out a rectangle and changed the left side nodes to systematic and pulled
the right two nodes in until I got something like the screenshot below.

4.) I drew out a rectangle to make the "tail" of the bow and moved the nodes as shown below.

5.) For the center of the bow, I drew out a rectangle and changed the nodes to systematic and moved them
as shown below.

 

You now have your basic box shapes. Convert all layers to raster, rename if you wish.

6.) I applied a cutout to each of my pieces, then duplicated the layers and used the deformation tool
to adjust the size of the back layers so that it would give the box a 3D look.  I used the Adjust
brightness/ contrast filter to darken the "back" pieces a little to give it some dimension. I duplicated
and mirrored my bow layers and used the deformation tool to make any adjustments.

7.) Once I had the pieces like I wanted them, I merged my front layers visible and then merged my back
layers visible. I did this so that I would ended up with two layers that I could add whatever I wanted in the
box between the two layers and have it look as if they were inside the box. You can decorate the box as
if it were hand painted or leave it plain, I'll leave those decisions up to you!
 

I hope this tute has given you some ideas, I look forward to seeing your results!!

Until next time, God Bless!
Connie