A Tisket, A Tasket, My Wonky Lil' Basket & Before/After

Okay, so for some time now I've been searching for some #18 needlepoint fabric to make some baskets I saw in an old Nutshell News magazine. I've checked three different craft stores and the only thrift shop I know of, and nothing! I really like how they look and just wanted to give it a try. I also want to try some of Casey's (http://caseymini.blogspot.com/) techniques with it.
So since I can't find the needlepoint fabric, I decided to try weaving in the meantime. I found a book at the library that I love because it's full of DIY. Very basic, but good for this newbie!  =)  I can get a better sense of scale and how things can be made.
Here is my first attempt at weaving a basket. My poor, sad attempt......

This is the shape I wanted:

ROTFL......It looks nothing like it......LOL! I was trying to keep the wires fanned outwards, but I think I was so focused on keeping the weave tight I lost the shape. I also couldn't find the waxed thread it calls for so I used hemp instead. Oh well, I still have other sizes and shapes to try so....

I also wanted to show you my before & after. The only mini furniture I can afford at the moment are the $1 hutches from Michaels......lol.  I've seen six different styles of them, but you can never find them all at once.

This is one of the them:

And from it I made this:

Ignore the opening of the door handles on the inside of the door. I'm still thinking on whether I should paper the inside of the doors with the same paper that is on the top of it. Not sure if it would be too much.....?

Again I tried to muck it up a bit, but it was not right. I painted, re-painted and re-re-painted it. So, before letting this small, inanimate object force me to use a bunch of colorful words that a lady should never utter, and fling it across the room, I decided to just paint and sand, and call it done!  =D

Happy Thursday to you!!!