May Baskets and a Photo a Day

As a young child, May Day and the tradition of delivering and receiving May baskets held such delight for me. I loved the thrill of quietly placing a homemade basket filled with candy and violets from our garden on friends' porches, ringing the doorbell and running for dear life.

To this day, whenever I work with construction paper, pipe cleaners and paper doilies, I'm reminded of May Days past.

Since my children have long since left the nest, the basket tradition is a thing of the past for me. In fact, I'd venture to guess that the tradition has all but disappeared in many American neighborhoods.

Last year, I commemorated May Day by paint washing and embellishing the berry baskets above. Recently, I again got the itch to create a couple of pretties in the spirit of May baskets to fill a couple of gaps in my spring vignettes.

They started as peat pots I picked up at an estate sale. I painted them--one an icy blue, the other a mixture of a couple of earthy colors that resulted in a pale terra cotta that I then dry brushed in a creamy white.

I found a lovely French label graphic at The Graphics Fairy to add to the blue pot. I combined three of Karen's images--a sweet little bird, a beautiful crown and an elegant frame--to create the image in its crowning glory that now graces the terra cotta pot.

To give a slight aged look to the bird basket, I  distressed the image lightly using stamping ink. I Mod Podged the images onto the pots. As a finishing touch, I added wisps of vintage seam tape in complementary colors.

The pots by themselves looked a bit naked so, out of some raw materials I had laying around, I stitched up some little pouches to scrunch up inside the pots. Both pouches are made from wide  ribbon--one sparkly tulle, the other vintage net.  I simply folded the ribbon over on itself and stitched up each side to create the pouch.

No more stealth deliveries to friends on May Day, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy creating a grown-up version of the May basket.

NATIONAL PHOTO MONTH

May is National Photo Month. Today is Day 1 of my attempt at posting a photo a day.

Today's photo is a version of the French blue peat pot on a wonderful background texture called "Stay," created by Kim Klassen. Kim's creations are exquisite and worth a visit to her site.

Hope you'll come back each day and join the photo fun.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Brag Monday
If It's Not Baroque Tuesday Link
Watcha Work-Up Wednesday
Whatever You Want Wednesday
What's It Wednesday
Primp Your Stuff Wednesday
Wildly Original Link Party
Time Travel Thursday
Cottage Style Party
Frugal Friday
Frugalicious Friday
Spotlight Saturday

Tisket, Tasket, Berry Baskets

Imagine my delight when I came across three stacks of these vintage berry baskets or boxes that I bought at an estate sale a few years ago. I had put them away in my craft room and lost track of them. They still had the price tag on them. I paid a whopping dollar for 33 baskets!

They have such wonderful character--they've all been used. The metal rims have some rust. The wood has various degrees of staining. Some are warped, cracked and chipped. But, I was able to salvage most of them, using the aged features to create a really sweet bunch of baskets that can be used in all sorts of fun ways.

First, I mixed a grey paint wash using a couple of sample paints I already had. I lightly covered each with the wash. Because of the inconsistent grain of the wood and the random stains they'd acquired over the years, each basket took on a unique look. I love the character the flaws create.

After the boxes dried, I transferred vintage images from The Graphics Fairy onto each one, creating sets of three boxes--each set with its own theme: birds, French and insects.

Berry boxes are versatile enough to use in many different ways. They're great to hold craft supplies or small toys. They look great filled with fresh or dried flowers. They'd also make special hostess gifts.

I'm so berry glad I found these wonderful little baskets.

Make it a great day!

Linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
What's It Wednesday at Elephants and Ivy
Share the Love Wednesday at Very Merry Vintage Style
Vintage Thingie Thursday at The Coloradolady
Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty Decorating
Sunday's Best at My 1929 Charmer
All Star Block Party
Potpourri Friday at 2805
Brag Monday at The Graphic Fairy