Welcome Basket Makeover

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In Spring and Summer, I always get the urge to make some changes in the house and in the garden, to decorate a little bit.  This year I have done a few things outside to make it a little nicer.  We have lived in our house for almost three years and I am finally getting around to displaying something to "Welcome" people to our home.

I found a tin welcome basket at a thrift store last month and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I wanted to spruce it up a bit.  The weather has been so rainy the past few weeks that I decided to wait until it was nice to work on the project so I could display it as soon as it was done.  This weekend was sunny and it looks like it's going to stay that way, so I worked on my project.  I hope you like it and it can give you a new idea for decorating your porch area!

                                                          

Supplies Used:
Tin Welcome basket - $2.00 at Savers Thrift Store
White Spray Paint - $7.95 at Ace Hardware
Newspaper
Mod Podge Silicone Craft Mat - $9.85 on Amazon
Acrylic Paints - $.50 each at Walmart
- Americana Cadmium Yellow
- Apple Barrel Velvet Crush
- Apple Barrel White
- Apple Barrel Magenta
- Apple Barrel Parrot Blue
- Apple Barrel Parakeet

This is the tin welcome hanging basket that I bought at the thrift store.  The basket part is 6.5 inches tall.  It was so plain looking, but I could imagine how I wanted it to look.

I really liked the flower detail on this piece.  That was the part that actually influenced me to buy it.  Because this piece has two curves on it, the cut out of the letters sticks out a bit on the "w" as well as the "e" at the end.

The first thing I did was use white spray paint to coat the basket and the hanger part.  I put down some newspaper to protect the surface of the old table I was using.  I sprayed two coats of paint to eventually get a nice even finish.  When I was done with each coat, I used a toothpick to clean out the area where the letters and flowers were so they weren't clogged with paint.

Next I lay down my Mod Podge Silicone Craft Mat (review here) over my work space to create an easy to clean crafting area.  I started out by following the cuts in the letters and used Parrot Blue to brighten it up and make it stand out a bit.  I used the white acrylic paint to touch up a bit where I made a mistake or two.  Then I started filling in the colors where the small flowers (Magenta) and leaves (Parakeet) were.

I finished off the flowers in the Velvet Crush and Cadmium Yellow paint and added a few white dots to the middle of the purple flower.

I placed this outside next to my front door where people would see it when they came up to my door.  It looked a little sad being empty, so I decided to pick some lavender from my garden to make it look a bit nicer.

My lavender bush is starting to thrive after 3 years.  It blooms in the spring and the fall.  It is in front of our porch and I love to smell it when I go outside.

While my daughter was helping me collect the flowers, she found this mini grasshopper.  It was only about 1 inch long!  It crawled on her hand until I took this picture, then went on its hopping way.

We wrapped the lavender stems in a wet paper towel then added them to the basket.  I like the finished product!  I can change out the fresh flowers as different things bloom in the garden.  Or when the seasons are colder I could use artificial flowers to add a little brightness to the fall and winter days.

What are your favorite flowers growing in your garden?