By Clare Miers

With a few days of spring-like weather around the corner, it’s a good time to revamp your trusty old picnic basket so you are ready for picnic season and poised to prepare a charming, mobile lunch.
The look and feel of the picnic basket can set the tone for the whole outing, so dust off your old baskets and enjoy these ideas for making them ready for outdoor gatherings.
          

Basket Conversion

I was scouring a thrift store and saw the most pathetic lidded basket. I think it once housed a Christmas gift of sausages and sharp cheddar cheeses. It had some holiday decor, but clearly the gift recipient couldn’t find another use for the rather “cheesy” container that just so happened to have a handle.
I knew it would end up in the trash after it was marked down, but something about it struck me as sweet. After all, it was in the shape of a little cottage and, gosh, it came with tiny cottage windows. I figured it just needed a full remodel.
So I brought home the sad basket with a pitched roof and stared at it for a while before pulling the holiday ornaments off with some pliers and sanding down the raised glue spots. The only way to salvage this basket was to layer it in a light paint to quiet it down a bit.
 
Materials:
• Any small basket that could be used to tote a lunch, with a lid and handles if possible
• Craft paints and a variety of small brushes
• White paper flowers
• Low-heat glue gun and glue sticks
• Krylon Clear Sealer spray paint
 
What to do:
1. I gave the basket a couple coats of white/cream paint and hand-painted new brown-black shutters around the windows. I had to add flower boxes, too. Grass and landscaping went around the perimeter of the basket.
2. I glued on paper flowers to show something growing in the cottage garden. To do this, from the green grassy area, paint simple flower stems in a lighter green. When the paint dries, glue white paper flowers onto the stems.
3. I clear-coated everything to lock in my designs. This can even help the paper flowers to “bloom” longer.
Suddenly, the hopeless, used-up sausage-and-cheese gift basket made a lovely comeback as a white, Cape Cod-style cottage. It can hold lunch for one or two, and best of all, it’s more fun to carry around. I trot around with my cheap and super sweet picnic basket wondering what to fill it with and conversing with others in line who can appreciate a good recycling story.
Tip: You can accomplish creative designs using many shapes of baskets with handles. Baskets without lids work, too. Just paint the sides of any open, woven basket that has a handle to look like the side of a house, or make a cottage garden around the perimeter of the basket using the paper flowers. Lots of baskets can be converted to boast charming details for a picnic.

       
Picnic-Basket Paint Job
 
You’ve got a vintage brown woven picnic basket and it’s sweet, but time and dust make it dull and uninspiring. Pull out the paint and stencils, because it’s time to give it a new lease on life. If you improve the basket, you’ll be more likely to fill it and use it. This isn’t a bad project to tackle while the weather is cool and dreary one day so you are ready to go on the first warm snap.
 
Materials:
• Picnic basket
• Cleaning rag and solvent cleaning spray
• Sandpaper
• A variety of small to medium paintbrushes (and stencil brushes if you are using stencils)
• Latex or exterior paint
• Stencils and other decorative items (optional)
• Craft paints
• Krylon clear sealer
What to do:
1. Picnic baskets are often stored for long periods. They’ll need some spring cleaning before they are ready to be painted and are food-safe. Use the cleaning rag and solvent spray to scrub your basket clean.
2. Sand the finish to roughen it slightly. Clean using the solvent one final time. Let it fully dry, for a few hours, before you paint.
3. Even if you are painting the basket its existing colour, a fresh coat will make it feel new again. Change the hue, and you’ll create a whole new picnic basket.
If you have exterior-grade paint left over from a household project, use it. This type of paint works for picnic baskets because it offers a quasi-water-resistant barrier for unexpected spills, pool splashes and sudden rain showers. But a durable, wipe-clean latex paint will work, too.
Give the basket two coats with drying time in between, or follow the instructions on your paint product.
Work the brush into the basket weaves and crevices. Sometimes it takes looking at the basket from many angles to make sure that you have covered the nooks and crannies.
4. Now you have a blank slate to work with. Consider wiring silk, velvet or vintage flower sprays to the handle. Sometimes extra accoutrements like silk flowers or even attractive ribbons can really perk up a basket.
If you want to put an artist’s touch to this and you’re good with a paintbrush and drawing, paint the basket creatively with flowers, garlands or another motif.
Or try a stencil. Online resources offer fabulously detailed stencils, and craft stores have many easy-to-use options for creating designs that look like complex paintings.
Look for furniture and craft stencils, which will often produce the right scale, as opposed to wall-art stencils.
Follow the directions on your stencil and make your design using the appropriate brushes.
5. After the designs dry, seal the lid with a couple coats of a matte clear-coat spray.
You can also coat the basket with a coat of clear spray paint.
An advanced art idea: If you have a sturdy lunch basket with a hinged lid, consider using broken china to grout in a mosaic-covered lid.
There are many basic mosaic techniques online to walk you through covering this surface. — Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT