Weekend Makeover

I didn’t want to commit to a large project this weekend, even though I would have the extra day to accomplish it. Rather, I wanted to relax a bit and savor the long weekend at home with my boys. As it turns out, June is going to be rather busy for us, so I will take all the rest I can get.

Alas, I can never stay idle for long.

My mom had this picnic basket for ages and delivered it to me a year ago when she decided it needed to stop taking up space in her garage and finally go to someone who would get some use out of it.

See that writing across the top? That’s my maiden name; I used to be a Binder.

My mom marks just about everything this way. It used to irk me a bit as a child. Now that I’m a mother I understand it completely. Justin already hassles me for how often I mark Kendry’s initials on his things – clothing, baseball gloves, basketballs, you name it.

Ha! Get it? You NAME it?

Okay, sorry. I have a weird sense of humor.

Back to the basket. My mom gave me full permission to makeover the lid of the basket since I am no longer a Binder.

On Saturday morning, while I enjoyed an ever-so-brief moment of having the house to myself (for all that fuss about his first baseball game, Kendry only lasted until the 4th inning before he asked to go home), I threw a coat of primer across the ‘Binder’.

And then another coat.

I’ll be darned if that basket wasn’t determined to stay a Binder.

Project dead end.

At this point I called up my mother to laugh at my dilemma…and to ask her what on earth she used to write on the basket. She swears it was just a red Sharpie but I have my doubts.

I really did not want to trek all the way across town to Home Depot just to find a stronger primer that may or may not work, nor did I want to spend much money on this project. It was, after all, supposed to be a low key project for my relaxing weekend.

So I moved on to Plan B: hitting up Joann’s (which is much closer) for some crafty paper and digging out my Mod Podge.

A few hours later I had this:

Before and After:

Justin won't be caught dead with this picnic basket in his hand, but I think its adorable.

And I’m thinking a Memorial Day picnic is in order.

But for now I’m going to call it a night and go ponder the symbolism of this old picnic basket that refused to give up a part of its Binder history.

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