{basket planter}

I love getting design catalogs in the mail & I'm constantly dog-earring the corners of the pages that have an item that I love. Most of the time I'll rip out the page to carry around with me until I find the necessary items it takes to make it on my own. The Ballard Design catalog is one of my favorites! This past issue showed this room, with a beautiful picnic basket planter & paper-whites growing out of it.

When I found a white, shabby chic picnic basket at a local thrift store in near perfect condition, I knew I had to have it to replicate this look! And it was cheap! Only $3!

The basket was seriously brand new (the tags were still on it!), with adorable pink shabby chic dinner wear inside & was lined with pink and cream stripped fabric.

I took the top of the basket off (and saved the dinner wear of course, but I don't have any use for it...know anyone that wants it?), then I took the lining out (which was a little stained on the bottom...not so appealing), and then I placed styrofoam on the bottom of basket & stuffed crumpled newspaper around it to hold it in place. If I had more time, I would have forced my own paper-whites and waited for them to grow, but the faux flowers work, and I like how this turned out! To finish it off, I added some peat moss to cover the styrofoam and newspaper. The total cost was about $15 in the end. Most of the items were bought on sale or with a 40% off coupon at local craft stores!

And, here is the final result....Ta-da!

I might glaze the basket so it's not so bright white & maybe even tie a cute, festive ribbon around it for the Holidays! Oooh! Or I might even replace the paper-white with poinsettias!