In the guide, which will be very short, I want to make a case for saving old baskets and other useful, but used containers. Let me begin with an interesting statistic. After doing a very small test of my own, I believe the findings to be very possible. It has been said by an avid garage sale enthusiast that at every yard sale you can find one of more baskets. And I actually have yet to stop at one where this was not shown to be true. Even very late in the day I could always find one of 2 baskets still available. So finding baskets at a good price is not a difficult task. But you much be willing to reuse them. And this presents a moral delimma for many people. Is it right to reuse a basket in as a gift container.

My answer is Yes. But with a couple of suggestions. First they must be clean. If they are not in perfect condition you have 2 simple choices. First, pass the dirty ones up. And second clean them up. Cleaning is fairly simple. Fill your bathtub full of warm soapy water. Add a bit of Lysol and let them soak. Swish, brush, rinse and dry them. Then take a second look and see how they appear.

Once you have a clean supply of baskets, there are still things you can do to make them very special. Spray them all one solid color and let them dry. Then sponge them with a second color. Or stencils work well. Spatter, or feather paint them too. If they look terrible, start over. You will soon have a technique that will be a certain winner.

You may want to try fabric coverings too. Or glue on any one of 100s of different interesting embellishments. Consider covering the basket with silk flowers or silk flower petals for example.

Paint, fabric, photos, potpourri, moss, silk flowers, and so on you go adding your own special touches. Devine creations will soon happen.