Dreaming of sunny days...

All day I've been obsessing about my latest, non sewing DIY project...

Here's the back story: Yesterday I got an email from ShoeDazzle, otherwise known as my "shoe of the month club", advertising their Valentine's Day sale (by the way, if you're a shoe lover you should definitely be a member of this site). I'm a sucker for new shoes so I of course clicked through to look at the options. Turns out they were peddling more than shoes. Among other things, they had this picnic set available for $39.95...



I immediately wanted to purchase it. The boy and I did some picnicking last summer when our local botanical gardens offered a free classic movie series in the park and it was so much fun! The dreary winter has left me longing for picnics and I had already mentally planned menus for several in the spring and summer. I was about to click "buy" but 2 things stopped me.

1. I don't really love the color or look of this backpack, I love the cute dishes and the "idea" of the set but I think I'm more of a picnic basket kind of a girl, rather than a picnic backpack...

2. It's $40 and I could probably make my own for around the same price in a style I like...

So this is my mission before spring! The plan is to find a vintage picnic basket similar to this one:



If it's in good shape I'll leave it as is, otherwise I'll spray paint it a pretty color, line it with felt and maybe a pretty floral print fabric, create elastic loops to hold silverware and dishes and then go on the hunt for pretty things to fill it will! I think I'll also make some napkins to match the lining fabric. Then maybe I can find a great blanket to match?

This is actually a miniature picnic basket made for dolls, but you get the idea I'm going for...



Anyone else dreaming of picnics?