Do you have any old baskets hanging around your house that you don’t know what to do with?

You know, the kind that came to you all wrapped in pretty cellophane and filled with yummy treats . . . but now sit empty on a closet floor.

Or perhaps you still have some of those baskets that used to hang in decorative groupings on your kitchen walls . . . or marched across the top of your kitchen cabinets!

(I’m thinking back to the country decor of the late 70’s, early 80’s here and I hope I don’t offend anyone if your baskets are still adorning your walls or your cabinets.  As far as I know that may even be back in style)!

Perhaps you have a stray basket like this one.  It’s cute but not big enough to hold swags of flowers, or to use as a laundry basket, or sit on top of an armoire.

This little basket has been sitting out on my front porch for the past year.  At times it’s been filled with a few seashells that came home with me from the beach, or moss and sticks and other treasures picked up while out walking the neighborhood.  In Winter it held a few pinecones and red berries.

So now it’s Spring and time to add something new to my basket.  When I saw that it was growing a bit of it’s own moss I decided why not help it out?  Thus, the birth of an idea:  Mossing Around With Baskets!

Now if you live in a place like I do, you can take a walk through the neighborhood to collect your moss.  It is on the trees and the sidewalks.  It is on deck railings and patios.

I actually found the greatest moss ever on top of this outhouse!  Oh how I wanted to trespass and do some moss collecting.

Haha! I feel a joke coming on here . . . You know you’re a redneck if . . . your neighbor doesn’t have the moss cleaned off the roof of his outhouse!

(Just to clarify, we live on a lake that used to be mostly summer cottages and this is a remnant of that time.  We ourselves don’t have an outhouse . . . but hmmm . . .  we do live on a gravel road . . .)

ANYHOO, if you live in a drier climate you can always head down to your local craft store and pick up a bag of moss.

This is such a simple project and it takes about ten minutes to complete.  You simply begin by pulling your moss apart into strips like this.

Then start poking it into the sides of your basket.  I actually had my glue gun out and ready to go but I found that this basket had large enough gaps that the moss held firm when poked into the holes with my thumbnail.

I just kept adding moss wherever there were holes to poke it into.

And that was it!

The bonus is that even the inside of the basket has a little moss peeking through.

So what do you think?  Cute yes?

When you’re finished you can fill your basket with whatever Easter or other Spring décor you have around the house.  Here I’ve added some Spanish moss and eggs that I decoupaged last year.  The tutorial can be found for the large egg HERE and for the smaller eggs HERE.

My old basket is back out on my front porch, sitting on an old chair.  I tucked in a few sprigs of heather cut from my yard.

I absolutely love simple projects like this one and I think my old leftover basket looks so happy now that it is all filled up and made new again!

What ideas do you have for using old baskets?  I’d really love to hear!

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Blessings,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!