Quirky Giftwrap Fun

It all started with a mailbox that Kris over at Junk Chic Cottage sent me. She used hers as a planter. That reminded me to be on the lookout for other interesting objects that could be painted and used as containers and whatnot. When I get out on the hunt, I usually get distracted and forget what I'm looking for.

Not long after that, my neighbors were painting their house and threw away their mailbox, setting it by the road. So I snagged it as I took off to work. There was no immediate plan for it, but surely it could be painted and be put to good use for something in the near future.

Then last week I needed something to put my friend Lynn's get well gift in. I found a metal container at Goodwill, painted it and came up with my Prescription for Full Recovery.

This weekend, it was my friend, Lynette's, birthday. You've heard of Lynette. She's famous round these parts for coming to my junkin' rescue and is know to perform dives off the high board (aka: The Dumpster) to rescue junk we know we could restore if we ever got our act together regarding place and time. We're working on it. 

This weekend, however, the first order of business was to celebrate her birthday with a day out together with she and my friend Lynn, thrifting and enjoying a bite (a number of bites) to eat.

 It turns out the mailbox I found in my neighbor's yard got conscripted to do its duty as a sort of gift wrap.

 Lynette's remaining gifts that I hadn't already given her were placed inside along with some Cosmos. This Cosmos plant had three colors in one pot. How pretty is that! Then all that was needed was to add some bright pink tissue paper and a Happy Florida Day tag that I made.

The colors were so fun!

A couple of colorful moth graphics from the Graphics' Fairy cut out and mod podged were added to further accentuate the Springtime feel.

Drop in a packet of Snapdragon seeds and it's ready to present for the start of a fun day celebrating with the best friends a girl could ask for. We met up early Saturday morning at a new Donut shop and started the day with bright flowers and donuts. The weather was glorious and the time together was so much fun.

Mmmm...

We had our fill of sugar by the time we left and that carried us onward as we thrifted our way through the morning stopping at yard sales, rummage sales, thrift stores, etc. Then we lunched at a really sweet place in Tequesta where we sat outside in a breezeway. It was wonderful.

While we were out, we stopped at Tuesday Morning. Their Easter items were on sale for 70% off. They had a bunch of "tins", and with the recent metal painting in mind, I decided to buy a number of them to use for all the girls in my family whose birthdays have yet to come this year. I like knowing what I'm going to do ahead of time, and since I don't like wrapping gifts generally, incorporating the wrapping as part of the gift makes it more fun. 

The containers were cute enough, but too busy for my taste and they have that "fresh off the factory floor in China" look to them. You know, that fake-vintage look. So I bought a couple of the hanging planters and three buckets, two with handles and scalloped top edging for painting.

 
Here is one of the hanging planters before I did anything to it.


Here it is with a plant and just some chalk paint. It seemed too plain and the plant doesn't spill over at all.


I was up early and had it painted in no time. My hope was to quickly find a graphic this morning before church, print it out and get started on it, so it could be finished right away when I got home.

However, I couldn't find what I wanted and ended up trying to combine graphics from the Graphics Fairy with some numbers I added. I thought it would be nice to have my house numbers on this so I could hang it on the front door (because I couldn't find a simple seed graphic like I envisioned) but I had trouble finding a font to match the graphic I'd found. It needed to have three fours. It took a lot of doing to assemble the parts and I wasn't sure I would like how it turned out. At least it's easy to paint back over if it doesn't work. (That is, if you don't lament the wasted time and trouble.)

 After messing up the printing of the graphic an obligatory number of times and then deciding to take out the plant I had already planted and put in new flowers that have more of a propensity to spill over, and then deciding the numbers should be in color, I finally finished.

I didn't love it. I mean, it's okay, but the part that says "No." should have been small. I thought I'd like it big, but, I didn't. Not only that, but the house numbers on my door make the house numbers on the planter redundant. I knew that going in and did it anyway. 

There's no helping a person if they won't even listen to themselves.

It's still hanging on the door for the time being. If another graphic comes to mind, I'll probably change it or remake it to give to someone else. The nice thing about simple patterns is they don't take that long to paint and are a quick, fun project. 

After all that, I still had time to finally clean the new console radio/turntable, vacuum the house and hang out two loads of sheets, not to mention start on another project. 

 

Now I have a question. Does anyone know if this little cherub/child vase is something that could be of any worth? I bought it to salvage the little head. To me it looks like a ceramic vase of no value, but I can't find any like it online to know if it would be a shame to break it or not. I don't want to be heartless. It's actually kind of sweet. Not the kind of thing I use in my house, but hey, maybe I should keep it as is and go ahead and use it. 

I had planned to put the head to use in my shameless imitation of something I've seen online that others have done, and I need some little doll heads and arms. This was the first thing remotely like what is needed. What are the chances I can lop the head clean off?

I also found a doll with a useable head at Goodwill while my friends and I were out and it even has angel wings, which are needed. Found out it has arms today too, which is good because the project calls for them and I didn't realize that before either. I'm so observant.

I've already torn the doll limb from limb. 

Please let me know if you have ever seen the cherub/child vase or if you know of any reason I shouldn't break it. 

Thanks!

Hope you'll stop by and visit these parties this week: