Car Craft

 I am using this nifty basket to hold the clutter that I had been keeping under the front arm rest of my Benz.  I wanted something that went with the aesthetic of my old black wagon, and I decided a wine-themed picnic basket was just the thing, since the car spends so much time in "Wine Country."

Premier Liquors, where I shop for wine most of the time, had a promotional magazine for New York State wineries in their store last year.  I picked up a copy and used many graphics for decorating glass pillar candles.  They turned out so well that on a subsequent liquor store run, I picked up a few more copies of the publication.  This medallion was cut from the cover.

I have filled this basket with various items that were tumbling around my front seat: sunglasses, a change purse (holding quarters for Aldi), a  microfiber mit (for dusting the dash at red lights), gum, pens, doggy poop bags, and a fake banana (I use it to lure Teddy back to me when she refuses to come back to me when we are playing fetch at the ball field).

The first step was to paint the lid black, with a touch of crimson mixed in.  I used Modge-Podge to glue the medallion on, then put a ring of crimson with a touch of black mixed in around it.  The ring was circled with both black and gold paint pens.  I then put a spray coat of poly over the top to protect it all.

This was how the basket looked before I started. It was a bit of a splurge at just under six bucks. I found it at Goodwill and thought it was worth full thrift price because it would up-cycle nicely.  The project was cheap and easy, well worth the time and money.