Wednesday 6 January 2016

Crafty art that costs nothing.

Hello. At last I am able to unveil my alternative hanging basket. Cue fanfare. It needs no planting up, no mucky compost, no dead heading, and no watering. 
A reminder of how it started. A chrome baskety thing that started life as a chandelier, retrieved from a skip. I stripped all the crystals from it and it was hanging in the garden for about a year, so is a little bit rusty. Not to worry.
Each flower is made individually using aluminium drinks cans and beads. I didn't count how many, but quite a lot. The frame is covered with green plastic mesh first, and the flowers attached with wire.

Inside you can see all the wire. It was a bit fiddly tying it all off because I could only put one hand in. I found the easiest way was to poke the wire through to the inside, and poke it back through again in a different place so the ends were on the outside. I then pulled them tight with pointy pliers and twisted them together, and pushed the ends back through to the inside. 



Hanging in a tree in the garden.
 In the porch against a white wall.

This is the original place I intended it for, outside the kitchen window, but now I am changing my mind. It has taken a long time to make it so I don't want to risk it getting nicked. I may put up a bracket inside the porch, which can be locked. Or I may hang it out in the back garden on dry days. It would look good inside, or outside the Summer House. I am pleased with my handiwork, it looks pretty fab. 
Talking of the Summer House, it is now on the Shed of the Year 2016 web site.
Take a look at it here. I have entered it into the Budget section. The organiser was very helpful and put the pictures on for me, I just emailed them to him. I will be tidying up the area around it and planting some flowers to make it look nice. You never know, they might want to come and film it, so I had better get it ready, just in case.

Awful weather again today. I did an extra 2 miles walk last night, taking my daily total to 5. Today I have done a 1 mile dog walk. I would like to get out later if it stops raining. Hope your walking is going well.

Dinner time, Rocky is looking at me. Yes, coming now Rocky.
Thanks for popping in.
Catch up soon. Toodle pip

44 comments:

  1. Absolutely lovely! You are a very gifted lady!

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  2. It's fabulous Ilona! Good idea to keep it safe as I can certainly see somebody stealing it! You did a terrific job. JanF

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  3. That's absolutely gorgeous :-) I love your crafty stuff it's always so inventive.

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  4. Your creation is so happy looking and a great accent to porch or garden.

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  5. OMG that basket is amazing. You could make them and sell them on Iliona absolutely beautiful.

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  6. Oh, I just love it, Ilona! It has such joyful colors! I loved seeing the pictures of your summer home as well. You are so talented, truly. Thank you for sharing this with us.
    My walking is going very well. I am already feeling positive changes.
    Lisa in Miami

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  7. Love the basket. You are very clever. I am making patchwork at the moment but I don't seem to be very good at it! I love the pictures of the summer house. I hope you win.
    Hilary in Hunstanton

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  8. SUPER...love it love it love...gifted & inspired

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  9. One word - amazing! Pity that the beer drinking members of my family tend to drink bottled stuff!! But I know what - when I go litter picking up our hill, there are lots of cans. I'll combine it with the walking! Have done just over 3 miles on each of last 3 days, doing a one hour after lunch walk on different routes. Signing up has definitely given me more motivation.It's going on Strava too.

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  10. So colourful! What a lot of work but the finished item is well worth it. I bet you felt really satisfied when you finished this. Simply lovely.

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  11. You are beyond clever and brilliant!
    You will have to padlock it to the bracket
    or someone will steal it.
    Wendy (Wales)

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  12. I absolutely love it, you are so talented. I would love to put some of these in my classroom, wonder if I could get my students to do a kiddy version.

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  13. Ilona that is utterly brilliant and very much my kind of crafting. I have a tub full of plastic flowers and leaves that I have cut from shampoo and bleach bottles. I feel a project lurking in my bones now.

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  14. It is truly beautiful. I love it. It's a work of art.

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  15. The basket needs to be in an exhibition somewhere. Tate Modern? Xxxxx

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  16. What a happy piece of artwork...you've done an amazing job of making something from nothing! sadly I think you are on the right track with keeping it safe...good luck with your fab summer house...

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  17. That is just FAB, Ilona! Well done.

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  18. Just shown my teenage daughter who responded "very cool". So I think that is big hit. You should show this in an exhibition. Debbie.

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  19. Beautiful Ilona. Very inspiring. X

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  20. It's wonderful Ilona. Imaginative, thrifty and it looks so pretty.
    Jacquie x

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  21. The hanging basket is beautiful and your shed is awesome! You inspire me Ilona.

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  22. Is there no end to your talents? What will you come up with next?

    Joan (Wales)

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  23. Fab hanging basket and shed! You're such an amazing lady and your blog post always make me chuckle. :o)

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  24. Good luck with the shed. The hanging basket is fantastic.

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  25. Really lovely flower basket. I love all the colors.

    I looked at your Summerhouse on the Shed of the Year site and yours is by far the best in the Budget category. I also looked at some of the other categories and some are very nice but I still think your shed stands out. Seriously. What I like is that yours is attractive both inside and out. (Many of the others look nice on the outside but aren't very special on the inside.) To me the best thing about your house compared to the others is the variety of color.

    On the program, do they pick winners in each category and then an overall winner? Do you know when the program begins on television? I wish I could watch it but I'm sure it will be geoblocked (as they call it) because I'm in the U.S.

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  26. This is really beautiful Ilona.
    You are indeed a very talented lady x

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  27. From Margie in Toronto - Absolutely brilliant! You are a true artist Ilona!

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  28. Hi Ilona. Love the hanging basket!You have put a lot of hard work into it, well done!
    I'm also enjoying the walking challenge. Thanks for keeping me fit! X

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  29. Hi,again.Pretty fab indeed!Just so cool.Best wishes re:summerhouse entry.Happy hiking everyone!Thank you for sharing,D.

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  30. Very cool! Love your summerhouse as well. Totally colorful, fun and creative.

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  31. It certainly is fab!! Well done!
    My walking needs improvement, but i'm going to keep on keepin' on!

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  32. That is soooo gorgeous. Something similar would look v. good hanging outside by front door when my house is painted. xx

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  33. The hanging basket is gorgeous. What a lot of work and patience has gone into it. I hope you didn't scratch yourself on the tin or the wire. I've had a look at the pics of your summerhouse and yours is easily as good a some of the entries I've seen on previous programmes. It's so lovely and bright and looks amazing with all your craft work in it. I do hope it at least makes it onto one of the programmes, I'd love to see it on the TV and have a better look round.

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  34. Totally gorgeous! How clever you are - and patient!

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  35. Ilona this is an absolutely stunning creation and I only wish more people could be as imaginative and resourceful with waste. Good luck with your entry for shed of the year - you deserve to win. I would have included a few more photos of the outside and the build as others have done. Kristel.

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  36. That is brilliant, I love it agains the white of the porch and as you say it would be safer in there. I wouldn't want it getting grubby either as it would if it were outdoors, although being made of cans a quick shower with the hose would bring it up nice and clean again.

    Good luck with the shed of the year thing, I'm popping over for a look now.

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  37. hi ilona - your hanging basket is so beautiful - i don't buy drink cans so never realised they could be so colourful, do the flowers have sharp edges after cutting? Is the basket heavy or does it act like a wind chime on a breezy day? Just like your summer house it is bursting with colour - very best wishes for the Shed of the Year comp. only jo

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  38. that is beautiful!! You have such a great imagination, so talented!! Thats a beauty!!
    your soup you made in the above post looks just like what we had yesterday lol,, yummo!!

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  39. That`s just fabulous! A totally no maintenance hanging basket!

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  40. I knew you would make a great job of it and you certainly did! Fabulous! I will be voting for your shed!

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  41. You continue to amaze me. I think the hanging basket is fabulous. I'm going to look at the shed now.

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  42. Just simply avant-garde! Stunner!! Your creations always make my heart lighter.

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