Forever and a Recipe: DIY: Ombre Summer Picnic Blanket

Good Morning and Happy Monday! I love Summer, have I mentioned that? The beautiful weather always lifts my spirits and I love the smell of Summer air. With the Summer season comes barbeques, weekend hikes and whole lot of other outdoor activities. A few weeks ago, I pinned a really awesome project from Design Love Fest - a Picnic Basket. The blanket was my pinspiration for my Ombre Beach Bag, but I decided that I wanted to also make my own version using a different color.

I started off this project without reading any of the Design Love Fest tutorial and so I had to stop halfway through to switch to a paint roller, instead of paint brush, and I also had to stop again later and pick up more paint because a sample wasn't enough.

To begin, I gathered my supplies - a drop canvas, paint mixing tray, paint sample (later to be subsidized by a quart sized can), paint brush (later to be switched out with a mini roller), painter's tape and a ruler.

After opening the drop cloth, I realized that it was a little stiff, so I ran it through the washer and dryer before laying it out on the floor.

Then, using the painter's tape, I freehanded lines across one way and then diagonally the other. I did use a ruler to help me keep the lines straight and each line is about 6 to 7 inches from the next.

After I had my painter's tape down, I set to work painting. First, I painted the furthest outside diamonds the dark green.

I found that by placing a hard board underneath them, it made it much easier to paint. I also started out with a paintbrush and realized quickly that using a paintbrush might take forever. So, I ran out to Lowe's (trip #2 for this project) and picked up a few small rollers - these made the job a lot easier.

After I finished painting the outside diamond lines, I realized that a small sample of paint was not going to cut it. (What was I thinking?) So, I put the project on hold for the day, and the next day, I went back to Lowe's (trip #3 - Josh is a patient man), for more paint.

With my quart of paint in hand, I poured it into the mixing tray and added white for my first shade of lighter green.

After rolling that onto the canvas, I added more white to the remaining paint for my lightest shade of green.

Using the roller and having enough paint made the rest of the project come together quickly.

Until I woke up in a panic the next morning realizing that because I didn't paint the inside diamonds, it was going to look strange and with lots of empty space. But since a 4th trip to Lowe's was out of the question, and I couldn't re-match the 2nd shade (I had leftover of the original and 3rd shades only), I decided to find another way to save it. Enter the white paint - leftover from painting my kitchen table.

When you think of a picnic blanket, you think of something checkered, right? I think adding white to this was the smartest thing that I could do. It makes the green pop and gives it a little bit of a fresher look to it.

Then it was time to take the picnic blanket out for a spin! Carried in my newly painted beach bag, I also included a snack, some water and of course, my Kindle! (I just finished A Feast for Crows - Game of Thrones Book 4 - and the current line-up has The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman, The Paris Wife by Paula McLain and The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler.)

I think it's the perfect summer blanket and I am so glad that it came out like it did! I love the pattern and the color of the canvas as it weaves through the white and green diamonds!

Have you ever made a picnic blanket? Or had to go back to Lowe's more than once to complete what should have been a small, under $20 project? (It ended up coming out at just about $30.) What about more than twice? And is your summer reading list constantly growing too? I hope I'm not the only one!