Easter Crate Tutorial

It's been crazy this last week with all my unfinished projects slowly coming together despite the cold and rainy weather, but I did manage to finish one! YAY!

Here's how I made my Easter crate:

It started out as this:

Remember this little crate from this post?

I had been (and still am) priming a whole lot of wooden items from thrift stores. This is the first one that's complete. This particular shade of violet is particularly sentimental to me as it was my grandmother's favorite color. Awwwww :)

And then...I was stuck. There are so many ideas out in bloggy-land and they're all incredible, but nothing was gelling with this color. (Hint: my next crate's treatment is going to be BEE-U-T-FUL.) It took about 3 days before inspiration struck, and it turned out to be in the form of an unusual stencil.

Stencils are an easy and quick way to get a good design on anything that'll take paint. I gathered some of my stencils and a stamp and waited for inspiration.

Turns out the drafting stencil of circles was my inspiration. I love all the graduated circles. It ended up that it was easier to just draw the circles on rather than try to stamp out the stencil (it gets messy if the stencil is not absolutely flat to the surface.)

I thought it would be cuter if the circles were less polka-dotty and more like bubbles, so I merrily drew 'bubbles' on all four sides, mixing up the sizes and positions. Some bubbles are half off the crate, and some are all bunched up - if you attempt this, it's all up to your creative whimsy!

Then, it was time to paint the bubbles. This was done by hand and if you go slow enough, circles aren't all that hard. Just make sure to steady your hand well, and remember, it's only paint. You can go over it again and again until it's just right.

Cute, right? I love all the colors and randomness - it just screams 'EASTER!!'

You can find these crates at any thrift store and they make great gifts when decorated and filled with baked goods, candles, or whatever floats your boat.

Stay tuned for my next crate project...I'm open to ideas and have a few more of my own!

Until then,



I'm linking up to SNS #76 at Funky Junk Interiors, and
go see what it's all about!