Thursday, May 3, 2012

Anne of Green Gables: Herb Crates

We seem to be having a hard time letting go of our Anne girl. So we've decided to just stay with her as long as it takes to finish up the projects she's inspired us to do. I hope that makes you as happy as it makes me. :)

“It always amazes me to look at the little, wrinkled brown seeds and think of the rainbows in 'em," said Captain Jim. "When I ponder on them seeds I don't find it nowise hard to believe that we've got souls that'll live in other worlds. You couldn't hardly believe there was life in them tiny things, some no bigger than grains of dust, let alone colour and scent, if you hadn't seen the miracle, could you?” 
-Anne's House of Dreams, Lucy Maude Montgomery

When I think of Anne, I think of gardens and beautiful flowers and cooking and all good things. Here's a quick project that seemed to run in that same vein.

I have seen these herb crates around for a pretty penny, and I love them love them love them. So I decided to use scrap wood today and put it to some use. I cut 5- 12 in. lengths of 1X3, and then two-4 1/4" lengths of 1X3. You could do this with any size of wood really, you just need to make a basic box, and a print out (On regular old paper) of what you'd like on it. Here's one I made with the ingredients for fines herbes.



Now I assembled the box with plain old nails. We are going for rustic here (my favorite excuse for imperfections.)

Then I colored the backside of my letters with pencil.  (You can't really see this in the pictures, but don't skip it. Color the backside of the letters first!)
Then I turned the paper over and traced the front side of the letters, pressing hard so it would make the graphite show on the wood.
When that was done, I colored it all in with a sharpie
I waited a few minutes for the sharpie to be nice and dry, and sanded it for a weathered look
Then I stained it (Red Mahogany) and immediately wiped the stain off.




And voila! Perfect for plates, silverware, herbs, or whatever you can think of! Best part: it cost me $0.00. That's right! Even if you don't have the materials, I figure this would cost you roughly $5.00 to make three of these. Not too shabby at all :)

Linking up:
French Country Cottage - At The Picket Fence - Stuff and Nonsense - Whipperberry - Shabby Nest - My Romantic Home - From My Front Porch to Yours - One Artsy Mama - Savvy Southern Style -Jennifer Rizzo - Beyond the Picket Fence - Thrifty 101-  Southern Hospitality Blog -

23 comments:

  1. I love this whole project! The old looking box and the font style are right up my ally. I'm really going to have to try this project. The plant and the white cracked pot are super cute too! ~ Jamie

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  2. LOVE LOVE LOVE this project!!! Thanx for sharing at THT!

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  3. The crate turned out beautiful - and very classy! I love the natural texture:)

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  4. Lovely project! Great job :)
    Greetings from Australia♥
    ~Pernilla

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  5. Lovely, Miriam! Thank you for sharing the graphic, too.

    visiting from Feathered Nest Friday : )

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  6. This is one of those times when I wish I knew how to build stuff! Looks great!

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  7. Ohh... love love love love love. :) And I'm so glad you're staying with Anne. You can never go wrong with Anne or Austen. :)

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  8. Thank you for sharing this great project idea. I just discovered your beautiful blog and look forward to visiting often!
    Rebecca

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  9. Thanks so much for visiting my blog and for this great little tutorial. I appreciate it! Love this project!

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  10. This is Melissa from www.daisymaebelle.com. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the boxes. I think I am going to have to give one of these a try! I am decorating a new workspace for myself, and these would be perfect!

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  11. Love it! Love it! I was thinking of doing something similar to this using Pallet boards! Love the Herb sign Idea! I am your newest follower. I would love for you to link this up to my new linky party called Rustic Restorations Weekend. I hope to see you there!
    http://homespunhappenings-tammy.blogspot.com/2012/05/rustic-restorations-weekend-linky-party.html

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  12. Wonderful idea. Thanks for the how-to.

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  13. Yes I have seen these around blogland as well.
    Great, quick, herb box. Thanks for sharing. came over from Rooted in thyme.

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  14. Just beautiful! This is on my "someday" list!

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  15. This is just so amazing, and I love the little herb sign on it. I want to make dozens of them! I am pinning this next.

    PS I have a linky party that is open every Thursday at 2:00 PST until Sunday at midnight. I would LOVE it if you would link this up. I think it needs to be seen by as many people as possible!

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  16. Coming over from THT...love your crate. Now I want to try one.

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  17. These are amazing! I have a hard time doing any lettering that looks good. But your does!!! Thanks for stopping by my blog and Happy Mother's Day!

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  18. Love your crate... makes me want to go buy some wood today and make one! Thanks for the inspiration...

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  19. These are beautiful and they look like a fairly easy project!

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  20. Wow! Thank you for sharing this! I think I have found my next project...

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  21. I am creating my summer to do list and one of these boxes is going at the top - so cute and so many ideas how I might use it.

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  22. Great project, it turned out beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing. I found you on Thrifty101 and I'm now following; would appreciate if you could follow back. Tx

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  23. I love--so authentic looking and sweet and simple. Thanks for sharing.

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