A {CRATE} Idea!

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It is now the second day of August.  This is not a revelation for most of you.  For those who get behind the whole Christmas-in-July thing, it's a frightening enlightenment.  Particularly if you seem to have skipped through the entire month of July with nary a thought of Christmas.   On occasion, a fleeting glimmer of *something* would flutter through my brain and I had the best intentions of getting the ball rolling on the home-made, heartfelt Christmas wagon.   That *something* seems to have fluttered in on a wisp of nothingness and floated back out the same way.  At least I have 4 months to pull in some ideas and execute some last minute late night creative sessions.

When I am organized, I can start thinking holiday mode before Christmas has even passed the previous year.   I'm just that crazy.  Not so this year - with the packing, and the move, and the settling in, and establishing new routines, and making new friends, the first half of this year has disappeared and I seem to have misplaced my organizational skills!

Speaking of organized - the boys and I took a quick trip to Michaels and saw these lovely unfinished wood crates on sale (reg. $21.99 on for $16.99).   If you're handy, you could probably hit up Home Depot and buy the wood to make one yourself (that's something I'd like to attempt now that I can mentally deconstruct the ones from Michaels.)   At that price, I picked up two with no real purpose in mind - just some more of those vague fleeting glimmers of an idea - library books? toys? planter?  Those vague little fluttery thoughts of course led to the ever-popular Google search (keywords: "personalized kids crate").

Aren't these ideas delightful?

{ Pinterest via ashberrybaby.com }


















{ Pinterest via  plantabox.co.uk }












{ Pinterest via michaels.com)













Now I'm thinking... adorable customized crates stuffed with filler and a coordinating gift or two.  Towels for a house-warming.  Trowel & gloves for a garden.  Apron & grill tools for a BBQ. Stuffed animal & book for a toy box.  Wine & corkscrew.  Jams & tea towels.   The possibilities are endless... so maybe in my effort to think about Christmas in...err... August, I have inspired you to start planning for a hand-made holiday with some {crate} ideas of your own!       

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