Hey y’all, hey! I have TWO parts for you today because Aunt Criddy came to visit to help us celebrate my twin boys’ 18th birthday! Start with the first video, but don’t miss the second part because you don’t want to miss all the fun we have together!


Clearly, there will be dancing!

Here are the supplies:
Habitat thrift store: Wooden toolbox $10
Dollar Tree: Rail planters
Debi’s Design Diary DIY Paint: White Swan, Carnival Red, Hey Sailor (blue) and Dark and Decrepit (for stain).
Click here to check out my favorite crafting supplies(This is an Amazon affiliate link and I may receive a small compensation for items purchased from this link.)
Now let’s get crafty!
In the first part of the project, I taped off the lines so I could create stripes. Next, I covered the tape with Mod Podge. It helps keep the paint from seeping under the tape.

It was here I realized the red stripes would be a little wider than the white. It’s ok. It’s fine, just fine. Things could be worse, right?
I masked off the red and painted Mod Podge over the tape, then painted the white stripes.
I removed the masking tape and it looks great! Very little red came off, which is ok because I’m going for a rustic and antique finish.

You know how I mentioned how things could get worse? Yeah, that. Well, it was about this time that my red paint took a dive on my floor, and splashed onto my craft table. Apparently it’s going to be one of those doggone days, y’all.

Do doggone days make us stop crafting? No, they do not. So I began painting the top with White Swan. We will put stars on here later.

I’m painting the sides and the handle with Hey Sailor blue. That blue is beautiful, y’all!

I think I need to use my orbital sander on this.

And here’s where Aunt Criddy came in! She arrived to help celebrate my twins’ 18th birthday. We have so much fun when she is here!
So y’all know that my assistant Judie has a desk, right? Aunt Criddy doesn’t have a desk… she has a TV tray. Just saying. (Aunt Criddy is my sister and it’s my job to mess with her!)
Anyway, the plan for this project is similar to this box I painted a while ago.

I just told her she’s going to do the stenciling on the top! I think she’s surprised.
I’ll be stenciling white stars on the blue sides while Criddy does the top.

Aunt Criddy is doing such a great job that I can take a dance break!
Then I’m going to sit in the sun in my bikini.

The stars are almost all on and I’m getting ready to antique it! Now she can sit in the sun while I tighten up that bikini and get started.
I think Criddy did a great job.

Here are the results of our stenciling!

Hold on, girl. There was a little glitch with the staining process! I was not happy with trying to dilute it by spritzing and then wiping with a paper towel.
As it turns out, using a cleaning wipe to lighten the stain is the key. Thanks to one of our friends suggesting it during the little crisis, the disaster has been averted!

It’s all good now!

I am using burlap to line the lid and the bottom. I’m thinking I’ll use this outside as a planter.

These Dollar Tree planters will work great! I may just paint them, pot some trailing flowers and let them sit on the handle.

This was a fun project, even more so with Aunt Criddy!

I think this would also be great to store wrapping paper, but let me know in the comments what you would use a box like this for.
Thank you so much for stopping by,
XOXO-Erin
I LOVE, LOVE this so much!! I’ve been drawn to all things patriotic this year, for some reason! 🤷🏼♀️ I love the idea of a tool box planter and those pots, all rusted up, would be so darling sitting up there with some cute spillers coming out!!