I wanted to post about this because I was so proud of it. I couldn’t think of what to get my parents for Christmas that just passed like at all. I thought of lame things but they didn’t really need them. Finally I asked my dad what they needed for their Arizona house and he said decorations. Well, I tend to get my best ideas while sitting in traffic since I am in traffic twice a day forever. This is no joke, last time I was stuck in traffic for two hours just to meet my girls for dinner on a Wednesday, I replanned my entire wedding. I am not even close to being engaged, but my wedding will be beautiful you can bet.

Anyways, I had seen something on Pinterest to hold succulents and other plants. It was shelves built into wood pallets. I wasn’t entirely sure how to build that but I got this idea as I kept thinking to hook wooden crates together. I planned it all out. I needed six crates, wood stain, a paint brush, a bunch of succulents, and a way to hook them together. The most tools I had was a pink hammer and measuring tape from the dollar section at Target, so I ordered a pink drill from Home Depot! I mean why would I get a different color for my tool collection? I bought the crates at JoAnn’s Fabric already on sale AND I had a 20% off coupon so that was a plus there. Then I got the stain (a top coat and stain in one) and a paint brush at Home Depot. I also bought wood screws and a little pack of hooks. I spent so long staring at screws before I found them. I didn’t know what size or what kind! Finally a pack said wood screws and I thought that was good enough, I bought two sizes and one didn’t work.

I started staining on my patio and it took me FIVE ENDLESS HOURS. If I didn’t catch it, the stain would drip down one side and leave marks and it was a frustrating mess. The next day I put it together and had to play around to make sure all of the exposed sides weren’t the one with the drip marks. OH, side story: when I was planning out the shape I had this perfect vision. Then when I tried it, it didn’t work because the width wasn’t half the size of the length. I had to FaceTime my little sister and her boyfriend and play Tetris to figure out a new shape. What we came up with was even better than I had first planned!

So I screwed it all together and put the two hooks in and stood it up! Next was the fun part, adding the succulents. Thinking of my dad, he loves adding lights in their yard. We joke that he is afraid of the dark. I went back to Home Depot and found these adhesive, battery operated, LED lights that you push to turn on. I put those in three of the crates and then twinkly lights in the other three. Once it was all together I was in love and I wanted it for myself!

My favorite is the glass diamond shaped thing with the twinkle lights, I found it at Hobby Lobby! I was planning on doing two hanging plants but I couldn’t find a second one that fit. My parents absolutely loved it, I was so happy! Now my sister wants me to make her one too! Sometimes, I am pretty crafty ;).