DIY Mason Jar Crate

With a baby at home crawling and getting into everything, I like to keep my DIY projects as simple and fast as possible. Being that I am OBSESSED with mason jars, a project that I have been wanting to attempt for quite some time is doing a mason jar crate. When searching for tutorials all I came across were crates that you had to build yourself & with a 9 month old on the hunt for mischief, time isn't something I have to spare! So, instead of spending probably what would be an hour or even more measuring, cutting & nailing, I decided to go with another option...
I bought the crate pre-done at Jo Ann's!

Originally they are $7.99 ea. but I used a 50% off coupon. 

This not only saved me the extra time, but money too!

I started out with the plain wood crate & gave it a light sanding

Next, I painted the edges with Martha Stewart - brown - craft paint

& left to dry for 40 min or so

Then, I added on a base coat of Martha Stewart - beige - craft paint

After leaving to dry I added a 2nd coat

Once everything was dry, I started sanding and distressing in the areas that I desired.

The final step was adding a thin top coat of extremely watered down 

Martha Stewart - gray - craft paint

After the last coat was dry, I then went back and sanded down a few more areas that I missed

Lastly, I wanted to give the piece a wax coating. Since I didn't have anything at home on hand & it was about 8 pm when I started working on this project, I searched around my home for something that I could use. I came across some dryer sheets and gave it a try & surprisingly enough, it worked!

You may not notice a huge difference just by looking at the piece, but it seals the paint and you can feel the difference to the touch. Another way to wax seal wood is with plain soap!

After the piece looked how I wanted it to, I added on two handles to each side & then it was finished!

Confession: 
When starting out with this project, I originally thought it would be used to hold (4) mason jars - which it will... but for now, since my daughter pulls EVERYTHING off of the shelves, it houses her book collection in our living room :)