I painted the outer sides of this crate with chalkboard paint – now it's a caddy to hold napkins, sugar and a silly message.

I lightly sanded the outside and painted with a few coats of chalkboard paint.

You could also use a clementine crate as a planter. Give this gift with a stick of chalk.

Line the crate with tin foil, fill with soil, add plants, and poke drainage holes into the bottom.

These chalkboard place cards were made from the triangular posts of a clementine crate.

There are four of these pieces on each crate – you'll need two crates to make 8 place cards.

Using pliers, remove staples from clementine crate to release corner posts.

Quickly sand each post to smooth the edges.

Of the three sides to each post, one is the largest – paint that side with chalkboard paint.

Deconstructing the clementine box allowed me to use all of the parts for even more projects.

I cut an end panel in half, sanded the edges and gave it a few coats of chalkboard paint to create a gift tag that can be reused.

Just drill two small holes into the top corners and thread a piece of jute through – tie ends with knots to secure.

Left over panels were given a few coats of chalkboard paint to create a silly sentence puzzle for a fun moment at the breakfast table with my kids.