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Tutorial – Zebra Foam Tray Storage Box

October 19, 2010 by Michele

Every now and then, every crafter needs a no-brainer kind of a craft. You know, the ultra-easy kind that you can do with your eyes closed while dancing to some fine fine tunage, preferably something from the 80’s. Maybe some Prince and the Revolution? Yeah baby, that’s pretty much my idea of heaven right there… Now just crank it, and let’s do this!
TUTORIAL: Zebra Foam Tray Storage Box
You will need:
  • Clean styrofoam meat trays
  • Shoe box
  • Foam glue
  • Pair of scissors
  • Pencil
  • White/black or gray acrylic paint
  • Coarse paint brush
1. If your shoe box isn’t gray like my little box happened to be, you may want to give it a few coats of black or dark gray paint.

2. Cut the edges off your cleaned foam trays.
3. From your foam trays, cut several square and rectangular shapes. You need enough to fit the entire surface of the box. Obviously, the larger the box, the more you’ll need. Okay, you knew that…
4. Glue the rectangles on with special foam glue. A friend of mine gave me this glue, but you can get your very own at any craft store. Or you can ask your friends to buy you some…
5. As previously mentioned, cover the entire surface of the box. Let one covered side dry before moving on to the next side.
6. Using a blunt pencil, mark your foam with zebra stripes. Just go for it! There are no rules in zebra land! Once you have your pattern, go over it a few times to make your lines wider and uneven.

7. Take some white acrylic paint and your coarse paintbrush and gently paint the foam surface white. Use only a little bit of paint at a time so that the zebra lines stay free of paint. I only did 1 coat of white. You may want to apply a coat or 2 of varnish to protect the surface.
And you are done! Just like that! Here is the finished product!
Use it to store those gajillion pencils you’ve collected…

Or fill it with all those little sewing notions you don’t know what to do with…

Or even better! Hide a chocolate stash in there for when you get the urge… And don’t tell anyone. It’s all for YOU!

Hee hee.
Have a fantastic day!
P.S. Here’s another way to recycle styrofoam trays…

Filed Under: plastic crafts, plastic crafts, reuse, Tutorials Tagged With: crafts, foam trays, recycling, tutorial

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. María Cristina says

    October 19, 2010 at 11:50 pm

    Genial!!!!

  2. Cheryl says

    October 19, 2010 at 11:58 pm

    What a great idea ! I just threw away a black tray yesterday ,I looked at it wondering what it could be used for if I kept it , now I will keep them ,I like this idea and the kids can make them too .

  3. Hannah says

    October 20, 2010 at 1:13 am

    That is stunning!

  4. Lydia says

    October 20, 2010 at 1:35 am

    how cool! I have got to try this

  5. KJ@letsgoflyakite says

    October 20, 2010 at 2:02 am

    Incredible. I had no idea for the first photo it was meat trays. You always have me fooled.

  6. Nela says

    October 20, 2010 at 4:22 am

    I LOVE IT! Fabulous idea!

  7. Mascottblog says

    October 20, 2010 at 7:07 am

    Another idea I like !!! One of my grandsons likes all " zebra " things too … The problem is at the moment I am keeping the trays to make bats for Halloween 🙂 I'll have to ask around me …

  8. Robin says

    October 20, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    Thank you so much for linking up to The T-Shirt Diaries Upcycled Awesome. Love the use of the trays! Very ingenious!

  9. Ariane says

    October 20, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    I love it!! Great idea!!!

  10. Amber says

    October 20, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    This is great what a fun idea. If you have the time come link it up on my reuse challenge linky http://www.lifelovegreen.com/2010/10/green-challenge-reuse-week-3/

  11. Ann @ makethebestofthings says

    October 20, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    I found you over at the T Shirt Diaries blog, and this is so clever! Well done and so adaptable to other designs, too. Love it!

  12. Nunurina says

    October 20, 2010 at 5:47 pm

    lovely!!!! Que gran idea para hacer algo bonito y recliclar.

  13. Sherry says

    October 20, 2010 at 6:02 pm

    What a fab project – and you make it sound easy too! From the photo of you putting the glue on, the tray looks like a domino – wouldn't it be great to do the same project, but instead of zebra stripes, make the rectangles look like giant dominos!

    Thanks for sharing.

  14. astitchysituation says

    October 20, 2010 at 8:59 pm

    What an awesome idea. I need to go dig that tray outta the trash!

  15. Papgena Made It says

    October 21, 2010 at 12:12 am

    that is cool!!!

  16. quilthexle says

    October 21, 2010 at 7:17 am

    Amazing … my husband will start to wonder why I'm going to insist on buying stuff on those foam trays ;-)) Thanks for sharing, it is beautiful!

  17. Tricia says

    October 21, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    Fantastic! I love the stripes.

  18. Biljana says

    October 21, 2010 at 8:37 pm

    Great idea, it looks amazing, bravo:))
    Greetings from Europe, Biljana

  19. Eve says

    October 21, 2010 at 9:34 pm

    SO so pretty Michele, it amazes me how darling a craft can come out when made with stuff not normally considered for crafting!

  20. ALEXXX says

    October 22, 2010 at 10:36 am

    Can a great idea …

    Below you should see my work address of mine … … waiting for your visit:))
    http://niltursamatamerkezi.blogspot.com/

  21. Adena (aka cre82learn) says

    October 23, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    (came by way of Tatertots and Jello) What an ingenious idea!!! Great way to recycle into something that is actually useful, and pretty!!

  22. Amanda says

    October 23, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I linked to this post today from the Home & Garden channel at Craft Gossip. 🙂

    Your feature will appear in the main Craft Gossip RSS feed, on the main home page and can be found directly here
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/zebra-foam-tray-storage-box/

    If you would like a "featured by" button, you can grab one here!
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/

  23. BlueCat says

    October 24, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    Awesome idea!

  24. Debilou~Mississippi Mama says

    October 24, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    well this a very new to me idea.. i've never seen this before. Very creative, love the box!

  25. malia says

    October 26, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    you amaze me with your original and wonderful repurposing ideas! thanks for sharing at a crafty soiree… hope you join us again on thursday!

  26. zazalé says

    October 26, 2010 at 8:10 pm

    boujours ! c'est moi zazalé du blog de mascott !!!
    mascott me parle souvent de vous !
    et sa créatrice aussi =) !!!
    elle trouve vos idée si originale !
    ET MOI AUSSI !!!
    j'adoOoOoOre votre blog !!!
    bravo pour vos créations manifique !!!
    et mercii pour le comentaire que vous avez lesser sur le blog de mascott !!!

    signé :
    futur petite actrice !

  27. creativejewishmom.com says

    October 27, 2010 at 9:54 am

    And when you've grown tired of the box, so you can use it to print some zebra striped paper! And I thought I was saving all those trays for printing….i give you lots of credit for an amazingly creative re-use! I think this would be fun for kids just using the colored trays as tiles too. all the best, and thanks so very much for joining Craft Schooling Sunday with such dedication, I really appreciate it!

  28. Mare says

    October 27, 2010 at 11:26 am

    wow how cool!!!…..thanks for inspirtion:)))…
    best regards from croatia:))…
    M…

  29. C.R.A.F.T. says

    October 28, 2010 at 3:01 am

    I'm featuring you next week. Thank you for linking up to MMM 🙂 that is a cool idea !

  30. Michelle L. says

    November 1, 2010 at 12:33 am

    Wait, how on earth did I miss this? I was in Death Valley communing with nature, I guess. I am mouth agape, it's so gorgeous. I think one of my favorite ideas of yours so far. Never have I seen such elegance from meat trays!

  31. Moe says

    November 1, 2010 at 1:36 am

    This is so great! I am popping over from CRAFT! I love this project. Most definitely bookmarking this to try!

  32. GeorgiaBabydoll says

    November 10, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    What a great idea for recycling those trays! I just dumped about 15 of them in the recycle bin at Publix on Monday! We buy alot of our groceries at Aldi and most of the vegetables come on these foam trays. I never thought about using them for something like this. Thank you for the inspiration!

  33. chandler heller says

    December 9, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    Really great idea. i like this post. I came to know a good idea in your blog post. For more information about Edmonton self storage visit my blog.

  34. Lola Manualidades says

    January 28, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    Guauuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  35. Gośka says

    January 31, 2011 at 5:27 pm

    Brilliant:)

  36. James Bond Bond says

    January 13, 2014 at 6:13 am

    Wonderful stuff. Bundle of thanks!!!
    moving boxes delivered

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I am ecstatic if you choose to link to this site, use a brief description, one photo, or link back to any of my posts. Do not republish entire posts without my permission. Tutorials, patterns and printables are for your personal use only and are not to be used to make items for sale. Thank you.

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