Michele Made Me

Tutorial – Zebra Foam Tray Storage Box

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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…

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Cheryl says

    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 .

  7. Mascottblog says

    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 …

  13. Sherry says

    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.

  16. quilthexle says

    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!

  19. Eve says

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

  25. malia says

    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

    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

    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!

  30. Michelle L. says

    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!

  32. GeorgiaBabydoll says

    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!