I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but around here, it’s strawberry season.
In case I didn’t mention it, I love strawberries. And strawberries on sale are even better. If I let myself, I could eat a whole box in one sitting. As is I probably polish off two boxes a week — which is a lot for a single person.
And, since I hoard nifty food packaging, (and-not-so-nifty too), I thought I would find a new way to embellish the boxes.
Painting these clear plastic boxes from the inside out is a lot like painting sale signs inside windows, but far more forgiving. Start by drawing some basic shapes on the inside of the plastic with a permanent marker — I chose flowers, but you could do letters or triangles or dinosaurs, etc. Unicorns might be cool…
…then it’s just a matter of adding blobs of paint. I started with blobs of white paint over every flower, then let it dry and added yellow circles. Then that dried and added red. Then purple, then green, then used more white to fill in the blanks. Very little artistry involved; it’s all about layering.
Boom, that was it.
These would make for nifty gift wrap, or a fun way to contain odds-n-ends around the house.
OK, now let’s be honest; what sort of food packaging do you hoard?
I save the little plastic bread bag clips. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them. Maybe make a collage or be ready for the next catastrophic zip lock bag shortage.
use them to identify plugs on a power strip
Styrofoam trays under veggies! They are excellent for paint pallets, holding rolly craft items, catching glitter spill, and sometimes it’s really satisfying just to draw on them with ball point pens.
Also, you should grow your own strawberries–it’s easy peasy! Gmail me if you want some plants, I need to separate mine.
There are several egg cartons here at the moment, but I don’t really collect them. They’re here because I get my eggs straight from the farmer and reuse the cartons. I do like plastic containers, though, and have a couple in the fridge right now. I’ll see what I can use them for when I’m finished the contents.
I can’t get rid of those wooden clementine crates, and lately I have been hoarding the plastic tubes that Crystal Light drink mixes come in. They’re the perfect size for take-along snacks when Ginny and I are out running around. I also used them to organize her eleventy billion hair accessories.
flat fruit boxes are my new obsession, I have them in my car organizing…well, my stuff. But I also love me some green berry baskets and cardboard egg cartons and oatmeal boxes and Mexican food cans that are printed and…yes, I do sometimes just buy things solely for their outsides. I admit it.
something else we have in common! i love strawberries too. i’m working on a strawberry quilt 🙂
i hang onto glass jars as long as i can, either for home stuff or food storage.
as a hoarder, i feel i must include this fact i just learned: plastic with the recycle 1 on it is meant for one time use only. if you reuse it, liquids/foods will leach more and more chemicals out of it. just a heads up.
I hoard glass jars as well! They just sit on my counter top. I tell myself I’ll decorate them w/ washi tape & stuff but I never know what to use them for.
Nancy’s Mini Quiche trays~they make great little bead trays(or paint palettes) & champagne bottles(flower bed edging)
Ok Ms Peaches, for the last several weeks Friday Flowers have been containers, or made w/tissue paper. Now, I personally think all these projects have been great, but…your coffee filters…not so much. They’re so sad. I live in GA, & I can hear your coffee filters crying all the way down here!!! “why??? why??? what did we do wrong??? why doesn’t she love us anymore???” Peaches, please feature coffee filters next week, or at least talk to them & explain things. You’ve gotta do something soon….they’re keeping me awake all night!!! I don’t know how in the world you get any sleep! Wait…don’t tell me I’m the only 1 that hears them….oh….ummm….never mind… lol (hope I made you laugh…or at least chuckle…a little…)
I like reusing styrofoam egg cartons to paint beads on toothpicks, also great drying rack for handmade paper beads. I have also read that they are great for storing/sorting beads in but I am so clumsy I would knock it over. I also saw an egg carton decorated with gold paint, pearls and pasta for a jewelry box (it was fab) and I thought that I pinned it and I cannot find it now >:o( These fairy lights http://www.instructables.com/id/Egg-Carton-Flower-Lights/ that I have been meaning to get to. I also save Crystal Light containers and cover them with pretty paper for homemade vases for paper flowers. I saved pop caps to make the basket on these…so fabu and cheap! http://www.thecheesethief.com/2011/12/how-to-make-hot-air-balloon-ornament.html. I save 20 packs of pop boxes for various crafts (this one is cool for jewelry gift giving http://blah-to-tada.blogspot.com/2012/04/more-craft-fair-ideas.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlahToTada+%28blah+to+TADA%21%29), but mainly I use them to make gift bags. Rip or cut off top tabs. Wrap with pretty wrapping paper, newspaper, etc (you could even get the roll of brown paper from the Dollar Tree and get the kiddos to paint on it). Punch holes for ribbons for handles. Decorate with silk flowers if desired. Cheap, fun and stronger than ones you would purchase. I also make small ones out of Jello boxes for homemade jewelry. Also nice is the 4 count of Russell Stover’s chocolate boxes to use as a jewelry gift box.
For some reason my post got deleted? :*(
Also, they are great to make doll’s beds. I made a few of these along with sock dolls, mattress, quilt, sheet and pillow. Adorable!
You could start painting them for your Christmas present packaging. Do you ever go pick your own? That’s fun What I hoard: boxes fancy soap comes in. Really good gift boxes, like the kind fancy candy comes in. I have this idea that I will decorate them or cover them with fabric some day. I use some of them for drawer organizers and craft storage.
I hoard TP rolls!! I have drawers of them in 3 rooms in the house!!! My DH thinks I’m NUTS but when the girls come over for a GNI, I ALWAYS have enough to go around!!! Whose nuts now, huh?!! Love your berry baskets! Chelle – kweenbee_612@yahoo.com
Shannon, that’s a lot of great ideas! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Jam and honey jars, I can’t bring myself to recycle them; I love to use them as vases for spring flowers.
Also, chocolate boxes and the ribbons that love them. I keep my favourite letters in chocolate boxes amd I keep the boxes on book shelves.
Also, combine the jars with the chocolate-box ribbons and ooh la la.
You make painting look so simple! Now I’m thinking about those strawberry containers that are sitting in my fridge and how to use them for T’s birthday party in August!
I collect those Styrofoam trays too. I try to use Styrofoam ANYTHING at least twice…makes me feel better about buying stuff that comes with non-decomposing packaging. Off setting guilt through crafting….
I hoard ALL the packaging. 🙂 Having read this, I’m thinking of painting some of my berry boxes like treasure chests!
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That’s a great little project… I was just eying my pile of plastic berry containers wondering what the heck to do with them! Thanks for sharing!
650 mL Yogurt tubs, small & medium chip dip and sour cream containers are my weakness. I just reuse them to store leftovers and for packing in the kids’ lunch boxes for garbage-free lunches. These trays are gorgeous though. I’m curious… does the paint get scratched off by the contents? What kind of paint are you using?
Most food plastics are “meant” for one time use only. That’s not what the numbers mean. The numbers are just a classification created in the ’80s to make it easier for recyclers. The numbers start at 1 for easily recycled plastics all the way up to 7 which is extremely difficult to recycle. The chemicals leaching thing has actually not been proven or disproven, so stating it as “fact” is misleading and panic producing
Oh dear Aunt Peaches, unlike the previous 4 ‘posts’, I promise you this is a legit comment! I was so inspired by your creation. Haven’t used them as gift containers yet, but I love looking at them. Thank you oh-so-creative-one. Here is my link if you would like to see your inspiration in action…. love your website..
http://scissorsglueetc.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/green/
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Thanks for this post. I ended up using your idea for gift packaging. You can see it here
http://www.pinkstripeysocks.com/2013/05/homemade-watercolor-card-and-upcycled.html
These are just adorable! Do you think it would be ok to spray fixative on the inside?