DIY a Fake Stone Planter from Styrofoam Box

          

This is a repost of a popular project which has been requested over on 

Facebook's Garden Art Junk group.

 

Here's what I do with those holiday ham styrofoam boxes 

I don't want to pitch into the landfill.

RECYCLE!

I make "stone" planters for my succulent pots!

Here's how....

and please note, this is best done OUTSIDE.

This part is messy!

Using a serrated steak knife, I cut the top edge down to make the box the size I wanted.

Then I scored all the sides with a wire brush.

I made stone shape grooves with a butter knife. You can cut as deep 

or as shallow as you wish to get the look you like.

Next, I brushed a some grey, white and black acrylic craft

 paint over the whole box.

Very sparingly, spray black spray paint at some of your stone joints. 

The paint will melt the foam and give it some very rocky texture. 

Don't over do it, you can always add more texture.

 Go slow and look at the results from all angles.

Now with a brush or a paint rag or a sponge of what have you,

 start layering on acrylic craft paint in rock and moss colors.

 I used black, charcoal grey, brown, several greens and even a bit of dark blue.

I do not plant my succulents directly in the styrofoam box. 

I keep them in their own pots so I can change them out as I wish.

 But I have to say, the sedum in this fake stone box look wonderful!

DIY "Rock" Planters from Styrofoam Boxes

What to do with those 

styro foam boxes

 you get with Christmas goodies inside?

Here's a great solution and it's easy to do.

Make faux rock planters out of them.

Yup!

Here's one finished planter with a succulent that's loving it's new home. 

This planter is a few months old so you can see I have to touch up a few spots 

but really, it looks like an old stone planter covered with moss!!

This was a box for our Christmas ham. I trimmed it down then roughed up the sides 

with a wire brush. Then I scored rough rock shapes into the foam.

I took my regular acrylic craft paints in rock and moss colors and started layering

 and layering until it looked authentic. 

I used spray paint sparingly at some of the joints and I loved

 the cool rocky texture it made.

So now I tried some more light sprays of paint in little areas and loved it even more!

This is definitely a stony, rocky look right there.

Then I layered on more acrylic paint to blend the colors and cover up 

any white foam showing through.

I'm in love with this project!

I already had a pot of mixed sedum on my deck so I

popped it into the new planter.

Oooh aaaaah!