Polystyrene foam: bad for the environment but often used in crafts

There's no getting around it.  I have absolutely NO love for Styrofoam, which, according to Wikipedia is a

closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam currently made for thermal insulation and craft applications. It is owned and manufactured by The Dow Chemical Company.

Styrofoam as used in crafts can be found in the form of balls, cones, floral strips, blocks, and eggs.

However, there is another type of polystyrene foam which is produced by injecting the foam into a mold.  It is foam food containers for take out.  It is often confused with Styrofoam and often, again according to Wikipedia

incorrectly used as a generic term for expanded (not extruded) polystyrene foam, such as disposable coffee cups, coolers, or cushioning material in packaging, which are typically white and are made of expanded polystyrene beads.

It is this take out foam I will be recycling today.

The supplies include various objects that can be used to make indentations in clean foam.  I was actually inspired by my friend Susi who draws in it.  The foam is cut to size.

These are three of the tools I used.  Unlike Susi, I decided to create an abstract.

Three hours later, this is what I had accomplished.  Some of the tools I used made better indentations than others, so I wasn't sure how well this was going to work.

Next, I got out two bottles of craft acrylic paint and a foam paint brush.

I wasn't thinking and started with the purple, but didn't change or even clean my foam brush.  Instead of green and purple, I got purple and puke!

It was obvious that many of the indentations were not deep enough, while a few were so deep the paint puddled.
When I added more paint, I remembered to load the green first, then the purple.

Although not as awesome as I'd hoped, this turned out to be a fun experiment, and will make an excellent background for ATCs, moos, and possibly card mats.

This is Day 3 of 22 and I recycled a piece of polystyrene foam and turned it into an abstract stamp.  As an aside, my city doesn't recycle any plastic, styrofoam, or polystyrene.   Used food containers cannot be recycled, so they must be thrown in the trash.  Packing peanuts can be given to companies that package and ship goods, but everything else ends up at the dump.  So as much as I hate taking those containers home when I can't finish a meal, I always cut the tops, wash them, then wait for inspiration to occur. 

Thanks for your visit today.  I am very grateful that many of you are following me on this 22 day journey.