For the Love Of Totes – 4 Simple DIY Neon Tote Ideas

04/05/12

I make a lot of canvas totes, rather, I dress up a lot of canvas totes. It’s been an obsession of mine for a couple of years now. And yes, I do use them all. I give them away as gifts, use them as gift bags, use them as grocery bags, overnight bags for the kids, beach bags, really the possibilities are endless.  Here are 4 of my favorite neon inspired DIY tote bags that can all be made in less than 15 minutes (if you don’t count the drying time).

I love the look of watercolors, so to achieve this bag I first practiced creating a simple gradation of colors on artist paper.  I liked the blue and green color combo the best, and gave it a beige base.  Brush on your fabric paint in light strokes, making sure not to saturate the color so it’s a bit translucent, and then layer on your next color so they overlap.

I love how sweet and simple this bow bag came out.  Print up a pdf of a bow shape you like (I always just google the shape I’m looking for with the search term silhouette – so ‘bow silhouette’).  You’re going to do a reverse stencil here, so iron on your bow, and then paint around it.  Peel off the bow once dry.

The painting of this bag is super easy.  Just add a strip of painters tape and paint the bottom half (I did paint both sides and underneath too to give it a more sophisticated look).  I went a step further and added leather straps by taking two inexpensive leather belts from H&M, cutting them to the desired length, and then sew on in place of where the canvas straps were.  Make sure to use a leather needle in your machine.

Using the same technique as I used in my t-shirt yesterday, cut out your desired pattern onto your freezer paper, iron on, and then paint in.  Let dry and peel off.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
/ /

13 Comments

Post a Comment

Your email is never shared. Required fields are marked *

*
*