Tote bags are the workhorses of the accessory world. They carry beach supplies, library books, and farmer’s market veggies. They can be stuffed to the brim to store goodies or rolled up to be stored themselves. And plain totes can be stamped, dyed, embroidered, painted… I am beginning to sound like Bubba from Forrest Gump.
I bought an inexpensive 3-pack of plain canvas tote bags, and this week I am going to share the easy ways I transformed them from boring to beautiful. Today’s tutorial is for this trendy geometric block printed tote bag. The process is so simple and fun that you might end up block printing all the fabric you can get your hands on.
To make a Block Print Tote Bag, you will need:
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craft paints (or screen printing ink)
Begin by cutting your shape out of a piece of craft foam. I chose a triangle since repeated triangle patterns are trendy right now (and they are easy to cut). I mounted the triangle of craft foam on a piece of stryofoam with craft glue. After the glue dried, I trimmed the styrofoam around the craft foam triangle. Trimming the styrofoam makes it easier to accurately place the stamp.
WHAT IS UP WITH MY HAND?!??!
Once you can tear yourself away from gawking at my weird-looking thumb, you can move onto adding paint to the foam block. I applied a layer of acrylic paint to the stamp with a foam brush. Try to avoid brush marks as much as possible, because they will transfer to the project. Some brush marks are inevitable though.
After you have added the paint, wipe down any excess paint on the edges of the stamp with a piece of paper towel or a rag.
Position the foam block over the fabric and press down firmly. Pull the block straight up to avoid smudging your print.
Repeat the process all over the tote bag. I wiped my foam block down between colors and didn’t have any trouble with the paint mixing together.
Without spending much time or money, you will have a chic new tote bag to sling over your shoulder!
Stay tuned because this whole week is going to be dedicated to pretty and pretty useful tote bags that are perfect for Spring and Summer!
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Thanks, Jessica
