I'm Back!! With a DIY Tote Bag

So...I've been in a serious MIA-status.  For that, apologies.  Sometimes, life just comes at you full force and you have to deal with it.

That being said, I have still been documenting all of the things I've been doing so I'll have plenty of photos and tutorials to share with you all!  To start off, I thought I'd show a tutorial on some tote bags I made for Christmas last year (geesh, I really did slack for a while).

Last Christmas, I was running very very low on cash.  So I decided to try and DIY as many gifts as possible.  Personally, I could never have too many tote bags.  I bring them with me everywhere-grocery shopping, CVS trips, to the beach/park, etc.  I looked at my list, found all the women and went off to Michael's.

 Everything you need you can find at Michael's, one-stop trip for this craft!  

Shopping List:

- Plain tote bags
- Letter stencils
- Paper doilies
- Craft paint (colors of your choice)
- Paint brushes

 I went with white, black, and grey totes just to switch it up.  I stuck with black and white paint though to keep it somewhat simple.  I also bought relatively cheap brushes and sponges, you don't need anything fancy.

Place the paper doily where you want to have the stencil.  Using a sponge or brush, paint an even coat of whatever color you'd like over the edges-where the holes are.  

This is where you can tell how important it is to maintain an even layer-because I clearly did not.  I wasn't too worried though, I liked the look because it made it look much more homemade.

 Once the outline has dried, place your lettered stencils in the center and paint over this is as well, in an even layer.

You can see here the difference in the grey, white, and black (plus my kitty Lucy!).  They are not the most perfect, but I loved the DIY look they had-shows the effort you put in! 

For some totes I had other gifts, so on the right you can see that I put them in the bag and then wrapped them up.  If it was just the bag, I rolled it up- like on the left.  I had white, red, and green ribbon-obviously very interchangeable for whatever you need!

I must tell you, these were a huge success.  All of the women loved them.  I chose a smaller bag, but you can make them any size you'd like.  I know my sister uses hers all the time, which is nice to see.  After making them, I immediately regretted not making myself one.  Is that selfish?  Haha, who knows, but I love them!  They're also so easy to change up and personalize to whatever you'd like them to look like.  I will definitely be doing more in the future.

Despite losing the link on my own Pinterest page, I searched for it and found one just so I could show you another one blog with a tutorial!  Click here to check her's out!