Two of the young girls I teach at church on Sundays are graduating high school today. In honor of this momentous occasion, I gathered a few of my favorite things from when I was in college and packed them all in a simple tote with their first initial (clearly inspired by here, which I feel badly about, but they are in England, and I needed a cute bag pronto!).
A freezer paper stencil was an easy way to transform the $3 canvas tote bag I bought at the craft store into something a little more special. And it took all of 20 minutes. I won't go into the ins and outs of freezer paper stenciling, but for this project you just need to print out one letter in a nice typeface (I used Bodoni). Trace the letter onto the papery side of your freezer paper and then cut it out carefully with an exacto knife.
Iron the freezer paper onto your bags, taking care to adhere all the edges of your stencil so the ink won't bleed. (The waxy side of the freezer paper will stick to the bag.) Lay a sheet of freezer paper inside your bag as well in case any paint bleeds through. Then paint with fabric paint and let dry overnight.
The next day, peel off your freezer paper and iron your letters to heat set the ink. Then fill with your favorite things (my list included Burt's Bee's lip balm, my favorite Uniball pens, transparent flag post-its for marking text books, thank you cards (a good habit to get into), metal binder clips, and some swedish fish for late night study sessions.
Congratulations Shelby and Ashley! Spread those little wings and fly, fly, fly!