Farmer’s Market Flower Tote

Happy Half-Way Through The Week Day! I am crossing off the days on the calendar until the looooong Memorial Day weekend up ahead!

With the summer months right around the corner I always look forward to things like BBQs, boat rides, catching fireflies, and the local outdoor farmer’s market. We have several in the area, and nothing beats a visit to the Saturday morning market in town to pick up some fresh veggies, locally grown, and a big beautiful bouquet of hand-picked flowers.

I created this custom Farmer’s Market tote bag to give to my kids’ teachers this year as their end of the school year gift. Along with some freshly picked market flowers, these totes are blooming with beauty!

For this project I tried a different technique other than my usual transfer method when I create pieces like this. I have been saving up to purchase a Cricut machine for my shop and finally was able to buy one last month with the money I’ve earned. This is a great piece of design equipment that I consider a wise investment. It will really help me create some unique items for my blog & shop. I was pretty excited to try it out, so this was the perfect chance!

I started with uploading a jpg image I designed myself on my computer.

I wanted to create a vinyl stencil using my uploaded “Farmer’s Market” image with a flower. No worries, if you’re not one for designing your own, Cricut has literally thousands of free pre-designed images to choose from!

Then I watched as my Cricut did all the “hard-work” cutting and tracing out my image…all with the click of a button. So nice!

I was able to pull away the vinyl outline to reveal a sticker stencil that I could use on each plain canvas tote bag. If you’re interested in purchasing some of these, I got them here.

Next thing I wanted to do was give each bag some color. I used my Crayola Fabric Fine Line markers  to fill inside the stencil in the colors I wanted. The lettering stayed black, but the flower on the inside was bright and vibrant!

I peeled away the stencil to reveal the finished look. And the best part is, by adhering the vinyl to a smooth plastic sheet for storage, I can easily reuse it again for another project!

Last step was hot ironing the back of the colored side of the tote to set the fabric marker ink and prevent it from washing away in the laundry.

I added some beautiful flowers and a card inside the tote and this gift was ready to go!

I love how the teachers will be able to use these every time they visit the market this summer and fill it up with all the home-grown goodies they will be taking home.

What are some of your favorite things about summer that you are looking forward to the most?