Self-Painted OOT Bags

[NL2134]

I've been doing a lot of searching for the perfect OOT bag at the perfect price. I found some blank canvas bags I like, but want to spruce them up a little bit. I want to keep them somewhat simple, so people may actually use them after the trip, though.

 

While searching, I came across the following link:

http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2013/05/14/weekday-crafternoon-anchor-stenciled-boat-bag/

 

It shows how to stencil & paint a design onto canvas bag using freezer paper stencils. Her end result looks awesome. I've been debating doing anchor design, similar to what was done in the video, or maybe a palm tree image (see attached images). I may not do any wording on it, just to make it more usable after the trip or to make it applicable to my non-sailing guests also.

 

But, I loved the idea and it seems so simple and relatively foolproof (easy to do, stencils are reusable, and paint doesn't leak under stencil), so I wanted to share it here for others to check out.

 

I bought 2 canvas bags so far to test out (one beige color that will get blue paint and one blue bag that I'll do white or silver paint... our wedding color is navy blue with silver/gray accent color). I hope to try it out this weekend and will let all of you know how it turns out and post pics of my final products.

[hgp_mom]

I love this idea! Let me know how it turns out... I may try it for our cruise in October! :)

[bluewater723]

Another great project from you! You'll have to show us your results. :)

[NL2134]

I think this one is the winner. The freezer paper works awesome. Only down side is that if you have small slivers between cut outs, it wrinkles when you try to reuse it. You could easily reuse simpler patterns though. But it looks like I need new stencil for each one. I only have about 10-15 bags to make and I successfully was able to cut at least 3 stencils at same time by stacking them, so it's not too bad. And it took less than 5 minutes to cut. So I can live with that. For the stripes I just used wide blue painters tape to mask it off. I'm happy with it.

[NL2134]

Here are a couple of my trial ones. I did these on smaller, cheaper canvas bags than I want for my OOT bags, to just test it all out.

 

The beach one I did with watercolors, since I had them here and I just wanted to see how it would look before investing in multiple fabric paints. I like it, but it seems to "touristy" to me.

 

I like the anchor one. I used a spray fabric paint, but I forgot to mask around the stencil page. I kind of like that effect though. But, unfortunately, on the bags I want to use, the spray paint bleeds under the stencil. So I'd have to find either a different paint or a different bag.

 

But then I tried painting the blue bag and I think I like that one best. It's not too girlie and its simple. And I like the understated sponge painting effect on it.

[NL2134]

And after the bags are done, here's my next DIY project: thank you cards

 

I plan to put these in my OOT bags with handwritten note inside. I may also use them, or something similar for wedding gift thank you cards.

 

These are being made with paper I have left over from my invites. So, basically they won't cost me anything and I won't feel bad about wasting a bunch of specialty paper. I bought more blue paper than I needed because it is discontinued color and I was worried about not being able to get more if I needed it. And the card stock I used for my boarding passes came in 500 sheet ream, so I have left over of that too.

 

The anchors are a paper punch

The "thank you" is a stamp I found in Target $1 section and I put it on a circle I cut with 1-1/2" punch I already had. Everything else is just cut with a standard paper trimmer and glued on.

 

For my first one I used glue stick, which works but not too sturdy. I'm debating using spray adhesive or mod podge for the final products.

[bluewater723]

Very nice! I love the blue bags! The anchor and stripe design looks really nice on both the bags and the cards. Once again, I'm blown away by your craft expertise!

[NL2134]

Oh, and the canvas bags I'm using has zipper to close them. That was one thing I really wanted for my OOT bags. I don't need to worry about my gifts falling out during transport. And it offers a bit more security for them using it at pool, beach, or wherever because people can't just look into it.

[bluewater723]

Oh, and the canvas bags I'm using has zipper to close them. That was one thing I really wanted for my OOT bags. I don't need to worry about my gifts falling out during transport. And it offers a bit more security for them using it at pool, beach, or wherever because people can't just look into it.

 

Good thinking. I wish I could steal your wedding, haha. I'm defiantly jealous!

 

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