Valentine’s Day Tote

Make your own bag for transporting your valentines to school and back home or for popping in a present!

Materials

• Blank bag
• Fabric paint
• Sponge brush
• Cardboard (cut to fit in your bag)
• Embroidery floss and needle
• Fabric pen
• Scissors
• Contact paper (you can buy this at housewares stores- it is often marketed as cupboard liner, craft stores and dollar stores.)

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray or table cloth

Directions

• Don your smock.
• Insert a piece of cardboard into the bag.  This will prevent the sides from sticking together when you paint!
• Cut off a piece of contact paper, fold it in half. Sketch and cut out a heart.
• Peel off the backing and have an adult help you put the outside of the heart on your bag. (Making a stencil.)
• Dip your sponge into your paint and dab it onto the heart cut-out.
• Allow it to dry in your craft tray overnight.
• Carefully peel off your your contact paper and remove your cardboard.
• We then knotted our embroidery floss on one end, threaded the needle on the other and sewed around the outside of the heart.  You could add details with a fabric pen as an alternative.
• Write your name in the inside with a fabric pen.

Purpose

• Learning how to make various stencils
• Developing one’s fine motor skills (cutting, threading a needle, sewing etc.)

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a needle with care and direct adult supervision and/or guidance.
• Cord, yarn, string etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.