What child or indeed young at heart grown up wouldn’t love this mini tote! A gorgeous, unicorn like, pastel, rainbow Bunny that is cute as a button! Perfect for squirrelling away your Easter egg hunt bounty. I’m kind of wishing I did this on a full-size tote bag because even though the pastels and bunny motif are very Easter appropriate, bunnies are cute all year round. I actually think I might have to revisit this idea and make more things with this technique in future. I’ve gone into lots of detail about the supplies I used and where you can find them but the actual doing is very simple. You will not believe how easy they are to make and you could even let the kids paint their own!
I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to try this freezer stencil technique! If you haven’t heard about freezer paper stencils, pull up a seat! Freezer paper (made by Renyolds) has one side that is like regular paper and the other side has a waxy/plastic film. In the US you would find it in the isle with cling film, foil and baking paper but in Australia you will find it sewing & crafting stores like Spotlight where you will find in A4 sheets or small rolls (generally behind the fabric cutting counter). I bought a huge roll from eBay ages ago. It’s used for applique, paper piecing for quilts, stencilling on fabric and some even trace small pattern pieces on to it. It works for these things because you can cut out design and iron the paper onto the fabric and it forms a temporary bond, perfect for stencils. Now I’ve tried this, you can look forward to more freezer paper & fabric paint action!
I’m on a huge ‘use what I have on hand’ kick at the moment, so I used these Martha Stewart multi surface acrylic paints, some of which I used to paint wooden spoon handles for my book launch. I got them online because it was the best price I could find in Australia. I really like these paints because I think you get more bang for your buck, as they work on a variety of surfaces like wood, metal, fabric and glass. It’s indoor/outdoor, weatherproof and is dishwasher safe on glass once cured. But if you have other acrylic paints you’d like to use up, you can pick up a container of ‘fabric medium’ and turn them into fabric paint, just follow the directions on the medium. If you aren’t planning on washing what you make, you could just wing it with plain acrylic paint.
I found this small 25cm x 29cm tote in the tie dye section of Spotlight (you can find them online too). Some stores have larger 37cm x 42cm totes and smaller drawstring bags too. They state on the packaging that they are prewashed and ready to dye. If you choose something else to paint, oh so many ideas! Easter pillowcases, tees for kids or adults or a onesie for a baby would be so cute! It’s really important to wash and dry any new items before painting. Some new fabrics have ‘size,’ which is a chemical used to stabilize fabric in the production, which can prevent the fabric from absorbing the paint. I know it’s a pain to wait when you just want to get to the fun part but you want your masterpiece to stay put!
You’ll Need:
- Calico bag, tee, pillowcase or whatever to paint
- Fabric paint (see above for more info on paint)
- Freezer paper
- Sponge paint brushes
- Plus: scissors, marker, tape, newspaper and an iron
Design & Trace
I chose a simple bunny with few details to make cutting and tracing easier. I printed the design out and taped it to the window with the freezer paper over the top, so that the paper side was facing me. I traced around the design and then cut it out with scissors. If you have a Silhouette or similar cutter, you can use that and go wild design wise. I opted to go low tech for this stencil.
Prepare & Adhere
Iron your bag (or whatever you are using) nice and flat. Lay the freezer paper stencil on top, shiny plastic side facing the fabric and gently iron until it is affixed. Make sure all the edges are nicely sealed down so that paint won’t leak under it. You will also need some newspaper, cardboard, plastic or whatever you have inside the bag/tee etc to stop the paint from going through to the other side. A magazine was the perfect fit for this tote and I used a supermarket shopping bag to protect the bench.
Paint!
I often recycle small, clean food containers as paint pots but since I wanted to use several colours at once, I lashed out and bought a reusable palettes for the princely sum of $4. I was going for a water colour type of look, so I thinned my paint with a few drops of water, it looks like I have way too much paint but I was working on some other projects too. I used the sponge brush to paint the colours on, one at a time in random splodges until I filled the space. If I had a second tote (they were out of stock) I would have ironed the bunny on it to make a negative space and splodged around the edges, leaving a blank bunny.
Dry & Cure
Let your work of art dry until completely dry, if you are impatient you can hit it with a hair dryer until it’s fully set. If the directions on the paint or medium you used say to iron, make sure you do. Never iron directly on the paint, use a pressing cloth or a thin, clean tea towel to protect the surface. I knew my bag wouldn’t be hitting the washing machine, so I decided to outline and accent my bunny with a gold paint sharpie pen later. If you need a washable version you could try a thin brush and a metallic fabric paint or metallic puff paint. You could also glue on gems or rhinestones for a little bling. Just make sure that you use products specifically for fabric and ones that are washable if your item needs to be cleaned.
How cute is that? I am not sure which version I prefer. They gold outline makes the edges very defined and adds some bling but there is something soft and fluffy about the plain painted version. Actually, you could totally sew a white pom pom on the tail! That would be gorgeous! This whole painted bunny thing reminds me of a childhood Easter, where my parents painted paper bunny prints with my favourite magenta pink water colour and taped them to the carpet. They told me the Easter bunny stepped in my paints and made paw prints….They coupled with making me sit down to a ‘proper breakfast’ of boiled eggs and toast. Much to my squealed delight the boiled egg turned out to be chocolate! Best Easter ever! I really could have of used this tote to hold my stash of Easter goodies that year. If you make your own version of this, as always I’d love to see xxxx
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