Fun Tote Bag Gifts

I am slightly obsessed with reusable bags (see here and here), and make sure to use one whenever I go shopping. If for some reason I go into a store without one and end up buying something, I still refuse the store's bags because I feel so darn guilty...all those little baby sea turtles......


So this year my gifts for all the grandparents and anyone with kids was personalized tote bags. I bought some plain canvas bags at a craft store and used iron-on inkjet transfer paper for the designs. After making 8 of these in various designs (some turning out nice, some looking only so-so), I figured out the trick to ironing them on is NOT to run the iron over the transfer 37 times while pressing down as hard as possible...you should actually only use as few strokes as you can to make the transfer stick (a hard concept for someone who can't use a crayon without breaking it, hah :)).

Overall, I was pretty happy with these, and hopefully they will save a few plastic bags from the landfills.