DIY HOLIDAY GIFTS

Back from holiday hiatus! I had such a blast with all of my family and friends! But I’m definitely feeling the effects of having to get up at 6am again. Back to the ole routine!

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This year I decided to make some DIY gifts. And I’ll admit, they didn’t turn out exactly to my standards of perfection, but I liked them anyway.

I had to post this after the holidays because the two friends I made these for are readers, so I didn’t want to ruin any surprises!But if you’re inspired to follow the same gift idea, these are simple and would work for any gift idea.

All you need is a tote bag, iron transfer paper, an iron and a unique design:

I purchased the canvas bags and transfer paper from cheaptotes. And as the name implies, the items are really affordable and decent quality. The items also shipped really fast which was great.

I made three of these bags (one for myself, of course!), but I’ll show you the process for my ingenious Lady Gaga lyric design.

Start by printing your design (on regular paper, don’t waste the transfer paper) and making sure that it fits and is arranged the way you want it. It’s also important that you flip your design so that it transfers correctly.

Then heat up your iron to it’s highest setting but DO NOT use steam. Iron your tote bag so it’s nice and wrinkle-free.

You have to love old apartments, I have a built-in ironing board in my kitchen. I suppose it’s so I’m able to cook a full meal for my family and get the ironing done at the same time.

Anyway, then you’re ready to iron on your pieces. For a full sheet, you can just arrange it and iron across the entire length of the paper for 3-4 minutes. Although in hindsight, I wish I would have cut around the design more because you 1) have more paper to use later and 2) you won’t get that transfer excess on the tote bag which is sort of noticeable.

Since these pieces are cut up, I decided to iron them one piece at a time keeping the previous pieces down until I was ready to remove them all at once.

After you’ve ironed over each piece and applied a small amount of pressure with the iron, you should be ready to take the paper by one corner and removing it slowly. I was worried I would have a lot of trouble with this part, but it was relatively easy. If it started to tear, just move to another corner. If you find that you left some paper that’s not ironed down, take the tip of your iron and smooth it down. Very simple!

Then, you have your finished products! The Farmer’s Market tote is for my (I blurred out my last name in the picture for at least some internet anonymity).

I think my girls liked them! I meant to take pictures of the awesome gifts they got me, I’ll have to post those later!