Tag Archives: art

How to Decorate A Tote Bag

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A tote bag is a bag with two handles. Decorating one makes a great project for both creative types and kids. You can make a tote bag that has a message on it, or one that reflects your own style and tastes.

A hand crafted tote also makes a nice gift for a friend. You can get blank tote bags at craft stores. Or you can get a used one and recycle it. The idea is to make it your own.

This is a very easy project!

You will need —
• A fabric or leather tote bag
• A square of cardboard
• Waxed paper
• Fabric paints
• Craft paint brushes
• Chalk
• Transfer paper
• Sewing needle
• Thread

Decorationss, such as silk leaves, appliqués and buttons (depending on what you want to make. Use your imagination while you are in the craft store. Old broaches, broken chains and jewelry can also be used to decorate the tote bag.

Select a tote bag in an appropriate color. Keep in mind that fabric paints don’t show up as well on dark colors. Make sure your colors aren’t so wild that the bag will not go with anything!

Pre-wash the bag before you paint it. Do not use fabric softener and allow it to hang dry completely. Make sure it is completely dry before you start painting or you will not be pleased with the results.

Cover a piece of cardboard with waxed paper and place it inside of the bag. This will prevent the paint from bleeding through and sticking on the inside of the bag.

Trace a freehand design in chalk. Chalk can be wiped away if you don’t like it and want to start over. Visible chalk lines can be wiped or wash off after the tote bag is done. Draw whatever kind of design you like!

If you are not great at freehand drawing use transfer paper.

Transfer paper is found in craft stores and used like carbon paper. You place it over your tote bag, then place the paper with the design you like on top of it. Trace over your design with the back of a paint brush or a chop stick. Be careful not to let the papers or the tote bag move as you are doing this. When you remove the papers, you will have an outline of your design. This is a good option if you’re not confident of your freehand drawing skills.

You can paint a design on the bag with fabric paint as well. Just use a paint bursh as you would regularly. Another option is to select fine tipped paint tubes to squeeze paint directly onto the fabric. To prevent smearing allow the paint to dry before painting on or next to it with another color.

Before you sew buttons or any other type of bling on it all the newly painted tote about 24-48 hours to dry. Keep in mind that the squeezed o paint will take a lot longer to dry.

Be sure ew on silk flowers and leaves, appliqués, patches or buttons to further decorate your bag. The goal is to completely customize it and make it yours!

Interesting Ideas for Decorating Cup Cakes

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Decorating cup cakes has become so much of an art that is it almost like fashion couture. Here are some interesting and offbeat ideas for decorating them.

Have you ever tried decorating Burger Cupcakes. These are decorated to look just like a humburger. You can putthem together using plain cupcakes yousing the ones lightly sprinkled with sesame seeds for the buns, a chocolate cupcake latyer for the meet, yellow fondaont and icing for the cheese and a bit of red and green icing for ketchup and pickles.

Cupcakes themed after cartoon characters are also very popular. You can use fondant and icing to create faces on the cakes. You can include characters like the Cookie Monster, Batman and the Smiley Face.

You can also use cupcakes to build shapes. Aligatores, snakes and caterpillars lend themselves especially well to this.

You can also make an edible cup cake tree by placing htem on cake tiers until they reach your desired shape and size.

Cupcakes are well suited to every type of holiday theme that you can imagine as well. You can decorate them in red and green for Christmas, decorate them to look like pumpkin faces for Halloween and make stars and stripes out of icing for Independence day.

It is also quite impressive to write on the cupcakes. For a wedding you can spell out the name of the happy couple on the cupcake. You can also use them for an anniversary but spelling out the date of the wedding.

Here are some tips for making cup cakes so that you have a good “canvas” to work from thm.
• Never fill your cupcake tins more than half full before baking
• Spraying the cups with non stick oil first really helps
• Mix the cupcake batter lightly to avid chewy7 cupcakes
• Make sure your ingredients are room temperature
• Use a toothpick to make sure the center of the cakes are done
• Use a piping bag to ice the cakes
• Use a flimsy rubber spatula to ice the cakes.
• Make sure the cupcakes are cool before you frost them!
• Keep a light touch with the food coloring as it can alter the taste of the cake if you use too much!

Keep in mind too that vanilla frosting can be made into any color you like. Use food coloring to make it last. To make colored sugar or coconut simply place it in a bag with a few drops of food coloring and shake it vigourously. It’s not just icing that benefits from a soak in food coloring!