Painted Stamping Designs on a Blank Tote Bag

I needed a bag to take with me for my walks to the library and to grab my groceries, so I decided to make a fun and easy project that will spark your creativity: A sponge stamped tote bag. It uses an ordinary kitchen sponge, a blank tote bag, and fabric paint. You can also use craft paint for this tote bag project, it just might not be as flexible or soft as fabric paint. It’s fun and easy to do a painted stamping design on a blank tote bag and it’s a fun project for kids too. As far as DIYs go this is an easy one. I hope this gives you inspiration to make your own!

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Supplies for stamping on your canvas tote bags

Sponge you can cut up into shapes

Fabric paint (colors that you like or colors that are on trend)

Cotton canvas tote bags or market tote form the craft store

Scissors

Piece of paper for between the tote bag layers

When I decided to do this DIY tote bag project, I realized the only sponge I had was the kind with a scrubby back. I would have used a cheaper plain sponge if I had one. I hope hubby likes scrubbing pots and pans with extra little triangles for a while. If you need supplies for this project, you can find them here.

I chose triangles but you can customize it to your design style. I cut them into triangles with a sharp pair of scissors. I didn’t measure, I just kind of eyeballed how big. Feel free to draw out your cut lines in marker if it’s easier, or place painter’s tape in lines on the tote bag, and stamp along the painter’s tape edges ( You can also do this with a t-shirt too).

I loaded up my palette with some fun colors. I used regular acrylic paint instead of fabric paint. I think it will be fine with out fading too much like I had mentioned earlier in the post. If you are concerned about it, you can mix your paint with textile medium to make it more permanent. There are certainly times you want to use strictly fabric paint, especially if it’s an item that’s going to get a lot of wear and tear. I used fabric paint for this painted farmer’s market cooler tote, and it was the right choice for that project.

I loaded up my sponges and started stamping in a pattern across the bottom alternating paint colors across the cotton tote bag. There are so many tote bag design ideas you can make. and add personal touches.

I off-set my triangles on the next row up, and changed up my colors.  You can change the direction of the triangles or add other design elements.

And at each layer, I stopped  little short for a more geometric design.

Stamping the custom tote bag with a sponge and acrylic paint very easy and I think it turned out really cute! These canvas bags are a stylish accessory and are perfect for books or to give as a great gift too!

If you have a fun graphic or font you want to use, you can also make custom tote bags by silk screen your tote bags with a cricut.

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