Pineapple Tote Bag

Have you ever wanted to create a project in a crunch but realized that you were missing something crucial to the creation!? My stepdaughter is headed to the beach on Monday for Spring Break and I wanted to make a monogrammed pineapple tote for her to take...until I realized I was missing yellow HTV! Rookie mistake. BUT, never fear! I have the perfect solution.

For this project you will need:

*The Silhouette CAMEO® (or similar cutting machine)

canvas tote bag
pink and green HTV
any color of Oracal 651 to use as a stencil
yellow paint
sponge brush

Let's get started! I found a few pineapple monogram designs in the Silhouette Design Store and combined components of each to achieve the look I was after. I used Design ID#122408and Design ID#135464. When you open each design, right click and ungroup. This will allow you to move the parts of the design around. I moved the stem from the second design to the first and deleted the unwanted pieces.

I used the Monogram It app to make my monogram, emailed it to myself, dragged into the Silhouette Studio® and traced.

Once I added the monogram, I arranged all of the pieces and filled in each piece with the color I would be using. I always do this because I think it is a great way to visualize your final product.

Now, you are ready to cut! Since the monogram and the pineapple stem will be cut from heat transfer vinyl, make sure to mirror those pieces. You will then go through each piece individually and select only what you want to cut and turn everything else to "no cut." At this point, you will also want to resize the entire design to fit the tote that you are using.

When it comes time to cut out the actual pineapple, change your cut type to vinyl. You will be creating a vinyl stencil so that you can paint the pineapple outline onto the bag.

You now have all of your pieces! For the vinyl stencil, you will weed away the shape of the pineapple so that you have an outline. Use transfer tape to lift the stencil and place it on your tote.

Slowly peel away the transfer tape to leave the stencil on the bag and fill in the pineapple outline with your yellow paint. I just dabbed the paint on using my sponge brush.

Peel away your vinyl and be amazed! Crisp and lovely lines!

Allow the paint to dry. I used a hairdryer to speed this process up because I have zero patience! Once the paint has fully dried, iron on your heat transfer pieces.