mail call - stenciled bag

every time i leave the office to get the mail, i wish i had a bag. we usually have a pile of outgoing letters and even more incoming. the p.o. box is usually stuffed with catalogs and magazines, and i tend to drop ten things before i get back to my car. and i usually misplace the box key. i've been known to take it home for a long weekend every once in a while, wash it in my jeans, etc... well, no more! behold, the mail bag:

i made it with a super easy stenciling method.

here's the how-to:

get yourself some freezer paper. it's cheap and useful and plentiful (you'll probably never finish this roll. unless you go on a stenciling frenzy or become a butcher):

get your design on your freezer paper. there are several ways to do this. my favorite is to cut 8.5x11 sheets out of the roll and feed them through an ink jet printer. do *not not not* feed the paper through a laser printer, it will melt and break your heart every time. other options include printing your design on plain paper and taping it to freezer paper, then cutting through both layers and removing the plain paper. this time i just drew my design, since it was simple and i'm out of printer ink:

cut out your design. i use an x-acto knife (you could use a pair of tiny scissors) and a ruler for those straight pieces:

beware of those little islands in your text/image (see: the letter A). in order for your print to come out right, you'll need to cut yourself a bridge. this will keep the island from getting lost and/or ironed in a wonky fashion. here's what i mean:

continue cutting out your design, beware of those tricky spots:

now get an iron really hot. i use the cotton setting. iron that sucker down:

carefully cut away your bridges - don't cut through your fabric:

if you're paranoid, you can leave the bridges and fill in places that need paint when you've finished this whole process. next, get yourself some applicable paint (i used acrylic here, but definitely use fabric paint on clothing) and a stenciling brush (you can make due with a regular one, just be careful):

stick something behind your stenciling, like a newspaper or folder, to block the paint from bleeding onto your table or the backside of your project. then, paint:

i'm extremely impatient, so i can never wait for the paint to dry before i peel off the stencil. but you probably should. viola, a mail bag:

i added a nice carabiner to clip the key to - one can never be too careful about these things.