Caturday Project – Cat Lady Tote Bag – Mixed Media Hand Stamped Gift for Friend

Happy Caturday!

Hope you’re having a great weekend. I have a true Caturday project for you today!  I’ve been working on a super secret project that I haven’t been able to share until now as I needed to keep it off the internet and all forms of social media because it’s a gift and I didn’t want the giftee to see it before they received it!

But now I can share it – yay!

Before we get started, remember when I was working on this canvas and kept getting blocked? Well I had to walk away from that for a while and do something else, so I thought it was the perfect time to start on this project as it was a total change of pace from what I was working on and of course, I kind of had a immovable deadline for it (birthday!)  So I got all my supplies together and got started…

I am using these great Art Foamies stamps by Art by Marlene.  I have the cat set of two cats and the paisley set of six.  I am also using Memento Luxe ink and SoSoft Fabric Paint, and of course some fabric!  This is linen and yes I am aware of how creased it is but I really couldn’t face ironing it, I just really wanted to get to stamping! I cut about 50cm of fabric and the fabric is about 150cm (I didn’t measure it).  I should have cleared my table off to give me more room but I had that other project on there and didn’t want to disturb it.

These stamps are really quite big, probably about 4 inches tall and they are quite easy just to hold in your hand.  I started by using the back of the stamp to stamp out the cat silhouettes in yellow.

Then I used the front of the stamp (the part with the actual design) to stamp over the yellow silhouettes.  It’s a kind of overprinting, where you print over a usually lighter design,  In this case, I am printing/stamping darker colours – pink, blue, green – over the lighter colour, yellow.  I wanted them to be slightly off-centre, easy for me to say now that it was intentional I know lol, but it was because I wanted the yellow to be seen around the outsides.

After all the cats were stamped (and overprinted) I moved on to the paisley stamps.  There are six of them in the set, all with different patterns, as you can see below.

I chose three to work with and worked out some possible colours to go with the cats.

I forgot to take a photo after I had finished with the paisley because I was way into the printing zone. I also changed some of the colours, as you can see by the black paisley motif in the centre.  And then I added some MEOW stamping to fill in some of the gaps.  This was not planned, it was a sudden inspiration.  I did a few tests with different alphabet stamps before deciding on this Tall Text one by Tim Holtz.

Here’s a close up of one of the pink paisley motifs – look how well it has stamped on the linen.

Then I hung it up and left it to dry.  Apparently it is supposed to be dry in 2-3 days, and that worked with my deadline… unfortunately, it took a bit longer than that, a week to be exact!  I don’t know why, I’m guessing something to do with how cold it is at the moment maybe? But I couldn’t proceed any further until it was completely dry.  I kept checking it every morning and coming away with blue, green or pink fingers lol

So yes, one week later, it was time to get this done!  First job, iron it on a very high setting.  For me, this meant the linen setting since this was, after all, linen. It looks so much better once it’s been ironed!

Close up time…

Remember I said that I tested out some alphabet stamps?  The three meows along the bottom are those tests, and then I had an idea to use this scrap piece, so I filled it up with more MEOW using Tim Holtz alphabet stamps and one little happy birthday stamp which I thought was perfect since this is a birthday present.

I don’t have any construction photos because I didn’t have time to stop and take them.  I didn’t make a pattern for this as it is a tote bag and pretty simple construction and I have been known to make a bag or two (hundred) 🙂 It has boxed corners, padded straps and then this pocket which was made from leftover pieces.

Here’s how the pocket looks inside the bag with the label showing.  I also like how all the paisley motifs edge the top of the bag.

She’ll get a surprise to see the Happy Birthday message inside!

I hand-painted some gold highlights on all of the paisley motifs using a small paintbrush and Metallic Gold paint.  Here’s a close up of one of the paisley motifs so you can see the gold paint better.  It’s subtle but does sparkle and shine when the light hits it.

The finished bag!

Oh but wait, we’re not quite done yet… what does this say?  Is this for me?

I’m sitting on it, that makes it mine.

So I have this little extra piece leftover and I was thinking of making some kind of little pouch or makeup bag or something with it.  But not now, I need to get everything wrapped up and posted since it already late thanks to the longer than expected drying time!

Challenges

I’m entering this into the following challenges:
Craft Stamper Mag – March Challenge AG – stamping is required for this challenge, polymer and rubber stamps that are available in the UK.  I am using these Art Foamies stamps and i have no clue what they are made of, but they are available from Art From The Heart, so maybe they know.  I am also using Tim Holtz Tall Text rubber stamps.  Also Sosoft fabric paint, Memento Luxe inkpads and reinkers, Finnabair Metallique paints.

PROJECT RECIPE:

Decoart SoSoft Fabric paints
Finnabair Metallique paints
Memento Luxe inkpads and reinkers
Art by Marlene art foamies stamps
Tim Holtz Tall Text stamp
From stash: linen fabric, thread, label, floral fabric