Wowee, summer has been busy busy and I have been crazy absent from the good ol' bloggy blog! But rest assured our summer has had many a creative venture I'm hoping to catch up on sharing with you.
Our littlest Miss turned 2 last month and she loves all things Dora. What is a Dora party without purple backpacks? These were CRAZY easy to make. No, seriously, my husband and crafting partner-in-crime even chimed in on the mega "bang for your buck" (or effort as it were) effect these had. They turned out great! 
Supplies:
Canvas Backpacks
Rit Dye Purple (I used 2 bottles to dye 12 backpacks)
Fabric paint-white, yellow, red
Black Fabric marker
I started with one dozen of these backpacks purchased through Oriental Trading they were $29.99 when I bought them, but I notice they're only $20.50 now, BONUS!
I then dyed them in my stainless steel kitchen sink according to package directions using the liquid Rit dye in Purple.
They didn't soak up quite as much dye as I had hoped, but actually that resulted in a more character correct color. Also, it was funny to note that these backpacks, although made out of the same fabric, were sewn a little differently in that some had the fabric facing one way and some the other. This normally wouldn't matter, but one side of the fabric resulted in a slightly different color than the other, meaning we had 2 different shades of backpacks, but it wasn't a big deal to us.
To get the faces I pulled up a picture of backpack on the computer and free-handed them onto the backpacks and then my hubby and I painted them in with fabric paint. When the basic shapes were done I outlined them with a black fabric marker for definition. You can totally do this, his face is very basic and they end up looking just like him! They didn't even take an hour to paint all 12.
Not only do these end up being the cutest party favor in and of themselves but they also are a good tote for any pinata candies or other goodies the littles might pick up along the party way!
I'm linking up with Today's Creative Blog
Thanks for posting this idea!! My daughter wants a Dora/Diego party and I'm struggling to find inexpensive backpacks to use. Can I ask a dumb question- how did you avoid getting dye on the straps?
ReplyDeleteHi! So glad this post was helpful!! It was actually a happy accident, the material that the straps are made out of just didn't absorb the dye, they rinsed out during the rinsing process :)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a good idea. I was originally going to just use purple paper bags but this is so much cuter and I can see the kids reusing it! Thank you for the great idea.
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