“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Sharpie, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #PaintYourWay https://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”
Over the past few months, Little Crafter has discovered the joy of reading. He’s able to read at a second grade level without help, and he’s just been realizing how much fun it can be to curl up in a comfy spot with a good book {or in his case, a whole stack}. It’s been great for me, because when he wakes up before I do, he’ll entertain himself for half an hour or so by quietly reading in his bed before coming in to wake me up! Needless to say, this is a habit I want to encourage! This summer, our library has a ton of fun programs going on, so we’ll be there regularly to check out new books as well as movies and Wii games, so I thought LC might enjoy creating his own “Book Bag” to take to carry everything.
On our most recent trip to Michaels, we saw a display of a fun new crafting product we hadn’t tried yet…did you know that Sharpie makes Paint Markers now? I decided they would be perfect for decorating a bag, so I let LC choose some colors he liked. The paint markers come in both Oil Based and Water Based; each one is designed for certain types of surfaces. I picked the Oil Based ones to use on fabric, and it was the right choice.
Here’s what you need to make your own:
– plain canvas bag
– Sharpie Paint Markers
Really. That’s it. No special tools or supplies, just a bag and the markers and you’re good to go.
When I asked Little Crafter how he wanted to decorate the bag, I wasn’t the least bit surprised by his answer. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This child is totally obsessed with “turtle power” these days, and he purposely had chosen the Paint Markers in the colors he needed for them. Smart kid. I got to work drawing the outlines of some turtles, then turned the markers over to him so he could color in the headbands.
Eventually, he decided he wanted to try and draw the fourth turtle all by himself…I think it turned out pretty well, don’t you? {By the way, that says “Raf” for Raphael.}
We finished it off by adding a few of the turtles’ favorite sayings, and “Library Book Bag.” The markers were really easy to use and worked great on the canvas fabric. They didn’t bleed, and they had nice vibrant colors. Even Little Crafter found them very simple to work with.
Here’s a look at the finished product!
A certain someone is thrilled with it and couldn’t wait even five minutes to test it out! He immediately started filling it with books to return and before I knew it, we were in the car and headed to the library.
Inspired? Wanna get your hands on some of these cool Sharpie Paint Markers? Run, don’t walk, to Michaels and get yourself a few! For even more inspiration on how to use Sharpie Paint Markers, check out the Sharpie Pinterest boards and follow Sharpie on Twitter and Facebook! Then, get creating!
sharon garofalow says
I love this idea for a library bag! My oldest is finally getting in to reading and we’ve talked about our summer library trips. I think we’ll make one of these next week!
Kim @ seven thirty three says
So cute and easy to do! Great kids craft.
Lara says
I love it! The Ninja Turtles are pretty awesome. We recently made library book bags, too, but we used fabric markers that ran out of ink too quickly and were a little frustrating to use. Next time I will use paint pens like this!
Lara says
I love this! The Ninja turtles are awesome!
We recently made library book bags with fabric markers that were really frustrating for my girls to use since they kept running out of ink. I think using the paint pens would have been so much easier!
Melanie says
Neat kids’ craft! Thanks for sharing!
Emily says
very fun!! I love that these markers work so well on fabric, the colors are brilliant!
Meredith @ Wait Til Your Father Gets Home says
We are big turtle fans here too! Love how this turned out {and that LC did some of the work on his own}! Looks perfect 🙂
Adrianne says
What a sweet personalized idea. And seriously, I’m thrilled that TMNT are still relevant, it makes me feel young as one of my favorite childhood cartoons haha!
Kadie says
How fun! My younger boys would love this! They are totally in to TMNT! 🙂
Sky says
How fun- you’re always doing something with LC’s flair involved- you are an awesome mama! 🙂
Tara says
So cute! And I love his own turtle-sketch – it’s such a great job! Well done, LC!
Jeanie @Create&Babble says
Oh Amy, how cute is LC! He seems to have inherited his talented mama’s artistic abilities! He did a great job!
Egasite says
The impression is very natural and I think this bag looks more like a factory-made, this cute bag will be very nice to use for traveling and camping garden ..
A very brilliant idea. Thank you. 🙂