How To: Painted Canvas Bags

I am pleased to say that take 2 on the canvas bags went very well.  I did mine a little differently than my inspiration photo, but I like the way they turned out: 

I bought some doilies from Dollar Tree.  They came in a pack of 32 for a dollar (of course!).  I bought the 8" size.  I wanted them to be just big enough for a letter stencil in the center.  

First, I printed the letters out that I needed.  I decided to do six bags: one for each of the mothers, both bridesmaids, and the flower girl (T, K, C, T, A, B).

Next, I cut out the letters.  It was incredibly tedious.  Just FYI, I no longer like the letters A or B.  K is cutting it close.  T and C are still on my good list though!  Oh, I used the font Monotype Corsiva.  

Once I got all of the letters cut out, I used a glue stick to attach the letters to the doilies.  

Once all of the letters were attached, I used a pen to trace them.  

Once the letters were traced onto the doilies, I had a nice pattern to use!

Next, I used my Xacto knive to cut the letters out of the doilies.  

 Once I had the letters cut out of the doilies, I used a little bit of glue from the glue stick to get the doilies to stick to the canvas bags.  Then I used a sponge brush to paint over the doily patterns.  

Right after I finished painting, I used a hair dryer to dry the paint slightly.  I didn't want to dry it completely; just enough to make sure it wouldn't smudge as I pulled off the doily (if it dries completely, the doily will be harder to take off -- the paint will act as a glue!).  Then, I pulled the doily off the bag.  

I was left with a beautiful pattern on my bags.  I tried to move the doily around for each bag.  I didn't want them all to be the same. 

In the inspiration photo I had, the doily wasn't completely painted over.  However, I thought it would be neat to do the entire doily, but on the edge of the bag.  That way, when something is put in the bags, the pattern will wrap around the bag.  I guess we will see how it looks once I actually order the gifts to put in the bags! 

Oh, and I plan to put some ribbon around the handles of the bag, similar to the bags in the Seaside Smitten blog.  I really liked that added touch!  

So, what do you think?