Trust in the Lord Mini Church Tote

Last month, I shared my Embellished Composition Notebook. It was a fun project to put together and I was surprised how quickly it came together. After I got the notebook finished, I decided that I wanted to have a tote to carry it in, along with some pens and washi tape. Well, I can’t just have a plain bag to take to church, now can I (ha!)?! So I got to work putting this Trust in the Lord Mini Church Tote together. I had a couple of bumps in the road getting it made, but got through them and I’m so happy with the way this mini tote turned out!

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Trust in the Lord Mini Church Tote Supplies:

Cricut Maker Machine
Cricut FabricGrip Mat
Cricut StandardGrip Mat
Rose Gold Glitter Heat Transfer Vinyl
Gold EasyWeed Heat Transfer Vinyl
Cricut EasyPress
Cricut EasyPress Mat
Wool Felt in Colors of Choice
Mini Tote
Hot Glue Gun
Trust in the Lord Design (for personal use only)

Once I had all of my supplies together, I designed my text in Photoshop Elements and then uploaded the .png file into Cricut Design Space. I did a search for felt flowers in Design Space and found one that I liked and wanted to use. Once I was ready to cut, I just had to make sure that the heat transfer vinyl designs were mirrored, and that I set the machine for the right material. I had to change it three times. One setting for glitter iron-on, one for the easyweed, and one for the wool felt. It’s not hard to change the cut material, you just have to remember to do it, so it cuts properly. I got my felt flowers cut out.

Once cut, I pulled them up from the mat, and I hand cut some leaves.

I rolled the flower up the same way I’ve done with paper flowers before. Felt it different to work with than paper though. Once I had it rolled up, I put hot glue down and secured the bottom of the flower. On my leaves that I had cut out, I cut a slit in the bottom center of them. Placed a small spot of glue onto one side, and glued the other side to it, creating a leave that wouldn’t lay flat. Then I put another spot of glue onto the leaf and glued it to the bottom of the flower.

I worked on putting the flowers together as the different pieces for my bag were cutting. I cut the gold lettering and the rose gold glitter lettering.

Once I had everything weeded, I got my EasyPress ready to go. I placed the design where I wanted it, and used the EasyPress to heat set it.

I was so excited about my bag at this point! One of the bumps in the road to deal with was that I had picked out brighter colors of felt to make flowers with. I had cut those flowers, but they just didn’t look right on the tote. So, I had to go back and buy more felt in different colors, then decide what colors I wanted to use for sure. I’m so glad that I didn’t just try to make the other flowers work, that I didn’t love!

Once the heat transfer vinyl was on the bag, I was ready to glue the flowers to the bag. I played around with the position of the flowers before I made a final decision of how I wanted them on the bag. Once I decided, I just used hot glue to attach them.

And my bag was all finished! This Trust in the Lord Mini Church Tote is about the perfect size for a composition notebook. I found the blank bag at Hobby Lobby. The size is 11″ wide and 8.5″ tall. I was kind of surprised how snug the notebook fits inside of it. But it fits and I still have room for my pens, washi tape, and even my phone (my scriptures are on my phone, so I take it to church with me).

I really love the dimension that the flowers add to the tote. I’m hoping that I can carry it without brushing up against the flowers too much. 🙂

Not only am I excited about my new tote, but I think this could be a fun gift or project for a group of young women as well!

Sigh. Felt flowers. They are so pretty, right? This is my first time really making them, but they were so fun! I’ve got quite a bit of felt on hand now, so I’m hoping to make more fun things using felt flowers.