Add some charm to your gift giving this holiday season with this adorable DIY canvas Santa sack!

The holiday season is officially upon us. It’s the best time of year!  It means decking the halls, lots of holiday baking and gift ideas swirling around in our heads.   Once all of the gifts show up, it means wrapping, LOTS of wrapping!

If you’re like me, gift wrapping is not your cup of tea.  It’s the part of the Christmas season I could do without.  Trying to get the right size of paper for each gift along with getting neat and tidy edges can take hours.  After the first few gifts, I’m ready to throw in the towel especially if the gifts are large and oddly sized.  To make the gift-wrapping experience more pleasant, why not try and custom DIY canvas Santa sack!

This tutorial will show you how to make a Santa sack that’s unique and cute.  It’s the perfect size to house all of your gifts this Christmas season and reusable so you can use it for years to come all while reducing your carbon footprint.  A win-win all around!

Scroll down to watch the video tutorial to see how you can make your own the DIY Canvas Santa sack!

Supplies:

• Bulk Heavy Canvas Santa Sacks Bags W/Shoulder Strap
• Heat Transfer Vinyl (Red, Green, and Black)
• Cricut DesignSpace (or find a design online)
• Cricut Easypress and Mat (or iron and ironing board)
• Scissors
• Weeding Tool
• Cricut Cutting Mat

Step 1:  For this project we are going to use heat transfer vinyl.  This type of vinyl is perfect for adding details and designs to various materials, especially canvas and cotton.  It allows you to transform a tote bag in a snap!  I used traditional Christmas colors like green and red, but you could get creative with your color choices and use colors like blue and pink or even silver and gold.  I found a ready to use cut file on Cricut Design Space. 

Step 2: I resized my design to fit my machine.  Since I had a long cutting mat, I was able to resize my design so it was 9.5” wide and 16” long.  If you don’t have a cutting mat to accommodate the length of your bag, you’ll need to resize it.  Once you have the correct size, place the vinyl on the mat with the liner side facing down and then run it through your machine to cut.    If you don’t have an electric cutting machine, you could find a design online.  All you’ll need to do is resize the image for your bag, rub pencil all over the back of the printed design, trace it on top of the vinyl (so the liner is facing up), and cut it out.

Step 3:  Use a weeding tool to remove the negative from the design.  You’ll repeat all of the above steps with the other colors of vinyl until you have the entire design cut.

Step 4: Heat up the surface of your bag with an iron of Cricut EasyPress set at 325 degrees.  Then, place the black design on the bag first.  Heat the design for 12 seconds.  Let the liner cool for a minute and then slowly peel off the liner.  If any of the vinyl starts to come up, place the liner back down and go over it again with heat.  Continue this process until the liner comes up and the vinyl stays nicely adhered to the bag.

Step 5:  Next, add the red vinyl design to the bag, heating it until it is firmly adhered.

Step 6: Finally, add the green vinyl to the bag to complete the Santa bag design.

Your bag is now ready to stuff with toys and pop under the tree Christmas Eve night.  It’s the best way to give gifts since it is customizable and reusable.  What’s great about the vinyl is you can use it like a chalkboard.  Grab a piece of chalk to add a name for a recipient. After the gift has been opened up, take the sack back and erase the name.  You can use a paper towel or cloth. If there is still a bit of residual chalk left, simply damped the cloth and go over the vinyl until it’s clean.  It’s now ready for another recipient.  Enjoy!