Beach Finds Treasure Bag

It’s time again for the Monthly Silhouette Creator’s Challenge! Yep yep! What’s the Monthly Silhouette Creator’s Challenge, you may ask yourself? Once a month, a few of my bloggy pals and myself make a super awesome project using our Silhouette machines and then we share them with all of you! For previous challenges, I have made a custom Harry Potter t-shirt, some fun British phone booth art, a pretty Coldplay lyric tote bag, and a handy crochet hook storage box. This month? We decided to have a theme: the beach! So I went and made a little beach finds treasure bag to store all the special sea glass, shells and pebbles I find while beach-combing!

I don’t know about you, but I’m an avid beach comber. We usually go to our local beach once a week in the summer to walk our pup and enjoy the sun and sea air. Mind you, beaches in Washington state aren’t like white sandy California beaches – generally they are grayer and rockier, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a wealth of neat treasures! I usually collect a couple of interesting rocks or shells every time we go, but they were ending up in my purse and getting sand everywhere. So I got inspired to make a little baggy specific for beach treasures that I could use for all my expeditions!

Beach Finds Treasure Bag Materials

• Mini canvas tote bag
• Glitter Heat Transfer Material
• Silhouette CAMEO or Portrait
• Hook Tool (for weeding)
• Iron and Ironing Board
• Washcloth or spare piece of fabric

Step 1

I opened up a mermaid design in my Silhouette Design Studio software and sized it to fit my bag. Then I used the text tool and typed out the words “beach finds”. It was still a little blank feeling so I added some circles and a sunburst shape to finish off the design. I grouped all of the separate components to make one solid design by selecting each item and clicking shift. Then select ‘Object’ from the menu and click ‘Group.’

Step 2

When working with heat transfer material, you need to flip your design so it’s backwards, otherwise it won’t work correctly when you go to iron it on your bag. To flip my image, I selected ‘Object’ from the menu > ‘Mirror’ > ‘Flip Horizontally’.

Step 3

In the software I clicked the little blade icon in the right hand corner, then set the material to “heat transfer material – flocked.” Next, I changed my blade to a depth of 3. I inserted my glitter heat transfer material into my Silhouette machine without a mat and made sure to make sure the shiny glittery side is facedown and the dull side is faceup. To finish I clicked “Send to Silhouette” in the software and watched it go!

Step 4

Next I weeded my printed design by using a hook tool to pull back all of the heat transfer material that wasn’t part of my design and discarded.

Step 5

To apply it, I positioned my beach finds design onto my mini canvas bag, covered it with a spare bit of fabric (though you could also use a  washcloth), applied some pressure and then peeled back the plastic.

Voila! A fun sparkly beach finds treasure bag to keep all of my pretties in when I go beach-combing!

It’s the perfect small size so it can be kept in a pocket or purse without taking up too much space. It’s also great for younger beach-combers so they don’t come home with a TON of random rocks and shells. The glitter is a fun extra touch and that mermaid is just too cute 🙂

I got all these particular shells and rocks when I was living in Ecuador in South America for the summer. Whenever I bring them out they bring back special memories of traveling around and exploring a whole new world.

Now check out all of the other great Silhouette Creator’s Challenge projects by clicking a link!

Nautical Tank – Morena’s Corner

DIY Beach Party Invitations – Pocketful of Posies

Silhouette Challenge Beach Treasures – Dwell Beautiful

Rustic Round Beach Sign – Dream Design DIY

Love the project? Pin it! <3

Do you ever go beach-combing? What’s your favorite beach treasure?