Fruit & vege SHOPPING BAG

Keeping your green groceries separate from your main shop will be easy

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Book cover seal is used here as a stencil/screen that will enable you to paint fun designs over a large area without colour seeping from one part of the design to another. But there are a few rules you need to follow. Keep your design simple and opt for larger shapes rather than fine details, and make sure there's enough cover seal between the shapes to stop different parts of the design blending.

Each piece of cover seal can only be used once as it loses its stickiness after use, so don't remove it until you've painted the whole design. You'll need to cut one piece of cover seal for the front of the bag and another for the back.

Think about the colour palette you wish to use. To make it easier to decide, refer to paint colour charts, as these show the colour combinations that will work well together (pic A).

1 Cut two pieces of cover seal to fit the front and back of your tote bag. Draw your design on the reverse (paper) side of the cover seal, in pencil first, then when you're happy with the design, go over it with a marker pen.

2 Place cover seal on a cutting i mat and carefully cut out your design using a craft knife. Be careful not to cut into the outer edges of the cover seal as you want your final template to be in one piece. Leaves and flowers were the inspiration for our design - nothing too formal, so it didn't matter if there were any mis-cuts.

3 Lie the bag flat and slip a piece of card the same size as the bag inside it. Cut two pieces of baking paper the same size as the card, place either side of the card. This will stop paint bleeding through from one side of the bag to the other and also prevent the sides of the bag from sticking together. (Remove the card and paper after paint has dried.)