Make lunch a little more fun! This DIY Kate Spade inspired lunch bag takes just a few minutes to make, is easy to customize with the cheeky phrase of your choice and quite frankly it just makes me smile. I made two of these Kate Spade inspired lunch bags. One says “Definitely not donuts” and the other says “I swear this is kale.” They make a cute gift for a friend or will brighten up your desk and provide some potentially much needed humor come lunch time.
If you’ve been following along for a while then you know nothing makes me happier than getting inspired and making things. After five weeks in the hospital, I came home FULL of energy. Energy I had not felt in a long time and was so ready to get back to being me. This felt like the perfect happy first project and who doesn’t love a Kate Spade inspired craft without the Kate Spade price tag?
Here’s what I used:
- A plain lunch tote ( I found these color blocked lunch totes at Old Navy – in store only for now)
- Black glitter iron on transfer paper with my Cricut.
- An iron
- Hand towel or kitchen towel
If you don’t have a cutting machine like a Cricut and aren’t ready for one then you can just buy some flocked iron on letters instead. They’re a little more difficult to line up and be sure the text is straight, but you can use chalk lines on the bag to try to align them before ironing.
Choose a cheeky phrase of your own or replicate one of mine. Cut out your letters if you are using a cutting machine following the instructions (they’ll have you mirror the text and cut them backwards to make transferring seamless.) If you are using old school iron on letters then I recommend grabbing a piece of chalk and a ruler to make guidelines for yourself so you wind up with straight text.
If you find yourself doing a few projects like my DIY Kate Spade inspired lunch bag going forward then it might make sense to get a cutting machine. This is the one I have. I don’t use mine every day or every week, but it is super convenient when an idea pops into my head and I just want to make it happen without ordering supplies or being limited by some manufacturing company’s creativity. Start dropping those Mother’s Day, birthday or holiday season hints 🙂
Next you’ll just iron your letters on per the instructions for the type of letters you are using. The Cricut glitter iron on transfers I was using wanted me to warm the surface I was going to apply them to before applying the letters. Because the lunch bag is a synthetic material and I didn’t want to melt it, I used a lower heat than the recommended (since most instructions assume you are applying to a T-shirt or canvas bag) and covered the lunch bag with a dishtowel before I placed the iron on it.
I put my letters on, threw the dish towel back over and ironed them in about 15 second clips a few times, checked to see that they looked like they were set and waited for them to cool before removing the film layer off of them. Your process will be slightly different if you’re using traditional iron on letters. Just follow the package directions and your gut.
That’s it! Once I had my letters cut and my iron warmed up it took no more than a few minutes to whip these babies up and quite frankly, I’ll have no shame in using them!
Want to save this idea for later? You can pin the image below and it will be waiting for you when you’re ready. And you can scroll down for a few of my other Kate Spade inspired projects.
DIY Kate Spade inspired Kindle cover
DIY Kate Spade inspired leather envelope
