This project is in celebration of Earth Day! Yay! I am going to have a FIT Massage 1 hour massage giveaway! Comment below and I'll add you to the drawing. The massage is located at FIT Massage in Los Alamos, NM. Win one for yourself, or perhaps as an upcoming mothers day gift to a special momma? If I get over 20 comments, I'll give away two massages. How is this related? A. I think everyone deserves to be pampered once in a while and B. I designed the gift card! ;) ENTER BY SUNDAY NIGHT!

Back to Earth Day - It's crazy how many plastic bags I collect - not just grocery store bags, but bread bags, cereal bags, snack bags, cheddar cheese bag, potato bags, marshmallows in bags, frozen veggie bags - yikes! Well here is a project that can take all that nasty plastic (that for the most part you can't really avoid) and creating reusable grocery bags! You need: an iron, parchment or wax paper, a needle and thread (or, sewing maching...) and your bags!

Step 1: Collect your bags. Yep, when you run out of cereal or cheese or go shopping at macy's - keep the bags! Keep in mind that colorful bags and logos make for a nice final product.

Step 2 - Place bag between parchment paper and iron down. If it is a thin bag, you might need to melt, then layer on more bags (melting one at a time) until you get a thick plastic panel. Create enough panels to sew a market tote bag. Keep in mind the size you want (is there going to be celery or gallons of milk in there?) Make sure you make it big enough to hold groceries and the plastic is thick enough. Cereal bags are pretty thick, so maybe use those as the bottom of the bag.

Step 3: Cut out panels for the pieces for your bag, and sew together to create a market tote. For straps, this is the time to use an old belt or cut up that gym duffel you never use... ;) Or you can even iron together scraps to create a handle. Attach and you are ready to shop (guilt free!)

My sister taught me this technique and it has opened my eyes to how much plastic is in my life and has given me a way to reuse it in meaningful way. Good luck and don't forget to comment below (especially if you are needing a massage ;))

Sista Julia made all the bags below from a bag collection of my other sister Sophie.

Brenda Fleming | New Mexico Art