Heart Tie Dye back to school backpack + matching pencil pouch

**Created in partnership with Tulip tie dye products purchased at Walmart

If you haven’t noticed, I am 100% in on the tie dye train these days! 🙂 I mean, if you haven’t tried Tie Dying recently this one-step Tie Dye from Tulip is like 93847% easier and brighter and funner than the dunking kind of tie dye that I did as a kid! Like SOOOOO much easier and brighter! 🙂
ANNND today I am showing you how I made a heart Tie Dye backpack and matching pencil case for the new school year 🙂

Remember when I figured out that glue can resist tie dye?? Well, I’ve been obsessed with this idea ever since, drawing all over things with glue to see which sub-straights work best for the glue to resist (and let me tell you that the canvas tote and this backpack have worked out the absolute best….the thicker the fabric, the better IMO)!

MATERIALS:

• *Tulip One Step “Heart” Tie Dye Kit 🙂 – this includes the washable pen to help with those heart shapes 🙂 
• *100% Canvas backpack + pencil pouch
• *A bottle of Aleene’s Tacky glue (PVA washable glue)
• *A cookie rack and tub (or tray) that is safe to lay the tie dyed product on (ie, don’t re-use this with food at a future date)
• *Iron
• *plastic wrap or plastic bags

INSTRUCTIONS FOR BACKPACK: 

1. Iron your backpack to make sure that all of the wrinkles and creases are out. This is important so that the glue dries flat and doesn’t run down the backpack. 

2. With the washable marker that is included in the Heart Tie Dye kit, begin marking up your backpack. You can choose to use a ruler to mark out the spaces evenly OR you can just go for it and begin to make heart shapes all over your backpack. Then generously (but without too much “pooling”) fill in each heart with glue. Begin by testing your “line” on a piece of paper to make sure that you have the right consistency of “squeeze” to cover the hearts. 

*tip : look at various angles, specifically at table height to the backpack, to be sure that you’ve covered the areas completely with enough glue to resist the dye. You will want the glue to be “complete and full” in the areas you’ve applied, but not pooling too much that’s its dribbling outside of the heart shape

3. Once you’ve covered all of your hearts, set aside to dry COMPLETELY 🙂 

4.  Now, begin scrunching up your backpack and using the included rubber bands (in the kit) to “secure” it together in a scrunch.

A few tips as you scrunch and before you dye: 

*CLOSE YOUR BACKPACK! Be sure not to have any zippers open….if the dye goes through and saturates the inside of the pack the same as the outside, it is possible that the glue won’t resist as well because the dye will just seep up from underneath the glue and still saturate the canvas

*Do your best to scrunch up the sides (don’t forget the straps too) and scrunch up the areas that aren’t covered in hearts/glue. Leave some of the front (areas that are full of glue rests) “open”….essentially the glue is the resist and you don’t want too many folds on the front because you want to be able to see the heart shapes over the scrunched up shapes 🙂 

4. Prep your dye by removing the bottles from the Heart tie dye kit and filling all 4 colors to the fill line instructed on the bottle! Carefully shake the bottles to make sure all of the dye is mixed

**tip: cover the top of the bottle with a paper towel while you shake to be sure no dye squirts out while mixing. 

5. Put your gloves on and get ready to dye! 🙂 Place your scrunched up backpack onto the cookie rack inside the tray (this will catch the excess dye AND make sure your backpack isn’t “sitting in dye” while it cures overnight). Then with one color of dye, begin to squirt the backpack, making sure to fill every crease, crevice, hole and space as best as you can. Be patient while covering in dye…sometimes the dye takes a bit to soak in, so you can choose to use your hands to press the dye into the backpack as you are squirting it on. 

6. Once every area of your backpack is covered it’s time to let it sit. Either cover your tray with plastic wrap or remove the tote and place it gently into a reusable plastic bag. Allow to sit overnight (I suggest at least 6 hours)……the longer you let it sit, the more vibrant the colors 🙂 The key here is to seal the tote so that tit doesn’t dry out while you let it sit. 

7. After you’ve removed any rubber bands, rinse off any excess dye. Then fill a non-porous sink with enough (preferably warm) water to cover the backpack lying flat. Place your backpack in the standing water for about 30 minutes….this will allow the glue to begin to soften and lift off. After a few minutes, you can use your fingers to begin to scrape off the glue (you will feel it kinda slimy as it is coming off the canvas…ewww). 

Don’t be alarmed if you don’t see your design right away……sometimes the dye sits on top of the glue and once the glue is removed the design is revealed more 🙂 

8. Repeat step 7 as many times as necessary until the water runs clear and all glue is removed 🙂 

9. Dry your backpack (separately than other clothing if you choose to use your machine dryer) then fill it with ANY and ALLLLL school supplies! 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HEART PENCIL POUCH: 

1. Prep your pouch by unzipping it and opening it up to figure out where the best place is to make your heart. Ideally you want to choose the most flexible part of the pouch that is clear of creases, zippers or pulls 🙂 

2. You can reference the included instructions that come with your Heart tie dye kit for the folding/dying. Essentially you will fold the area of your pouch in 1/2 and draw a 1/2 heart along the folded edge. Then, with small scrunches, follow the 1/2 heart line to scrunch up your pouch and TIGHLY add a rubber band to the line. Then scrunch up the rest of your pouch in any way you’d like and add more rubber bands to keep it together. 

3. Put on your gloves and with the dye that you’ve already mixed from your backpack, begin adding dye to your pencil pouch 🙂 

**if you haven’t already mixed your die, refer to the included instructions or step 4 of the Backpack instruction from this blog post

4. Package up your dyed pouch into a sealed bag to let it sit and cure overnight (at least 6 hours) 🙂 

5. Cut the rubber bands off of the pouch and rinse the extra dye from the canvas. Run your pencil pouch under cold water until all of the excess dye is out and the water runs clear. Set your pouch aside to dry (or put in the machine dryer) and once dry fill it with all of your fave pencils or pens for school! 🙂