Beach Towel Tote Tutorial

I've got another beach towel project for you! When I purchased that fabulous zebra beach towel (for cheap) to transform into hand towels, I also bought a few more to create with! I knew that I wanted to come up with some colorful and fun tote bags for the beach and pool this summer!

Thanks to Target these towels were $2.50 and I selected a few different bright colors and patterns.

I started by cutting wide strips of towels.

fyi- cutting up towels can me messy! Don't wear your favorite block yoga pants unless you are ok with getting tons of towel fibers all over them!

I picked blues and greens to pair together and laid them out in the size that I wanted- a front and back for the tote- roughly 11" X 20".

I sewed the strips together.

I used an extra piece of towel for the lining

and for the strips that were sewn into handles.

I sewed the handles on and then sewed the sides and bottom together

The result is a SUPER cute and TOTALLY functional beach bag!

Since I can never make just one of anything I made another bag but for this one I used squares sewn together!

rustic driftwood wreath

I am still here at the Oregon Coast and still challenging myself to create with the materials I have on hand! After I created my driftwood city tutorial I had a big pile of driftwood left over and I wanted to create a simple, rustic wreath from all the little pieces. I'm sure its pretty obvious by now that I LOVE making unique wreaths- they are the perfect little object to make with what you have on hand! This project (as simple as it looks) actually took me FOREVER to figure out- but I was finally able to make a wreath that worked!

I started by picking out pieces of wood that would fit together in the shape of a circle. If you don't live near driftwood- this project could also utilize tree branches, chunks of bark, dried grapevine, scraps of small wood, etc.

I began stacking the pieces and formed the shape of a wreath.

I used hot glue to get my pieces "tacked" down and went back with all purpose craft glue to secure everything permanently. (you could use wood glue or even stronger glue if you want to hang your wreath outdoors)

I layered more and more pieces of wood on top of each other- fitting corners and edges tightly into spaces.

And added even more layers until I was happy with the thickness and shape of the wreath.

Use the wreath to hang on the wall,

or use it as part of beach themed decor,

or even as a center piece!

I love this project! It is a small, simple and rustic reminder of my love of the outdoors and the Oregon Coast and I cannot wait to add it to my wall of wreaths!