Tote à Tote
There’s no better way to brighten up an outfit than with a flowery tote bag.

If you’re afraid that it’ll look too summery, fear not! Winter flowers do exist, and they don’t just belong on wreaths. One of the prettiest winter flowers, the poinsettia, is a bright red starburst. And if your craft store has a good selection, you’ll find faux poinsettias not only in red, but in yellow and white, too.

What you’ll need: Exacto knife One white canvas tote bag Fake poinsettia flowers Hot-glue gun

1. Start by making small, cross-shaped slits with the Exacto knife in your canvas bag. The slits should be no more than 1/8” wide. Space the slits evenly around the bag, and make no more slits than the number of flowers you have.
2. Remove the flowers from their stems. For my 11” x 9” x 3” tote bag, I used eight sprigs of poinsettias. Each sprig held six flowers, for a total of forty-eight.
3. Starting on one side of the tote bag, poke each plastic poinsettia stem through a hole.
4. When the entire side of the tote bag is covered with flowers, dab some hot glue in the inside of the bag to hold each flower in place.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the other side of the tote bag.

Voilà! Sure, you may need to tote around winter items, like gloves, Kleenex, and lip balm, but at least you’ll be doing it the warmest way possible!