Simple Stenciled Tote Bag

Pick your silhouette - this could be a profile view of your face, of a pet, or something in nature. Something that doesn't require intricate cuts is easiest for your first project, and hence why I picked a silhouette here. You can either use the one of my adorable corgi, Teemo, that I attached, or outline a photo of your own pet as shown.
Print your silhouette out on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. Cut a sheet about 2" larger on all sides in size from your freezer paper. Then tape the 8.5 x 11 print out to the freezer paper.
In order to cut out your shape, you need to fold a thick area and make a cut on the fold. This allows you to use scissors and cut from the middle. Carefully cut out around the edge until all of the silhouette is cut out.
Warm your iron up to the cotton/linen setting. Once hot, place the stencil with the coating side down where you want it on your tote. For me this was the bottom corner. Iron evenly across the stencil for about a minute - it will stick to the fabric now.
With your fabric paint, evenly paint a layer over the stencil. You don't have to be precise as the stencil does the work for you, just make sure to fill it all in.
Allow to dry for a few hours. Then carefully peel the freezer paper off the bag - it should come up pretty easily - and allow to dry overnight before using!
You can more on to more complicated projects - like stencils that require 'bridges' with things like letters (small pieces of paper left in tact to keep things like the hole in a P in place) and multi layered stencils. You can stencil just about anything - blankets, shirts, sweatshirts! The Mario polo was a multi-layer and colored set of stencils I did a few years ago.