I recently met a very creative woman named Anita who makes the most wonderful bags. Along with the shoulder bags featured in the pictures here, she also makes clutch bags, make-up bags and wallets. Each of the bags is Anita’s own design and even the crochet stitch that she uses is unique.

What makes these gorgeous bags extra special is that they are 100% made from plastic shopping bags. Anita starts by collecting the shopping bags and many of her friends help her by saving bright, uniquely colored bags for her. Then she cuts these into strips. Each large bag reuses 50 plastic bags and takes about 10 hours to make (smaller bags take a little less time). Anita crochets these using a double strip of plastic, which explains why her bags are so strong. You can easily fill a bag with canned goods at the grocery store and the bag will not stretch or break. The lovely variations of colors in the designs come from the actual plastic bags.

I love these bags! It is inspiring how Anita takes what we consider a ‘waste product’ (headed to the recycling station or worse, the landfill) and turns it into something very useful and beautiful. These artful bags remind me of the designer beach bags I saw in Hawaii for sale in every tourist shop.  As Anita’s bags are waterproof and lightweight they are perfect as swim bags, grocery bags or book bags for library visits. If they get dirty they can be hand-washed with soap and water and hung to dry.

Anita is based in Calgary and charges $10 per large bag, $5 for the clutch and make up bags and $1 for the wallets. If you are interested in purchasing any of these bags, you can reach Anita by email: abholmes@shaw.ca or if you like any of the shoulder bags pictured here, email me at delena@cabinorganic.com and I can mail or drop off the bag(s) of your choice. I see Anita about once a month now so I can easily pick up any orders if you live in the Edmonton area.

Thank you for sharing your great idea and your gorgeous bags with us, Anita!