Stuff Your Stockings GIVEAWAY!

**This giveaway is now closed. The winner was announced HERE**

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Isn't it crazy to think that Christmas will be here in only a couple short weeks? Yikes!

I hope you've all enjoyed the Stuff Your Stockings series last week. There were some great handmade projects shared, and hopefully we've given you all a few more ideas for what to make your loved ones. (In case you missed it, you can visit each of the projects shared by clicking the links below.)

1. Retro Cassette Tape Wallet - Lucy with Craftberry Bush  2. Can It! Mason Jar Dishtowel - Bev with Flamingo Toes  3. Leather and Wool Flask Sleeve - Shannon with Eat. Sleep. MAKE.  4. Make Your Own Coloring Book - Rachel with Maybe Matilda  5. The Little Things Purse - Jen with Eat. Sleep. MAKE.

Shannon and I are so lucky to have such wonderful, supportive readers. We started Eat. Sleep. MAKE. less than 4 months ago, and we've appreciated every comment and email we've received from each of you. We wanted to give back to YOU this holiday season, so we decided to do that by giving away some of the things that we've made!

One lucky reader will win one of Shannon's amazing illustrated geometric drawings with her wood matting (tutorial for the wood matting found HERE), three of Jen's knotted suede bracelets, one of Shannon's leather and wool flask sleeves, and Jen's "Little Things" Purse . Consider them our gifts to you for being so awesome and supporting us!

Are you excited to win all this awesome stuff??

Just enter by using the Rafflecopter widget below. We love all of you, but the contest is open to US residents only (darn expensive shipping!) and you must be a follower to enter because we want to reward our readers! (You can follow via our GFC widget in our sidebar, through subscribing through email, or by subscribing to our feed)! The contest will run through midnight EST December 13th and the winner will be announced here on the blog on December 14th. Good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



SYS: The Little Things Purse {Jen with Eat. Sleep. MAKE.}

Thanks for joining us for Stuff Your Stockings, a handmade gift series at Eat. Sleep. MAKE.

Sorry, no awesome guest blogger today, just little ol' me with a gift for the ladies in your life. For my handmade gift, I wanted to share a project I made for myself that I absolutely love (especially during shopping season!)

I wasn't really into shopping until I met my husband. But then, he introduced me to the women in the family and it was over. Now, I'm not sure what I was thinking back then. I love going on shopping trips with my family - especially when Starbucks is involved!

I made this purse with a specific purpose in mind: when I went out shopping with the girls, I wanted a small purse that would hold only the essentials I needed for a day full of shopping. Because, as we all know, you don't want a bulky purse holding you back when you have serious shopping to do! If you have any major shoppers in your family, I'm sure they'd love a little purse just like this one.

SUPPLIES: 2 pieces of fabric size 5 in. wide and 5.5 in. long for outside of the purse, 2 pieces of fabric size 5 in. wide by 7.5 in. long for the lining of the purse, 2 pieces of leather 5 in. wide by 3 in. long for the outside of the bag, leather scrap 1 in. wide by 23.5 in. long for the strap, and scrap leather for the pocket. (Optional: snaps or velcro for the closure.)

ONE: first, cut out all of your pieces according to the dimensions listed above.
TWO: with the right sides together, place a piece of your main outside fabric on top of your main outside leather and line up the 5 inch edges. Sew slowly and carefully to join. Unfold and topstitch along the sewn edge. Repeat with the second piece of outside fabric and main leather pieces.
THREE: place your two main pieces right sides together. Sew the sides and bottom, making sure to leave the top unsewn.
FOUR: sew on your leather piece for the pocket
FIVE: attach your straps to the sides of your main fabric.
SIX: place your lining pieces right sides together and sew the sides and bottom together, making sure to leave an opening several inches long at the bottom for turning. If you'd like to add snaps or velcro for a closure, do this now.
SEVEN: with your lining inside out and your main fabric right side out, slip your main fabric inside your lining fabric as shown in the picture above and pin all around. Sew closed.
EIGHT: pull your main fabric through the hole you left open in your lining fabric.
NINE: hand stitch the hole closed.

Now you have a fantastic little purse for all of your shopping day essentials.

I like to bring my phone, some credit cards, and other little shopping essentials in my purse.

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We hope you've enjoyed the Stuff Your Stockings series! We've all had fun sharing our handmade gifts with you, and hopefully now you have some ideas for what to make for your loved ones this season.

Shannon and I want to say a big thank you to Lucy, Bev, and Rachel for hanging out with us this week! They're some very talented ladies, and we're so thankful that they took time out of their busy schedules to share their projects on Eat. Sleep. MAKE.

And lastly, we want to thank YOU, our readers, as well - with a little giveaway! Check back Monday for your chance to win some great stuff!



SYS: Make Your Own Coloring Book {Rachel with Maybe Matilda}

Thanks for joining us for Stuff Your Stockings, a handmade gift series at Eat. Sleep. MAKE.

Today, we're happy to introduce Rachel with Maybe Matilda! Rachel is a mother of one, and an amazing crocheter. We're constantly amazed by all the cute things she comes up with (and she has an Etsy shop where she sells many of those things!) Both Shannon and I are beginning crocheters (yay for scarves!), so we appreciate how Rachel shares simple tutorials like her crocheted camera strap cover, and even basic techniques for anyone who would like to begin crocheting. Rachel will turn you into a pro in no time!

Taody, Rachel is sharing a fantastic idea for personalized coloring books for kids. Take it away Rachel!

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Hi there! My name's Rachel, and I blog about crocheting, sewing, DIY home projects, and my crazy 2-year old over at Maybe Matilda. This is me:

And this is the crazy 2-year old, Forrest:

(His favorite hobby is snapping pictures of himself on the webcam [in the nude, of course]--I have hundreds of pictures on my computer that look exactly like this one, plus a lovely 200-shot series of him rehydrating from the exhaustion of such rigorous artistic endeavor with juice and his sippy cup.)

I love creating handmade gifts for loved ones at Christmastime, but there's a slight problem when it comes to this little fellow: he has hated just about everything I've ever made him. I wish I were exaggerating, but it's the sad truth. Over and over throughout the past 2 years, I've spent hours and days and weeks making something special for him--whether a crocheted baby blanket or handmade clothing or crochet toys and sweaters--that he promptly tosses and shouts at when I finally present them to him. It's depressing, and I must be a slow learner, because I keep trying and getting rejected.

So for this Christmas (and this DIY gift series!), I thought maybe I'd fool him into thinking I didn't make his homemade gift. I'm hoping that if he thinks I didn't make it myself, maybe he'll like it better. So I took a different route and stepped away from my typical crocheted and sewn creations, and tried my hand at something new, something he wouldn't recognize as a DIY project at all:

This project was as easy and quick as a DIY project can possibly be, required almost no skill or knowledge whatsoever (other than the ability to upload pictures to a website, print them out, and drive yourself to an office supply store), and looks absolutely adorable. And I think he'll even like it. (Fingers crossed.) Ever since he was born, I've wanted to make a little book of his family members, near and far, so he could learn their names and faces (even for family members who live far away and don't see him often), so I went with a "Who Loves Forrest?" theme and included pictures of his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins for him to color in this book.

Here's how I made Forrest's coloring book:

1. Head over to Coloring Page Creator and set up an account (it's all completely free!). I believe you can also make a coloring book without actually setting up a membership and joining the site, but it probably won't save your work if you have to step away from the computer.

2. Start uploading the pictures you'd like to include in your book, and the site will automatically transform them into black and white coloring pages. I learned that some photos work better than others--it's best to stick with close-up shots that don't have a lot of background action happening. For instance, take a look at this picture of Forrest with his Uncle Jake: it's a tight, close shot of faces without much happening in the background, and it turned into a really crisp, clean coloring page:

And compare that to this one, which is kind of busy with all the trees in the background and grass in the foreground--it still made a decent coloring page, but it's a lot busier, distracting, and not as crisp-looking. I'm  glad it's part of the book since he is crazy about his "Elmo and Papa" (grandma + grandpa) and will be out of his mind with excitement to color them, but you can see that certain pictures transfer to black and white outlines a little more nicely than others.

 3. Click the "Create a Coloring Book" tab and add your pictures to your book! When it's all set up how you'd like it, you can save and download the book as a PDF.

4. Print your pages. Here's what I liked so much about the site Coloring Page Creator--there are quite a few websites out there that will turn your photos into coloring pages, but I loved that I could print them out right at home without their logo on the pages. Many sites automatically include a watermark or a logo or their own site name printed somewhere on the page. I loved that with this site, there was nothing added to the pictures at all. Just your photo, as a coloring page, period. (And they're not paying me to recommend them, by the way--they don't know who I am--I just was very happy with the site and with the end result!)

5. Bind your book. If you'd like, you can certainly staple the pages together or bind them however you'd like at home (I think it would be neat to slip them into those plastic sheet protectors so it becomes, more or less, a 'dry-erase' book--kids could color right on the plastic protector with markers, then wipe it off and start over later). I headed over to Office Depot and paid about $4.50 to have my pages spiral bound with a clear, hard plastic cover. Then I just packaged it up with new markers and it's ready to stick under the Christmas tree! 

(To make the "Who Loves Forrest?" text and image for the front, I just uploaded a photo of Forrest and my husband to PicMonkey, added the text, saved it, and then uploaded that saved image to Coloring Page Creator. Easy as pie, and it makes a nice cover page!)  

Thanks to Jen and Shannon for inviting me to join in the series! I hope you guys enjoy this quick and easy project (and I hope my picky DIY-hating son enjoys it, too). Come visit me at Maybe Matilda to see more of my projects! 

(Crochet Bug Finger Puppets, a Faux Roman Shade, and Thanksgiving Turkey Handprint Shirt)

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What a thoughtful present! What kid wouldn't love a whole book full of family pictures to color? Thank you for sharing Rachel! 

Visit Rachel at Maybe Matilda to check out some of her other great projects. Rachel is also participating in a "Dare to DIY" series with themed challenges through December 10th. Go check it out and link up your handmade projects!



SYS: No-Sew Leather & Wool Flask Sleeve {Shannon with Eat. Sleep. MAKE.}

Thanks for joining us for Stuff Your Stockings, a handmade gift series at Eat. Sleep. MAKE.

Hi all!  Today it's my turn to share my Stuff Your Stockings diy gift idea!  I chose a very man-friendly gift, as you can see.  It's no secret that man-gifts are in short supply in the craft blogger realm.  We generally tend to make things for ourselves.  I ran this idea past my husband a few weeks ago and he seemed to really like it, so I went for it.

And even better than it being leather and wool felt... it's no-sew!!

 

What you will need:

A flask, of course

Leather

Wool Felt

Glue gun & glue

Scissors

First:  Use your flask as a guide to cut out the base from leather.  Cut about 1/8" out from edge of flask.

Second:  Measure the distance around the flask and the height of the flask.  Cut your felt accordingly.

Third:  Using your glue gun, glue (one inch at a time) the felt to the leather.  Get as close to the edge as possible without glue seeping to the outside.

Your edge should look like the photo below...

 

Fourth: Once the glue has dried, slide the sleeve onto your flask.  Pull the felt tightly around and place a little glue to hold seam together. 

Fifth:  Cut a 1/2 inch band of leather and glue around base to hide the seam and strengthen the sleeve.

Slide your flask in the sleeve to make sure everything fits properly!

Sixth:  Add another 1/2 inch band of leather around the top of the sleeve. 

Seventh:  To hide the seam in the back, cut a 1 inch piece of leather the length of the height of your sleeve and glue only to the leather bands on the top and the bottom.  This will serve as a belt loop... which would be perfect for a hunting or fishing trip!

Now find a handsome man to give it to!

SYS: "Can It!" Mason Jar Dishtowel {Bev with Flamingo Toes}

Thanks for joining us for Stuff Your Stockings, a handmade gift series at Eat. Sleep. MAKE.

Bev with Flamingo Toes is a jewelry making genius. She makes it look so easy (and it is!) Bev i's our go-to girl for any inspiration or questions we have when making jewelry. Her How To Page is full of fantastic tutorials on different techniques and supplies, and she breaks everything down so that it's easy to understand. One of our favorite things that Bev does each year is to host a week long Anthro Knockoff series where she posts fabulous tutorials on how to make gorgeous (and much cheaper) Anthropologie jewelry. You can find some of our favorites HERE and HERE.

Bev makes more than jewelry though, you can also find her making tons of cute tea towels, clutches, and other great accessories.

Today, we're happy to welcome Bev with a great gift idea for foodies!

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Hello Eat. Sleep. Make. Readers!! I am so happy to be here as part of Jen and Shannon's Stuff Your Stockings series!

My name is Bev and I blog over at Flamingo Toes.

I LOVE creating things for the kitchen - aprons, dishtowels, potholders - really anything I can think of. It is so fun to decorate a kitchen with cute linens - I think it makes it more fun to cook! :)

I also have a leeeetle bit of a weird sense of humor - so I have to put my own funky little twist on things (like my "You are so hot!" potholder.)

Today's new dishtowel is so cute - and a little snarky too. :)

It's my Can It! Mason Jar Dishtowel!

Wouldn't this make a great gift for the foodie in your life? And you can totally leave off the little "Can It" label or change the wording if you don't feel like basically telling someone to shut it in their Christmas gift. ;)

The Jars are stitched on, then embellished with just a wee bit of thread sketching. And they have baker's twine decorating the lids! So fun.

Here's what you'll need to make your own:

• Fabric for dishtowel: I used osnaburg but you can use any canvas or linen, or use a purchased dishtowel. You'll need a piece 21" x 28" and a piece 2 1/2" x 56" (that little one needs to be cut on the bias)
• Fabric for Jars, lids and label (see pattern for sizes - you don't need much)
• Pattern (download HERE)
• Baker's Twine
• Wonder Under
• Embroidery Floss
• Glue (for ends of twine)

Start by embroidering your label. Trace the lettering onto a scrap of white fabric.

Use a back stitch to do the letters. If you need a tutorial you can find one on my How To Do That page for embroidery.

Pretend there's an exclamation point on there ok? I sort of forget to trace mine.

Once your embroidery is done, iron a piece of Wonder Under to the back and cut out your label piece.

Iron Wonder Under to your jar and lid fabrics and cut those pieces out as well.

Lay out your jars on your dishtowel. Center the middle jar on the towel, about 4" up from the bottom of the towel. Place the other two jars on either side, 1/2" away from the center jar. Remove the paper backing and iron these in place.

Cut three 24" pieces of baker's twine in whatever colors you want. I found that the thicker twine works best here.

Lay the twine over the top section of the jar. For the middle jar I centered the twine. For the left and right jars, I layed them out a little uneven since I wanted the bows off-center.

(So the left jar had more twine on the left side.)

Place the lid piece over the twine and jar top. Remove the paper backing and iron down, sandwiching the twine between the two pieces.

Once all your twine and lids are ironed on, sew around the edges of the jars and lids with a little tiny zig zag stitch. Sew right over the edges of the jar lids, sewing over the twine at the same time.

Now we're going to do our sketching. Lower the feed dogs on your machine and put on your free motion foot.

Mark the jars with the sketching lines that are on the pattern.

Sew over these lines, going over them as many times as you'd like. The more times you sew over them, the darker the lines will be.

For the jar lid, sew the horizontal lines on either side of the twine, then sew some zig zags in between the top and bottom lines, for a fun sketchy look.

Once your lines are all sketched on, tie the twine in the bows where you'd like them. Hand sew the knots of the bows in place.

Trim the bottoms of the bows so they're not crazy long or crooked and treat the ends of the twine with glue so they don't unravel.

Move the bow of your right dishtowel out of the way, then place the label to the side of the jar. Iron the label in place, then sew on with a small zig zag stitch.

Now we're going to finish off the dishtowel. Hem the two long sides and the end of the dishtowel that won't have the ruffle.

Hem the two short sides of the ruffle, then sew a gathering stitch 1/4" away from the top edge.

Sew the right side of the ruffle to the right side of the bottom edge of the dishtowel with a 1/2" seam. Press the ruffle down and top stitch the seam, 1/4" from the edge on the dishtowel side.

And you're all finished!!

So what do you think? Pretty fun right?

Thanks so much for having me guest post girls!

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Thank you, Bev! What a unique (and really cute!) gift idea, and the addition of the twine is perfect. 

I hope you enjoyed Bev's project, make sure to visit her at Flamingo Toes for more great projects and tips, and stay tuned for more great handmade tutorials throughout the week.