Stocking Stuffers for those who are on-the-go...

Kellie is a wife, mom, tree-hugger and crafter extraordinaire. Well, let's not go that far. She blogs regularly at Greenhab and the Green Phone Booth.

I am hip-deep in making Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers this week. Why does December fly by so quickly? (And don't I say that about every month?)

Today I have some cute tutorials for you! At least I think so...hopefully you do to!

In our effort to tread lightly, we also try to influence friends and family in a positive way. This year, I've made a coffee sleeve for my mom's to-go cup, or just to carry in her purse in case she has the sudden need to visit Starbucks.

~*Coffee Sleeve Tutorial*~

You'll need fabric (all the same, or coordinating), some insulated batting, and a paper coffee sleeve from your local coffee shop to use as a pattern. Depending on your preference, you might want a piece of elastic and a button to hold it closed, or even some velcro.

1. Using your coffee sleeve as a pattern, cut your pieces of fabric: one outside, one inside, and one piece of batting. Remember to add about a half inch all the way around for seam allowance.

2. Put the outer and inner fabrics together, right sides together. Then lay the batting on top. I usually cut my batting a little smaller. This makes the whole thing lay flatter once you turn it. As you can see from the third photo, you only need to catch it in a few stitches here and there so it doesn't get loose when you turn it right side out.

3. Sew all the way around, leaving a hole open at the bottom to turn. Clip corners. Notch the top curve and clip the bottom curve so the fabric doesn't bunch up when it's turned.

4. Turn right side out, press, top stitch all the way around.



5. At this point I hand stitched the sleeve closed using a few strands of embroidery thread. I also embellished it with a felt petal and a button.

There are so many ways to close this. You could make it a bit longer, so that the sides overlap, and velcro it closed. Or, sew an elastic loop into one end and a button on the other. I'd like to make one in a solid color and put a little felt bird on it.

~*Utensil Wrap Tutorial*~

For this project I used the same coordinating fabric, a piece of ribbon, and some utensils. (I also made a second version for one of the guys used a more manly mattress ticking fabric and a leather cord instead of ribbon. You can use utensils you already have, of course, but I found these bamboo utensils on sale for a few dollars at Greenfeet and thought they'd be perfect for this gift.



1. Time to cut! The outer and inner fabric will be 12" square. The pocket will be 4" wide by 9" tall. The ribbon can be 24-ish inches long, give or take an inch or two.

2. First we're going to make the inner pocket. Fold the pocket piece in half, with right sides facing. Pin and sew all the way around, leaving an hole at the bottom for turning. Clip the corners, turn and press flat.

3. Pin the pocket to the lining fabric, wherever you desire, and sew the left and right sides of the pocket to the lining fabric, very close to the edge. I used about 1/8 inch allowance there. You can leave the bottom unsewn as it will get eventually be caught when the outer and inner pieces are sewn together.



4. Using a fabric marker, draw two lines from top to bottom of the pocket. (I did mine 1 and 1/8 inches apart, because that was what fit best with my bamboo utensils.) Then sew down each of the lines. Now you've created three little pockets for your fork, knife & spoon.

5. On the left side, pin your ribbon to the lining with the tails going in.

6. Lay your outside fabric on top, so that the right sides are together, pin.

7. Sew most of the way around, leaving an opening of about 4 inches for turning. Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Clip corners, turn, press flat.

8. Top stitch using a 1/4 seam allowance.

Now you can fold the top of the napkin down and wrap it up. I like have the top fold down because then the utensils don't fall out the top. I made a crayon roll last year that was very similar to this and I've found that the crayons tend to pop out the top sometimes.

You could make this a totally "green" gift by using an old shirt, handkerchief, or scrap fabric. I throw this in my purse and always have it handy when I'm out and about, which helps me to avoid disposable plasticware.