Sugar & Cloth

Lately Seth and I have been trying to come up with inexpensive date night ideas that stray from our go-to diners or taco nights (hey, we live in Texas..). With Christmas just around the corner, we’ve been aiming for anything cute and almost free, which is how we ended up having our own little sunset hot chocolate for two.

We bundled up (which gave me good leverage when begging Seth to let me open up my H&M mittens that he got me for Christmas), and laid down a few blankets in the field near our house. I also brought battery operated string lights for a little bit of sparkle when it got dark.

For snacks we packed a vintage picnic kit with hot chocolate, marshmallows, peppermint, and shortbread cookies.

I can’t help but show you my ridiculously cute Rifle Paper Co. Christmas postcards. Mostly I’m just proud about the fact that I’m getting around to sending anything out at all, but then when you add red and white twine on top of it, I’m about as proud as Buddy the Elf after spreading Christmas cheer.

On a more relevant note (that you’ve all been waiting for), I’m excited to announce the winners that were randomly drawn for the Potter + Butler and Jelanie giveaways! Drum roll please:

Go ahead and clear your inboxes, Holly and Eleonora, we’ll be in touch with info on your gifts! For those of you that didn’t win, don’t fret, you can enter plenty more giveaways (14 to be exact) on 24 Merry Days. Thanks for all of your enthusiasm and to our awesome sponsors!

From bloggers to readers, and everyone in between, we all have a much greater influence on people than we realize. Someone, somewhere looks up to the decisions we make as well as the products and ideas we promote and stand for. It’s loads of fun sharing projects and ideas with you everyday, but today I want to challenge you to use your influence for something bigger… I want to challenge you to give selflessly this month.

It’s one thing to give gifts to people we love and care about, but giving to complete strangers is a little more difficult. Can you imagine how many people would have their entire day changed by walking out to their car to see a gift card on their window from a complete stranger? Or by paying for someone behind you in line, maybe even just leaving a generous tip and note to “pay it forward”? Out of the thousands of Sugar & Cloth readers, if we each participated in just one random act of kindness this Christmas, and influenced those around us to do so as well, that would be a lot of lives impacted!

To encourage you to participate and help influence the people around you to take part, share your random acts of kindness with me on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #payitforwardchallenge. I’ll feature 5 ideas and readers (or more!) on my blog each week for the rest of the month. Together we can make a big impact, are you willing?

pink smoke image, designs by Sugar & Cloth

Once upon a time I made my dad a patchwork magnet that was supposed to look like him driving his truck… it turned out about as well as you just imagined, or worse. Of course he still used the magnet on account of the fact that I made it, but I’d like to think that my taste in handmade gifts has improved since then. So, I put together a list of some of my favorite DIY projects to get you inspired to create rather than buy this year.

1 leather pouch by Sugar & Cloth for Poppytalk // 2 makeup utensil holder by House of Earnest // 3 postage stamp coasters on Design*Sponge // 4 ethnic wrap clutch by Swell Mayde // 5 stitched and patterned shower curtain on Design Love Fest // 6 custom stamped leather tie clips by Lovely Indeed // 7 unisex chef’s apron by The Purl Bee // 8 cutting board by Oh Happy Day // 9 secret family recipes book on Real Simple // 10 monogram marquee letter by Sugar & Cloth for Grey Likes Nesting // 11 printable elixir bottle labels by Eat Drink Chic  // 12 vintage tin candles on Design*Sponge // 13 morning, noon, and night salt scrubs on Real Simple

In case you need a few more ideas, you can catch last year’s top 12 list, here.

Here’s a riddle for you: What do you give someone for Christmas who already has everything? …. something to shove all of their stuff in, like this DIY leather pouch I made that’s featured on Poppytalk today!