There is something special about giving handmade gifts to our kids. Even when we don't have larger handmade gifts on the Christmas list, I love tucking a little surprise in my boys' stockings. Today I'm going to show you how to make this sweet little pirate map, and then I'll link a few more of our favorite handmade stocking stuffers down at the bottom of the post! Supplies: felt - for this map you'll need two full sheets of sand-color, a sheet of blue for water, and any other colors you want (I used greens, brown, grays, red, and yellow) thread (I used a sewing machine, but you can also stitch by hand) 22" long ribbon You can customize this tutorial to make any design you want! You can make pine trees for a forest map, add a castle for a knight's map, or make an outer-space map for an astronaut! For this pirate map, I started by drawing up a basic idea of what I wanted my map to look like: I started with a full sheet of sand-colored felt for the base of my map. I cut out a circle from the middle and a couple notches from the corner and edge where I wanted water to be. Then I laid blue felt under the opening and notches and stitched around the edges of the sand to attach it. Then I cut out all the little rocks, trees, and plants I wanted to use: I laid them out to make sure I liked the arrangement: Then I just sewed each piece onto the map! For things like tree trunks I just sewed right down the middle: I made "grass" by cutting little slits along the top of a green rectangles, then sewing down the bottom edge of the rectangle: And I just sewed a little "x" in the center of each treetop: I sewed around the edges of each rock and sewed down the middle of the treasure "x": Then I took some black thread and hand-stitched a dashed line around the map to mark the path to the treasure. Once I was done attaching all the pieces and stitching the path, I stacked this map on top of the second piece of sand felt and pinned them together. I cut a couple notches around the edges to make it look more like an old, worn out map: On the left side, I stuck the ribbon between the layers about halfway down. It's tucked in about 1" so there is a nice long tail for wrapping up the map. Then I stitched all around the edges of the map to finish it off. Make sure stitching around the map is your last step - the second sand layer will hide all the ugly stitching on the back of your first layer! Then I rolled it up, wrapped the ribbon around a couple times and tucked in the end. I love the wrap-around ribbon because even kids who don't know how to tie knots can do it! It's ready for a stocking! And here are a few more DIY Stocking Stuffer ideas (I'm a big fan of felt, guys): Peg Doll Camping Set Pocket-Size Unicorn Playset Kid's Wallet Tutorial Pocket-Size Bear Playset Make-Your-Own Mask Kit Roll-Up Car Playmat What are your favorite stocking stuffers for kids?