DIY Life

What a long, strange Toolstravaganza it's been. Thirty days of tools and supplies for crafters, woodworkers, computer builders, renovators, knitters and now something for the sewing crowd. Four prizes in one package, in fact. First up: a Smart Kit Foldaway Sewing Kit, a nice little travel kit or mending kit. Next, a Mini Rex Cordless Sewing Machine. The Mini Rex is the smallest sewing machine you can get that will sew a double-stitch, just like a conventional sewing machine. Speaking of conventional sewing machines, the third and fourth prizes for today are linked: a Singer 7442 80-stitch sewing machine and matching cover. The 7442 features 80 stitch functions with 28 stitch patterns, 2 styles of 1-step buttonholes and a built-in needle threader.

How to enter hasn't changed for 29 days, and day 30 is no different. To enter, leave a comment on this post and validate it. Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM EST on August 15. Full rules after the jump and on our Toolstravaganza page.

Things in three's are usually good, three quick goals at a hockey game, McDonald's "The Fry Guys", Halo games, third time's a charm, free football tickets, three-day weekends, you get the idea. You know another thing that is good in three's? Free stuff. Yeah, free stuff, like today's toolstravaganza give-away tools. That's right, not one, but three tools (technically, 2 "tools" are sets of tools, so it is more like 3+) for you to have and to hold!

If your mind is now blown from the impact from that last bit of news, then I will pause a few seconds for station identification and mostly to let your mind get unblown, ready go ... unblown yet? Either way, the little monkey on my shoulder says to tell you about the fabulous prizes you could win if you are the commenter we choose at random (comments must be verified by you to be valid).

Take it slow if your mind is still recovering a little. If not, no deep breath required, dive in.

Today's Toolstravaganza prize is an airbrush from Paasche, a great beginner's tool. The single-action external mix airbrush is basic enough to learn quickly and easy to clean as well. The mechanism is tolerant of a wide range of paints and Paasche quality will keep this working well for a long time. The set comes with a can of compressed air so you can take everything with you.

To enter to win today's prize, leave a comment on this post. Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM on August 13. For full rules visit our Toolstravaganza page or click the continued link. Good luck and thanks for reading DIY Life!

Today's Toolstravaganza prize is a large array of jewelry-making supplies for the beginner. Glass beads, head/eye pins, clasps, various earring pieces, pliers, wire cutters, cord, 40 feet of beading wire, thread, Swarovski crystals, gemstone focal beads and more included in the hand-packed kit contained within the plastic tote. Exact contents will change as each kit is unique, but this contains almost everything the new jewelry-maker would need to get started.

To enter, leave a comment on this post. Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM EST on August 12. Full rules on our Toolstravaganza page or after the jump. Good luck and thanks for reading!

Today's Toolstravaganza takes a trip to the knitting shop for a beautiful and functional set of rosewood knitting needles from Jo-Ann. Eight pair of 14" knitting needles which come in an embroidered case, perfect for comfortable knitting. Set of eight includes sizes 8, 9, 10, 10-1/2, 11, 13, 15 and 17. If you know someone who knits, send this post to them by using the "email this" link below-- they'll thank you for it.

To enter for a chance to win today's prize, simply leave a comment and validate it (once you do it'll appear in the comments section). Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM on August 11. Full rules on our Toolstravaganza page and after the jump. Good luck, and thanks for reading DIY Life!

Today's prize is a 6.25 horsepower wet/dry Shop-Vac that really sucks. It holds a good 16.6 gallons of whatever you feel like sucking up with it, scraps from your last DIY job, dust, dirt, exotic particles, something the dog dragged in, or a mess created by a child who is hell-bent on covering everything you own in a slimy liquid, and much more. In fact, this thing has enough oomph for you to experiment with what is and is not suckable all over the house. All the guys reading this just clapped, I know I did.

This beautiful piece of equipment features a long 18' cord, a 2.5" lock-on hose, and all the attachments you could fancy. It also sports a bright yellow hull so it is much harder to lose in your well-calculated DIY mayhem. If that isn't enough to get you drooling, this vacuum will blow you away with its versatility as it doubles as a 200 MPH blower. If I did the math right, that is enough to hold a small child up in the weightless for a few seconds, not that I either recommend or endorse this practice. Please use this in a safe, careful, and proper manner, but don't be afraid to enjoy its use as well.

Please leave us a comment to be able to have a shot at winning this machine which I'm sure you will come to love like man's new best friend and even give it a prime spot at your family dinner table. This Shop-Vac is depressed still in the box, and it is begging to be unpacked, plugged in, and used to suck, or unsuck whatever you want. The vacuum wants you to be its new owner, and so do we. It sucks well, and frankly, we lose more bloggers that way, so we would love for you to have it instead.

To enter for today's giveaway prize, leave a comment on this post and validate it. Entry period is 5AM-11:30PM EST on August 8. Full rules after the jump and on our Toolstravaganza page. Good luck and happy crafting!

Just seven more days in the Toolstravaganza giveaway! Today's prize is a cordless glue gun, complete with glue sticks and extra batteries. This glue gun heats quickly, cools quickly, includes a built-in project light and quick-charger with status indicator. Just the thing for crafting, and especially handy when you don't want to be tied to an electrical outlet.

To enter for today's giveaway prize, leave a comment on this post and validate it. Entry period is 5AM-11:30PM EST on August 8. Full rules after the jump and on our Toolstravaganza page. Good luck and happy crafting!

Having a vise isn't enough, is it? Today's Toolstravaganza prize is a little more than a vise-- it's a workbench. A portable workbench that'll handle up to 550 pounds! This wonder from Black and Decker folds up (notice the word portable in the title?), does extra duty as a vise or a sawhorse. Plus, it's made of steel, what else?

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post and validate it. Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM EST August 5. Full rules after the jump or on our Toolstravaganza page. Thanks for reading and good luck!

Welcome to day nineteen of Toolstravaganza, our 30-day giveaway of tools of all shapes and sizes. Today's prize is a simple bench vise, made of heavy-duty cast iron. The jaw width is 9" and the capacity is 10 1/4". This vise features sliding dogs for securing long workpieces to the bench. And while the vise will grip something tightly, the quick release gets you back to work in a jiffy.

To enter to win today's prize just leave a comment on this post. Be sure to check your email and validate the comment so it appears. Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM EST on August 4th. Full rules after the jump and on our Toolstravaganza contest page.

Today we're kicking off the 2nd phase of our Toolstravaganza giveaway. In this round (and with just 13 more days to go) we'll be giving away more artsy-craftsy stuff. To get started we've got not one but four Xacto products! Today's prizes are: Xacto precision soldering iron and hot knife tip, a 9x12" Xacto self-healing mat, the handy Xacto X-tra hands with magnifier and the Xacto deluxe hobby tool set. The set includes a bunch of blades and knives, a jeweler's screwdriver, block plane, sander, balsa stripper, gouges, pin vise drill bits and a coping saw with blade. The set comes in a nice wooden chest as well.

To enter, leave a comment on this post and validate the comment (check your email and click to verify so the comment appears on the blog). Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM EST on August 2. Full rules on our Toolstravaganza page and after the jump. Good luck and thanks for reading!

To celebrate the second week of Toolstravaganza, we're giving away our biggest prize yet: a 10-inch table saw from Grizzly. This table saw is sturdy and feature-filled. Having a 30-inch ripping capacy doesn't hurt either. Features include a dust hood underneath with a 4-inch connector port, regular and dado blade inserts, 1 1/2 HP motor, heavy-duty miter gauge with adjustable bar, easily adjustable fence. This is the table saw for the DIYer.

To enter, leave a comment on this post and validate it. Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM EST on July 30. Full rules available after the jump and on our Toolstravaganza page. Good luck and thanks for reading!

Day eleven of Toolstravaganza and cutting is still the name of the game. Today's prize is a Makita 10-inch compound miter saw. Staple of the workshop, this miter saw bevels left up to 45 degrees and miters 45 degrees left and up to 52 degrees right. The saw is only 24 pounds, packing 15 amps in the motor and can be used by either hand.

To enter, leave a comment on this post and be sure to validate. Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM Eastern on July 27. Good luck and thanks for reading! Full rules on our Toolstravaganza page or after the jump.

It is day ten of the DIY Life Toolstravaganza giveaway, and today's prize is useful and a little bit too much fun. A reciprocating saw, or "saw's all" is useful for cutting jobs of all kinds, although it isn't always going to leave an elegant or clean cut. During my brief stint in the construction biz, we used these babies to cut off almost anything in our way, extra bits of drywall, small pieces of wood or metal flashing, and like all great construction workers we probably bit off more than the saw could chew at times.

Here's hoping the winner will treat this nice Porter-Cable quick-change Tiger Saw a little better. It features variable speeds at 0-2,000 strokes per minute, a 10-amp motor and a 1-1/8 inch stroke length. And of course, Porter-Cable makes some durable stuff (this is rated professional grade but it does lack the counterbalance sometimes seen on the higher end models). It does have a quick-change blade clamp so you don't need a tool to swap out saw blades.

To enter, leave a comment on this post and make sure to validate the comment (so it appears in the comments section). Read the full rules on our Toolstravaganza page or after the jump.

Day nine of thirty in our Toolstravaganza giveaway, where you can win a different tool or craft item every day. Today's prize is an industrial-strength router from Makita.

Routers are awesome, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a better one than this Makita. After all, it's got the word industrial in it! Seriously, this is just the thing for cutting everything from wood to plastic. With variable speeds from 8,000 to 24,000 RPM, a 2-1/4 hp motor, and included fixed and plunge bases, there's little you won't be able to do with this thing.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post and be sure to validate it. Full rules on our Toolstravaganza page, or after the jump. Good luck!