Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Last year, right before Christmas, we realized Izzy did not have a stocking.  Tragedy, I know.  Plus I wanted to have a stocking for Andrew and myself (and Izzy) for our own house.

Side Note: Since I didn't do a "just wondering" post last week, I'll add it to this post...

Do you "do" stockings at Christmas?  If so, what's in a typical stocking?  Is it a few simple stocking stuffers and little "happies" or is it filled to the brim with smaller-sized "big" gifts? 

We always hang stockings at my parents' house.  Their mantle is very "hole-y" now thanks to all the nail holes we've added.  These days there are 8 stockings up there!

after Santa loaded 'em up last year!

Dad, Andrew, Me, Izzy, Lucy, Kelly, Grandma, and Mom...whew!

As you can see, Santa loads these stockings up, but there's a lot of candy, and random things like socks (?) and calendars and so on.

Andrew's parents don't do stockings, but they hand out ridiculously huge bags of candy to everyone after the present-opening.  Yum!!


Ok, on to the tutorial...

Mom and I made several new stockings in a hurry last year.  They were SO easy to make.  I've seen so many cute stockings on blogs, websites, magazines, etc. this year that I already want to make a new set, take my time, and embellish them a little more :-) But then again, I don't have my own house for Christmas this year...so maybe next year!

We made our stockings out of felt, so they were very inexpensive, too.  These are a great idea if you want new Christmas decor, but have a small budget.  You can use any type of cute fabric for these.  I've seen lots of fun patterns and even burlap used this year. 

We used red and white felt and had some red and white polka-dot ribbon on hand for some trim.  Using two layers of material, draw an outline of the shape of stocking you want to make.  [If you are using a pattern or a material with a front side and back side, place the two front sides together on the inside, so that you draw on the back side/outside.] We used a very basic and traditional outline.  [also, don't stress if your shape isn't perfect, you can perfect it as you go] Our stockings were roughly 18" long, to give you an idea of size. 

Then sew along the outline, leaving the top open.

Then fold the next color of felt (white in this case) in half.  This will be the "turned over" part of the stocking.  Ours was 4 1/2" wide.

Then wrap it around the stocking and cut it.

Once you have the white flap piece cut, then sew the ends together so that it'll be a circle or loop.

flip the red stocking part, to where the true-outside is on the outside, and the seam is on the inside.  Place the white flap piece on the inside of the red stocking piece and line it up at the top, and pin the two pieces in place.  Note that the folded edge of the white piece is further down in there.

Now, sew along the top edge, kinda on the inside...

If you pull the white flap all of the way out, it should look like this (before you fold the flap down):

Congrats!  The stocking is made!  Now time to give it some flair.  Flip the whole thing inside-out again.

We used ribbon for trim.  Pin the ribbon along the folded edge of the white flap piece. and sew in place.

Turn it back to where the whole thing is right-side-out.  Now create a little hanger loop.  We just used the same ribbon, but you can use cord or twine, or really anything!  Cut a small piece and hand stitch in place.

Ta-da!!  Mine was complete at this point, but like I said, feel free to embellish or add as much or as little flair as you'd like.

We had ours monogrammed, too - which made it super cute!!  I already want to make some more :-)

What's your family's tradition with stockings??

To continue with the Christmas spirit, Mom and I are packing up boxes of Christmas goodies to send overseas to our troops!  If you have a chance - take some time to do the same.  The post office sells boxes specifically for sending to the military overseas, and it's a flat rate, so you can pack it FULL!  It doesn't have to be anything big or fancy, just send something :-)

Kitchen Time

Kelly's touring kitchens this week, so here's mine (at my old house...still weird to say!).

looking from the laundry room/pantry area

abnormally clean countertops..

I took a lot of pictures around the house before we moved, so these aren't quite as accurate as our normal "lived-in" life in that kitchen.  

Way before we were married, or even engaged, Andrew and I painted the kitchen the two-tone blues and added the chair rail around the perimeter.  It was our first big "project" on the house :-)

My Living Room

Kelly's Korner is starting up the "Show Us Your Life" series again, so I decided to join up this time. 

This week's theme is the Living Room, so here's a peek at mine!

It's itty bitty cozy, so 1 pic does the trick!  I need to learn to take better pictures of rooms.  We have beautiful dark stained floors, but this picture doesn't show them at all :-( and our rug is actually pretty small. ha. 

I loathe corner fireplaces (unless you have a snazzy flatscreen mounted above, which we obviously do not).  Corner fireplaces make it so frustrating to arrange a room around, especially a room with two very short walls and 2 doors.  I've probably tried a bajillion (yes, a bajillion) different ways to arrange, and just gave up.  The new coffee table did help make the space feel more spacious.  I just remember the Nester's motto: It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

These are a few of my favorite things...

• the pottery pieces we've collected and received as gifts :-) especially our McCarty lamp...i love that thing.  Is it bad to love a lamp?
• my drapes.  the first drapes/curtains i've ever bought/purchased.  My mom and I always sew them.  but these beauties were on $8 clearance at Wal-Mart.  You just can't buy the fabric for that cheap.
• the new coffee table. that my husband built.  with his own two hands!
• the "twig" table, as I call it.  in the bottom of the picture to the left of the couch.  it's such a quirky little piece, i like it.  since my photography skills of this room are far from stellar, here's a pic: 

 Hope you liked the lil' sneak peak inside! 

Handy-man Husband does it again!

I am so impressed!  He made these awesome new outdoor chairs for our front porch + a matching table from scraps. 

I'm in love with the chairs and my husband. 

We like the adirondack chair look, but I feel like I'm always too low on the ground and it's hard to get out off.  These chairs were the perfect variation.  Normal seat height, but similar look.  Here are the plans...check 'em out.  We are obsessed with the Knock-Off Wood website - see the button over on the right side bar.  Our next house will be FILLED with handmade and custom-made furniture - just wait and see!  Andrew has really enjoyed having little projects to work on while I'm doing school stuff (scheduling patients, figuring out how to graduate, studying, etc).  I can't wait to be FINISHED with school so I can partake in the building fun. 

Office Room Redo

Finally snapped some pictures of the other guest room, which we mainly use as an office/study room.  We re-did this room for FREE.  At least I really can't think of anything we spent money on. 

We already had the paint in the garage from before I even knew Andrew, so I count that as free.  Plus it's been painted for about a year, but nothing else has been done to the room.  The paint is called "French Pastry" and I think it shows up more yellow in the pictures than in the room. 

There used to be a teeny cot-sized futon in here, but we luckily snagged this twin bed from my parents' house.  It's actually the trundle bed to a daybed - but don't tell!  Originally I wanted to make the bed a daybed because I felt like that was more "fitting" for an office type of room, but then that meant either buying new bedding and bedskirt OR way too much effort in making the existing bedding work for a daybed.  Plus I only have one sham.  AND the whole point was to re-do this room for free.  So it's a regular bed.  boring.  but free :-)  It also really bugs me that I don't have a headboard or at least a painting/picture up there.  I argue with myself over that one.  We've been trying to actually take-down all the bajillion things we have on the walls in this house, so I might just leave it plain-jane even though it still annoys me. 

If you EVER saw this room before, you will appreciate that this is a HUGE difference.  But if you didn't see it before, hopefully you still think it's pretty cute for being FREE!

ONE YEAR!!

Time has been FLYING by!  Andrew and I just celebrated our FIRST anniversary on August 1, and we couldn't be happier.  I have no idea where the last year has gone, but we have had so much fun together and have grown so much closer.  I thought we had decided a few months back that we weren't going to make anniversaries a big "gifting" type of occasion, but more sentimental.  We did get some big gifts this year, but mostly sentimental.  You only have ONE first anniversary, right?

ALL Andrew wanted (and by that I mean puppy-eyed begging...) was a MITER SAW.  Yes.  A saw.  I mean how romantic and sentimental can you get??  I gave in.  He's been so "into" building things nowadays, so I knew just how excited he would be.  We went to Lowe's and I said go have fun :-)  It was like a kid in a candy store!

^ Look how happy he is!  ^

All set-up and ready to go!

^ A little sneak-preview of the latest "project" ^

I am really excited about my gift, too!  We had to order it, so I don't actually have it yet.  I wanted a new band to wear with my wedding band.  My engagement ring is a solitaire with a diamond band, and my wedding band is a solid white gold band.  I love my simple band, but I have trouble wearing my engagement ring at school sometimes, with constantly pulling gloves on and off, etc.  So I plan to wear my new band along with my wedding band whenever I cant' wear my engagement ring.  Probably sounds ridiculously silly, but I will show you what I mean when I get it!

I couldn't stand just getting Andrew a SAW for his gift, because I really wanted our anniversary gifts to be a little more sentimental.  I know his saw can be considered sentimental because before I know it, I will have a house FULL of new furniture, all hand-built by my wonderful husband and we will reminisce about how he got that saw on our first anniversary....but I still couldn't stand it.

You know that list of gifts for each anniversary year?  it's like a theme or something?  probably not, because I guess it's kind of old-school, but I LOVE the idea of having a theme for the anniversary gift each year.

1 - Paper
2 - Cotton
3 - Leather
4 - Fruit/Flowers
5 - Wood
6 - Candy/Iron
7 - Wool/Cooper
8 - Bronze/Pottery
9 - Pottery/Willow
10 - Tin/Aluminum
11 - Steel
12 - Silk/Linen
13 - Lace
14 - Ivory
15 - Crystal
20 - China
....of course they're pretty awesome from 25+ like diamonds and emeralds and all that goodness!

I'm not sure what to think about year six - candy or iron?  good thing I have some time to plan before that one.  I also think it's funny that year TEN is TIN!  easy to remember :-)

Year one is PAPER.  At first I was a little disappointed.  How fun can paper be?  womp womp.  Then I started thinking about all the things you could do:  tickets to a concert, tickets for a trip, love letters, etc.  All of those are on paper, right?  Just using a little creativity.   THEN I came up with a marvelous idea, if I may say so myself: artwork or a painting of something special.  I asked best friend since Kindergarten, Anna, to do a watercolor of the church we got married in.  SHE IS AWESOME!!  Look at this masterpiece:

Andrew had NOOOOO idea.  Which is pretty impressive because we have NEVER, ever been able to keep a secret/surprise/gift from each other.  One of us just always gets it out of the other one or we just spill it.   So it was REALLY fun to have an actual surprise.

If you're still reading and if you've had you're first anniversary, did you eat your wedding cake?  Did you freeze yours?  I love hearing these stories!  There are the most hilarious and ridiculous "methods" to preserving this frozen block of cake to eat a year later and 90% of the time it's disgusting!  haha! Our cake lady offered us a few options: add an extra layer to the cake to save and freeze, just bake an extra layer but not add it to the cake and freeze it, OR to bake a FRESH new cake a year later.  We totally opted for #3!  We did our date night last night since we were out of town this past weekend.  We had an awesome dinner at Bravo! and came home to eat our AMAZING cake!

We cut it all "officially" and everything! haha!  We only cut one slice because we were so full.  Don't worry, I totally ate a full slice with my coffee this morning.  Breakfast of champions. 

Handy-man Husband

I am supposed to be studying for my test tomorrow.  [Seriously? I still have tests?!]  However, I have to take some time away from studying [or time before I study] to BRAG on how awesome my husband is at building little projects for me us and our house!

His latest project was a new coffee table for our tiny cozy little living room.  The first/previous coffee table we had is still our fav, but it's just too big for our space.  After hours and multiple attempts at re-arranging to make the space better, we decided a new and smaller coffee table would be best.  Of course we didn't really want to break the bank or budget for one either....so....Andrew built one!  I think it cost about $50 total. And, it's just what we needed!

I wish I had a before picture and some "during" pictures.  Sorry :-(  but here it is the final product:

He built it and I stained it!  It was a fun project for both of us!


It has a hinged top so you can hide the remotes and coasters inside.  It will even fit a laptop computer.  I didn't have anything to hold the top up, so ignore my foot...

We're thinking of getting some baskets for underneath...what do you think? plain or baskets?

I was so impressed with his handy-man skills! 


Sorry the postings have been sooo scarce lately.  And I'm sorry if I haven't participated in any of your tags -  I promise it's nothing personal - I just have been so unbelievably busy lately!  I promise I will try to do better :-)


Some upcoming posts: Hogan family beach trip last weekend and Fourth of July in Oxford this weekend.

My brother in law turned 30 today!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETER!!!

better late than never?

I apologize from the month-and-a-half-long hiatus from the blog.  School and life just caught up to me! 

Today is the last day of my D3 year...which somehow sneaked up on me.  This year has flown by.  Now there's only 372 more days until I am a D.M.D. and the latest "Dr. Ross."  Let the countdown begin!

My graduation isn't the only big thing happening 372 days from today.  My little sis' Kelly graduates from nursing school THE. SAME. DAY.  She's graduating from UT-Memphis at the Fed-Ex Forum at 1:30 the same day I'll be graduating from UMC at the Coliseum at 10:00.  Geez Louise.  We'll obviously have to divide the parents up,  but not sure how that will work.

What have we been up to lately?  We've made several trips to Oxford, which probably doesn't surprise any of you.  Some of those trips included the Red & Blue Spring Football Game, Ali & Richard's Shower, the Double Decker Festival, Mother's Day, etc.  And all of them were a blast, of course. 

We've also been busy with some projects around the house.  Basically just some furniture re-arranging/removing.  Trying to de-clutter the house.  We made a few changes in the breakfast area, took out the baker's rack, lowered the light, etc.  We worked on our deck, putting new furniture out there and hanging up shades.  We made Izzy a "fancy" bed.  Yes, I know, we're ridiculous.  It cost < $10 because we used scrap wood and fabric from wal-mart.  We "framed" our basic bathroom mirrors to make 'em look more spiffy.  [What a super easy and super cheap project!]  The project we're working on now is the study room.  We took the futon out and are taking out one of the bookshelves.  Then we're taking the big table out of there (even though it's an awesome study table) and replacing it with the desk in our bedroom (because we have too much furniture in our bedroom).  Then we're going to put a twin bed in the study to replace the futon, but we're making it a daybed so it'll be more couchy-officey.  All we've done so far is take out the futon and some knick-knacks so it'll be a while before I can show some pictures (i.e. we actually have to do work.) 

Here are some pictures of our other progress:


Izzy's Bed.  Complete with a bedskirt and blanket.  I know...ridiculous, right?

Our deck!  We love this "addition" off of our master bedroom.  I spy Izzy girl...

Framed up guest bathroom mirror.  We did the same thing in the master bathroom, too.

and this isn't really a new project, but it's Izzy's new favorite toy.  Dora the Explorer!  How funny?  We caught all these stuffed animals and toys at Mardi Gras, and she found them the other day and pulled every. single. one. of them out all over the house! 

So that's what we've been up to...nothing crazy but all fun!

Bedroom/Bathroom Redo

Here's a few pictures from when we recently painted and fixed-up our guest bedroom/bathroom.  We love our little house, and even though we'll move when I graduate, we've enjoyed making it our own.  We've really tried hard not to spend a lot of money since it'll all be relatively temporary.  One thing that we've done that helps make things seem new is to use something from one room and give it a new use in another room.  For example, we found some new curtains for our living room on clearance, and then used our old living room curtains in the guest bedroom - good as new!

 

[totally just realized that I misspelled "aisle" as "isle" in the picture - oops! but too lazy to re-edit! haha - forgive me.]

This week I'm working on painting our master bedroom/bathroom.  I'll keep you updated :-)

Enjoy your Sunday - GEAUX SAINTS!!!

3rd Answers

Have you ever had repetitive dreams, and if so what do you think it means?

I have no idea!  I have never been able to remember any of my dreams.  I know that I do dream, but whenever I wake up I can't remember what they were about, much less if they are repetitive.  I wish I could remember all of my crazy dreams!

On a side note, we successfully finished painting and "fixin' up" our guest bedroom and bathroom.  They look awesome!  We chose a pale sage/celery type of green for the paint color.  It's Valspar "Lyndhurst Spring Eve," and it was perfect!  I'll have to admit that I did have a momentary freak-out when I sampled the color on the wall and started painting the trim, because I really liked the color but thought it might be too much color.  Not so.  Once it was all dry - it was much more toned-down and was just right. 

We've already painted our Study/extra bedroom - "French Pastry".  So then came the hard part...picking out a color for our master bedroom/bathroom.  We really wanted to do a brown/beige color.  Just enough oomph of color for us, but neutral enough for whenever we sell our house.  Boy was this a dilemma.  It was the first time I made use of those sample cans of paint.  Browns are so hard to pick because of the undertones, some are pinkish, some are yellowish, some are grayish.  I just wanted plain.  The first color we tried out was "Cincinnati Hotel Carl Tan," and I almost didn't even buy the sample can because I just knew it was going to be way too light.  WRONG.  We liked it for us, but felt it was a little too brown for resale, so we went with "Warm Buff" instead and it was PERFECT!!  Not to boring beige but not overdone either.  We haven't painted it yet, but went ahead and took full advantage of the sale at Lowe's this MLK weekend.  They had $5 rebates on each can of paint!  So we saved $15 on paint this weekend :-) y'all know I love a good deal!

Read My Mind.

Seriously.  Someone literally just read my mind. 

I was just about to write a new post about my new "project."  I always have a project going.  Correction: 10+ projects.  ha!  I came up with my latest one a while back, but this weekend, I was actually motivated to do it.  Just ask my mom - I gave her an earful all about it. 

The project?  I'm starting 2 new binders.  Whoa - hold your horses.  And not for school. One binder will be my "Decorating/Design" book, and the other will be my "Gift/Craft" book.  I love interior design and decorating.  How many times have you flipped through a Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Anthropologie, Martha Stewart Living, (you get the idea...) magazine/catalog and thought to yourself, "I love that room!" or piece of furniture, or paint color, or whatever??  I do all the time.  The problem is that I either make a mental note (which never works) or stack the magazine under the coffee table to be forgotten and then subsequently thrown away 6 months later.  Then...when I actually want to redo a room or piece of furniture, whatever, I am clueless.

Solution:  cut out my inspiration ideas and file them by room in pretty, clear sheet protectors in my pretty new decorating/design book!  Perfect! 

This same idea goes for my craft/gift binder.  I am constantly coming across great little gift ideas that are perfect for friends, neighbors, and little "happies."  Of course, whenever I need a quick/cute/simple gift idea, I'm once again clueless.  I also love little crafty projects, so I'm going to file these things in this binder, too.  I'm thinking I'll organize this binder by season/holiday...what do you think?? 

Anyway...the weird thing is that I honestly planned on writing about this today or tomorrow (before I forgot!), and I found this post TODAY!!  FABULOUS!  Someone must have read my mind!! They even give you a PDF of pretty labels to print out for your organizing...who could ask for more?  [Remember I love labels.  So much so that Santa brought me a label-maker for Christmas one year!]  Their idea is to organize into file folders, but I can assure you that I do. not. file.  Shocker - I know.  The label-making, organizing freak can't bring herself to file.  I like my binder idea, personally.  

Hope this inspires you, too!!  Binder or files, whatever floats your boat!

Oh and if you want to make a really simple Family Tree, with just your grandparents, parents, and your family, check out this on Martha Stewart's website.  You can download a super-cute pdf for a tree and the labels.  Here's the tree and the labels.

Other "projects" I have going...

Most are projects around the house.  I made a list of our rooms and what needs to be done in each room - from cleaning to fixin'-up.  That way, whenever we do have time to work on a project, we'll know right where to start. 

I feel productive already, just from writing about it! ha!

Doctor-Patient Relationship

Andrew lured me to his office on Wednesday. I thought I was going to look at a new puppy that could potentially join our family. When he couldn't get in touch with the lady with the puppy [a good thing because we decided not to get the puppy], he said, "hey, while you're here let me just take a quick x-ray of your wisdom tooth." Now, I've been wanting him to take one of my wisdom teeth out, but I just didn't expect so soon! So, he took the x-ray, and then decided to go ahead and do it that day! Yikes! The good thing was I didn't have any time to worry and freak out about it. He was soooo good! It definitely gave me such a great new perspective on what my patients are feeling. But I was up and going the next day just fine! He's such a great dentist!!

Curtain Success

Andrew and I successfully hung 2 sets of curtains Sunday night. "Successfully" in the most liberal sense...as in, they are still on the wall. The first one we hung up is completely ghetto. The curtains themselves are perfect, the rod and the placement on the wall, not so much. We have never laughed so hard in our lives! We vowed to go get a new rod and brackets and try again. We totally redeemed ourselves on the second set of curtains, though. Perfection. They totally change the look of the master bedroom. It has been fun to begin making Andrew's house into "our" house.

We had an awesome lazy weekend in Oxford. I wish I had all kinds of things to tell you that we did, but all we did was watch movies and hang out at our friend Jeffrey's pool. And I loved every minute of it! Speaking of the pool...Izzy had her first dip in the pool, and boy is she a fast swimmer - she's a natural!!