Personalized Stockings & Tree Skirts

Here is a cheap and easy way to personalize your stockings or tree skirt for Christmas!

I bought a stocking for our new puppy Posey and the first thing my boys said when I hung it up was, "It needs her name!"  They were already upset that I bought one instead of making her one to match ours, so I knew I had to at least make her name match.  While I was making it, I thought of all the sweet people who read our blog and decided to take pictures.  It really is a great way to jazz up your stockings or tree skirt.  You could use any color embroider thread and any font you like.  It is very cheap and I did Posey's in less then 2 hours.  That's with taking pictures! 

All you need is:

-  a needle

-  embroidery thread

-  pen - I used a marvy 1122 pen

-  safety pin

1.  Use a word processor on your computer (such as Microsoft Word) and find the font you want to use.  Select the font size you want and print it out.  No Printer?  Just write it on a piece of paper.

Cut it out to fit on your project

2.  Put your paper on top of a piece of cardboard.  Use your safety pin to make a hole about every 1/4 to 1/2 inch on each letter.

3.  Put a piece of cardboard under where the name will go.

4.  Pin the paper to the fabric.

5.  Use a pen to fill in all the holes.

Your project will look like this when you are done.

If you look closely, you can see the name Posey in dots

Now it is time to get out your needle and embroidery thread!  Use a chain stitch using the dots you drew in as a guide.

6.  Poke the needle from under the fabric up through the first hole.

7.  Poke the needle right next to the same hole.

8.  Pull the needle under the fabric and leave a loop:

9.  Poke the needle up from under the fabric into the next hole.  Go through the loop and pull the thread:

10.  Poke the needle in the loop next to the same hole.

Keep going all the way around until you have done the entire name. 

My boys were very excited when they saw Posey's stocking hanging up with her name on it. 

Here are the names I did on our stockings in black.  It took awhile to do all the names, but I know we will have them forever... so it was worth it!

I also made tree skirts for Brandi and I, using the chain stitch to write our initials.

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Christmas Tree Picture Ornaments

Christmas 2011
 

Are you tired of packing and storing all your Christmas ornaments?

Christmas 2012

When I was younger we had a fire at our house and ALL our ornaments were burned.  In a matter of seconds the Christmas tree we once knew would never be the same.  Did it change our Christmas the next year? NO.  It was a little sad when it was time to decorate, but we still had all the memories and best of all we still had each other.  

I don't know if it was the fire or just the fact that I have never been a fan of having "extra" stuff, but a few years ago I was in need of ANOTHER plastic tub to hold all of our ornaments and I decided the madness had to stop.

I always felt weird buying big plastic tubs to store all our ornaments in for 11 months of the year, but that didn't stop me from buying all the "cute" ornaments I saw. 

If we didn't buy ornaments then what would we use to decorate our tree?

How about................PICTURES!!!!

We filled our tree up with special pictures from throughout the year!  

My husband put a title on each picture before we printed them out.

6 Sparkly Polliwog Kids

  

(You could also use white address labels and write a title on each one before sticking it to the picture) 

The kids LOVED looking at all the fun things we did that year and I loved not having to buy another plastic tub.

On New Years Day I took down all the pictures and put them in a photo book.  I also included all the Christmas cards with pictures that were sent to us and any important papers from the year.  

It's fun, cheap, and a great way to celebrate all the special days throughout the year.  It's also a great way to keep pictures and papers organized.  If the kids really like a picture they bring home from school I just have them hold it up and I take a picture of them holding it. 

No more plastic tubs for me!!! 

**We back up all our pictures on an external hard drive, just in case something happens to the photo album.

Here is how I did it:

1. Pick out all the pictures you would like to have on your tree.  This year we did about 75.  

2.  Put a title on each picture using Photoshop.......or fill out the white address labels and print pictures.

3.  Start making bows.  I used red ribbon this year, but last year I just used paper clips.

I used a water bottle to tie my bow.  After you make one use that as a guide and cut all your ribbon the same size....... then start tying! 

Make enough for each picture you want to put up

4.  Punch holes in each picture.

5.  Put ribbon thru the hole with the bow in the front.

6.  Put bow thru the back of the ribbon.

7.  Pull tight and now your picture ornament is ready!!!

My kids wanted to put a few of our old ornaments on the tree this year with the pictures

 Can you see our elf "Bongos" hiding in the tree? 

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DIY Banners

I love making banners for just about every occasion. Sometimes it takes me a really long time that could be spent doing other things. Until, I found a great Blog called Shanty-2-Chic that provides you with any letter, number or symbol that you may need to make your own banner! Its really is super cheap, easy and doesn't take much time at all.

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A Stress-Free Christmas

video by Heather

Christmas

I have always enjoyed the rush of black Friday and getting as many gifts as possible for a bargain. Waiting for the ads to come out and circling all the things that I wanted to buy and wrap for my family. Waking up at 5am and racing to get that “perfect gift”.

I think it might have stemmed from not having much as a kid. I remember calling my friends to see what Santa brought them, only to find that there list was way longer then mine. Did that mean I was bad that year???

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