DIY Christmas Stocking Initials

This year, I’m pretty darn glad that decorating for the sake of decorating is back in my life. Case in point: my living room mantel with a few new crafts thrown in, such as the Christmas stocking initials I made in about 30 minutes. It’s not rocket science (I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if you already figured out how to make these by looking at the picture), but I figured I could share the details in case you wanted to DIY your own for just a couple of bucks.

All in all, this cost me about $2 for each one, and they definitely fall into the category I’ve called “lap crafts” in the past, because you can easily make these while watching an episode of TV (most of the time spent is waiting on things to dry, anyway).

You’ll need:

• chipboard letters, easily found at any craft store or craft section in places like Walmart (ooh, these gold foil ones look cool too!)
• white paint
• glue/Mod Podge
• extra fine glitter
• gold floral wire
• berry and pine needle stems (I went with fake from the dollar store, feel free to use fresh if you’ve got it)

First, a tip about stockings: I got these on a Black Friday sale at Target, but they initially had a Santa-style belt on them (see the small sliver of black about halfway down the seam?). I clipped it off mainly because my stockings don’t have a waistline, and plain looked better to me. But these were much heftier than stockings I’ve used in the past, which kept twisting on me when I was trying to snap pictures. Dumb.

My solution: I have a lot of used tissue paper for wrapping around the ornaments when they’re in storage, so it was temporarily repurposed into filling the insides of each stocking. It’s perfectly crumpled and works great for shaping. Waste not, want not, much more aesthetically pleasing all around.

For each letter, I grabbed an inexpensive chipboard “C” and “S” at the craft store and painted them white. Once they dried, they each got a heavy coat of Mod Podge and a generous sprinkling of Martha Stewart “crystal fine” white glitter.

Next, I had to figure out how to hang them, so I raided my craft storage. I wrapped a loop of gold floral wire around the top to create a hook (the wire is flexible enough to bend with your hand).

If you’ve looped the hook right, there will be a small gap at the top of the loop to wedge branches into, suck as a small clump of berries and glittered faux pine needles that I ripped off a decorative stem I found at the dollar store. You can also hot glue them in place, but they stayed just fine on their own like this (and it means I can reuse the items in a different way next year if I wanted to).

There you have it. I took off one stocking detail to add another, but it adds more sparkle and ties in a touch more white and green to the upper area of the mantel. Done!

The post DIY Christmas Stocking Initials appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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Christmas Tree Cutting Board

Who watched Ana’s show on Tuesday night?!

Okay.  Let’s put our hands down before our shoulders go out of socket….because I know that we all are reaching for the sky right now!  Seriously – if you missed it (I know some folks don’t get the DIY Network) then you really missed out.  They built a house completely off the grid and then….Ana was in a bathing suit!  In a hot tub!  It was like Bachelorette meets Building.  Seriously – that is my kinda show!  She rocked it and proved once again that we women need to have confidence in ourselves and our skills and everything we bring to the table….the table that we can build first  So proud of my friend!

Speaking of Ana & Jacob, if you missed our video last week, then you should watch it….we did a little “Deck The Blank” Challenge and it was super fun…

I promised that I would show you all how to make your own butcher block cutting board and I am back to share all the details!  It’s such an easy project that you can make it in under an hour and with a scrap piece of wood.

So we used a piece of butcher block that we had leftover from our laundry room countertops but really you can use any type of interior grade wood.  I recommend at least a 1×10 but if you want to make it chunkier and you only have a 2×12….go for it.

The first thing you want to do is lay down your wood on some scrap paper to get the width and length dimensions.  Cut the paper accordingly.  The bigger the cutting board, the better in my book.

After you have your paper cut out, then fold it in half and draw HALF of a christmas tree with the fold in the center.

Cut out the christmas tree and unfold.

Then trace the design onto the wood with a pencil.  This is so easy a man can do it.  (just kidding honey – I love you!)

Using a fine tooth blade and a jigsaw, cut out the tree.  I also cut a star out of the scrap wood (where the top of the tree left some chunks).

The star doesn’t have to be perfect.  I actually like a very organic shape because it shows that it was more handmade.

Then sand everything.  We used 120 grit, then 220, then 400.  This can get super smooth and make sure you hit all the corners and edges too.

Mark a hole for the string to attach to the star.  You want to drill two holes – one in the top of the tree and one in the star.  Then sand them smooth again.

Now is the perfect time to make your board food safe.  We used multiple ‘soakings’ of mineral oil.  You can get this for a buck or two at your local grocery store or drug store.  It should be in the laxative section.  While in that aisle, make sure you announce loudly that you don’t need a laxative but you are building a cutting board

After you rub that in with a paper towel, let it dry and then you can use twine or string or even leather to make your little tie to the star.  I tripled my string and love how sturdy it looks.

I definitely recommend that you only hand wash this item.  You can use soap and water and every year or so, you can reapply your mineral oil to keep it in tip-top shape.  We actually made one for the Whites (in the video) and embellished the star with painters pens (and sealed it with poly) but you can leave yours plain too.  We loved the project so much that I actually made another one and love how beautiful it is!  I can’t wait to serve warm bread on it on Christmas day!

So I hope you guys have a wonderful day and if you need a last minute gift – this one is a winner!  Also….DUDE IT’S ONE WEEK LEFT.  (!!!!!!!!)

My Christmas Living Room

Even though I’m probably going to keep messing with my Christmas living room decor until it’s time to put it all away, I think now’s as good a time as any to share the full look for this year’s tree and mantel.

The last time I even decorated to this degree was back in 2011 when I was just starting to figure out what I wanted the living room to look like. Since then, probably the biggest change has been realizing that the walls were painted too dark for the limited lighting I get in the room, which prompted me to go with a much lighter color in the hallways, entryway, and upstairs landing area as well.

A lot of the decor was reused from past years, but there have been a couple new additions, especially to the tree’s red/white/silver/gold color scheme (sources: family heirlooms, my Old World Christmas collection, Target, TJMaxx, Homegoods, At Home, Hobby Lobby). I had some trouble figuring out a decent way to clip my old star onto the new tree, so I went with a few ribbons up top that I found at the dollar store.

I don’t love the top, but the rest of the tree grabs my attention so much that I don’t mind. I added my two living room chairs on either side with some pillows from Target as a way to keep Charlie from sneaking behind the tree and bumping my ornaments (two beauties already lost :( …).

As for the mantel, most of it has been taken over by my big-ass TV, but I still found some room (read: crammed decor around it like there was no tomorrow) for the items I liked best (clearly, I have an undying love for mercury glass).

I snagged a new bronze reindeer (which, including the kitchen’s red one, brings my total up to 3) and a lovely metal rocking horse that I keep moving around because I like it so much. I may keep that little guy around all year!

The basket next to the mantel is also new, filled with several pillows I’ve either bought new this year (from At Home) or had upstairs in my master bedroom. One of my pet peeves is seeing hazards around mantels as decor (because fire), but I went with it anyway when I snapped these pics (I immediately took them and the sheepskin rug away and pushed the poinsettias back to the edges of the mantel after I was done).

A word about the poinsettias: I normally fill a cart with red ones on Black Friday (both Lowe’s and Home Depot have them for 99 cents apiece that day each year), but I have never bought the red-and-white-pinkish ones until now. I guess I went with it just to see if I liked the variety. The red ones began dying off quickly, so I think next year I’ll just buy more of these. (The platform the taller one is resting on is actually one of my wooden couch sleeves I made a few years ago.)

I’ve got two stockings hung (“with care” is debatable) with initials (one for me, one for Charlie). More on that in a future post on that little craft and such.

I also switched out the rug after the old beige and blue one clashed too much for my liking; I snapped this pic mid-switch so you can laugh with me (or, well, at me) at how sometimes I turn easy stuff into a comedy of errors. Every time I moved the rug, the rug pad wanted to come with it, which at one point was put into a flustered heap in front of the tree. It all worked out eventually, of course, but it’s funny to me when a simple thing refuses to cooperate.

The old rug is swapped it out for the one I originally had in my office and topped with a Turkish rug that my sister gave me, which I liked because it adds some extra, unexpected pattern. The bottom rug is clearly too small for the room, but at least now I know what I might be looking for in a replacement (and depending on what I find, I might still try to layer the Turkish rug on top). I didn’t realize before this that Turkish rugs have to be brushed a certain way to look right (you can see that from certain angles it looks like it’s got one light side and one dark), which I’ll have a post about sometime soon with the details.

I’m really glad I chose to decorate this year because it reminded me of all of the plans I still have for the living room. Some of it is relatively simple, such as bringing out the color of the stone with some sealer and touching up the wooden mantel area (it has seen better days for sure). You might have noticed that the coffee table is currently missing from the room, and that’s because I’ve put it and the old side tables on Craigslist and dragged them out to the garage. The plan with those is to build my own and give myself a customized option with storage (when I sketch things up, I’ll share it). If you have your own suggestions, I’m all ears as I gather ideas!

Speaking of ears…

The windows will also be getting an upgrade soon with some window casing (and then hopefully actual window treatments). I’ve added it already to the dining room and kitchen, so completing these three (and the one by the front door) will finish off the entire first floor. I’m tempted to start on it even as I sit here typing this, but I have also been telling myself to wait a few weeks, since it will be a hell of a lot easier to do when I take down the tree and have full access to the area. Whether or not I actually take my own advice is another story. I’ll also be adding crown just like I’m doing in the kitchen, so I’ll share that progress as it comes as well.

Finally, I’m hoping to start on the built-ins (!!!) I’ve had in mind for years once the holidays are over. I can’t wait to start sharing that project!

So, um… there’s my Christmas living room? I intended on just sharing the decor, then suddenly this post turned into talking about all the things I want to change up. Ha! Hope you’re having a good week!

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