Crafty Corner: Ho, Ho, Ho

In keeping with the theme of holiday cheer, I felt it was finally time to get my decoration on and prepare my home for its first Christmas.

Since kitty is more than excited to play with (you can read this as seek out and destroy) shiny things or any new and interesting objects, having a tree inside the house was for sure out of the question....maybe when he is old and grey (or maybe just old, since he is already grey...seriously, why am I so funny??)

But, no worries! I still have a 3 season front porch that was screaming for some lights and ornaments:

My 'tree':

Some of the ornaments are quite special...handed down from my mama with great memories of decorating back in the day with the sibs. We always fought over who got to hide this one in a special place:

Inside, I did have one area that is yet to be reached by Mosie's little paws...the mantel. I bought a little bit of pearly garland, a Christmas birdie with a hat and bow tie (because I just had to...hello, he is wearing a bow tie), and then realized that we MUST have Christmas stockings.

Luckily I had oodles of scrap fabric lying around in my craft closet! I chose a few and got to work.

Sidenote: I really do need to learn how to read and follow sewing patterns someday, but until then I feel satisfied with winging it and following the evolving plans inside my head. So, my Christmas stockings are not perfect by any means...but I still love them!

I started by cutting a rough 'pattern' (one big...for me, one small...for Mosby):

I then placed then over my green duck cloth fabric and left about 3/4 inch seam allowance around the edges as I cut:

Next, I had to work out the plan in my head a little so it wouldn't turn into a Griswold Christmas disaster kind of situation. I first free handed a few letters (in purple) and then sewed to the front:

Next, I sewed a few pieces of fancy fabric together which would be the top of the stocking in the end. I wanted it to look finished and nice (again, there are most definitely better ways to accomplish this I am sure...but my knowledge of such things are still growing). Anyway, I measured out how far down the stocking I wanted to fancy fabric to go, cut 2 pieces and sewed them along the top and bottom edges fancy sides in, reversed them right side out and then ironed the tube I had made flat. I made sure to have the fabric overhang on each side when it was placed on top of the stocking piece, then I sewed it in place along the bottom edge:

I did this for both pieces and then stuck them together outsides in, pinned in place and sewed all the way around the stocking (leaving the top open obviously so Santa will have a place to put all our Christmas trinkets). I then cut away all the excess fabric:

Turned it right side out and...ta-da....jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way:

I added a little fabric hook to each so they could be hung by the (fake) chimney with care:

Magical Christmas mantel.....check ✔️! I'm really happy with how they turned out...took just a few hours and now my little buddy and I are ready for some Christmas cheer:)