stockings

I'm close to finishing up the decorations around here and wanted to show you my newest addition this year.

My organized aunt added her bit of advice to the twelve days of Christmas project:  
Make a deal with yourself that you will only have x amount boxes of decorations. If you cant resist buying something new every year, you must get rid of something old when you pack it all back up. (I have 3 boxes, no more.)

I think that is a great piece of advice. I have one large bin full, but then let all sorts of stuff fill extra bags, smaller boxes and random spaces in the closet. This year after the holidays I am purging and weeding out what I don't love in the holiday decor.

These are worth the one-in-one-out rule:

Last year I made the white stockings out of flannel fabric, but had no time to decorate. This year, I wrapped the top in dark gray felt, and borrowed a project from Better Homes and Gardens (but can't find it on their website) and made these felt flowers. (They have some great projects this month - I'm planning on making a couple more and will have to do a tutorial.) All of the felt is just glued on with fabric glue - it took me just an hour. Finally, I topped them off with some stick-on bedazzling jewels. Love these - I used them in my gaga costume (to bedazzle my face), at Halloween and now - so multi-purpose!