stockings – Decor and Adore

As a child, one of my Christmas morning memories was seeing our stockings overflow with several tiny, wrapped gifts. My family’s red and white striped stockings had our names embroidered on them, and each year my brother and I would excitedly take them out of the Christmas decor box and hang each of them in their own special place. On Christmas morning, we ran toward our stockings of goodies first before opening our other gifts.

Now that I have my own home and Christmas decor to deck the halls, I’ve discovered I love to add details to stockings to incorporate them into my decor themes and to personalize them for each member of the family like I had as a child. Yes, even the dogs get their own stockings! These simple red and white stockings that I purchased from Hobby Lobby would fit perfectly with a variety of Christmas decor styles, and are simple enough to go with any personalization you choose.

While searching for inspiration for my own personalized stocking tags, I had seen several varieties of wooden name tags with the names written in beautiful calligraphy. Although I loved the look of those, I am not a calligrapher by any means and I wanted to create something with a similar wooden look myself.

Instead, on one of my many Hobby Lobby runs I stumbled upon and purchased these little wooden letters for $1.49. Unfortunately, the specific ones I used have been discontinued, but here are similar wooden letters for the same price.

To add some Christmas flair and dimension to the stocking tags, I found tiny Christmas floral stems with berries and pinecones. I also picked out some neutral, rustic-looking ribbon to attach to the top of the letters so they can hang from the stocking hooks.

To achieve a darker wooden look, I used some of the wood stain we had from other DIY projects (Varathane Premium Fast Dry Wood Stain in Dark Walnut). To apply, I dipped a small section of a rag into the stain and spread the stain over the front of each letter. To give the letters a more rustic look, I intentionally used a lighter hand with the rag so that some of the areas are uneven and unstained. If you are looking to make a tag with a pop of color, acrylic paints would work great with these letters as well.

When the stain was dry, I used a glue gun to attach the floral to the top of each letter. Since the floral stems have wire in them, they are easy to bend over the top of the letters and maneuver the stem down the back. It’s okay that the back looks unfinished and messy, the tags lay nicely against the stocking so only the front is seen.

Lastly, I added a small loop of ribbon to the top so that the completed letters could hang near the top of each stocking.

Now, each person and pup in the family has their own personalized stocking. These were so affordable and easy to make that it will be quick to add a fifth one for our Baby Boy next Christmas. I love how easy, functional, and cute these are!