DIY Christmas 2013 Stockings : Easy Ideas

This holiday season, dress up your fireplace or bannister with one-of-a-kind, DIY stockings. 

By : Brian Patrick Flynn

This green and black stocking features small, wardrobe-inspired touches. The cuff is made from plaid fabric cut to size and is attached with iron on adhesive tape, while the front showcases leather toggles normally seen on coats and jackets. Elements of apparel are excellent ways to bring couture touches to stockings bought off the shelf.

Bring a warm, tailored touch to your mantel with menswear stockings. Choose herringbone, houndstooth, check, plaid or stripes made of cotton, wool or velvet in masculine tones. Cut the fabric to size using a basic template from the Internet, then either sew the edges with thread or fuse them together using iron-on adhesive tape.

Felt is one of the easiest fabrics to work with. The stiffness of felt makes it easy to trace and cut shapes, letters or silhouettes. Hang custom name stockings made entirely from felt that are equal parts personal and poppy. To identify each stocking, cut family members' names or initials out of felt, and adhere them to the stocking with fabric glue.

Give your stocking 3-D flair with house letter embellishments. Choose a specific style stocking, then decide on a coordinating font and finish. For a classic, masculine appeal, add a tarnished brass X to a plaid stocking with gold thread and a needle. Since the thread and house letter are similar in tone, the thread virtually disappears, resulting in a seamless, tailored look.

Coffee lovers will especially love the look and feel of repurposed burlap coffee bean sack stockings. To find them locally, simply ask your neighborhood coffee house for any discarded sacks they may have in the back. Many times, the staff will be more than happy to give them away for free. Coffee bean sacks can also be found online for approximately $5 per sack.

Fabric trim is another quick and easy way to add a custom touch to stockings. Design Star season 7 contestant Britany Simon created this feminine stocking for a young girl by dressing it up with tassel trim.

Make it modern this holiday season with graphic felt silhouette stockings. Decide on a holiday shape that's easy to identify, trace it directly onto colored felt with a marker, cut it out with scissors and attach to a felt stocking body with fabric glue.

Put your old jeans to good use this Christmas as casual, farmhouse-chic stockings. Once the fabric is cut to size, consider adding another layer of interest with a holiday-inspired fabric on pockets or sewn on as patches.

Give Dad something classic and nostalgic for the mantel this season with a varsity letter stocking. Buy vintage varsity letters online, and iron them on to the front of a basic or handmade stocking, or try stitching them by hand with a needle and thread.

If you've got old sweaters taking up room in your closet or dresser, give them new life this holiday season as warm, welcoming stockings. This can be a DIY project by deconstructing the sweater, tracing a stocking template directly onto it and sewing cut pieces together with yarn. For best results, drop the sweater off with a local tailor or your local dry cleaner for a minimal fee. Knit pieces require a higher level of skill for sewing than more malleable fabrics such as felt or cotton.

The texture of burlap can instantly warm up a room and add rustic appeal to your holiday decor. Give burlap a colorful, graphic update with a painted pattern. To do this, create a stencil in your desired pattern, place the stencil on top of the burlap and paint the pattern with a detail brush and acrylic paint.

Bring a touch of classic femininity to your mantel with a women's wear-inspired stocking. Find a fashion based pattern that works well with holiday decor, and add fashion accessories such as cameos or brooches for an elegant touch.

DIY Votive Candle Runway for Santa : Christmas 2013 Ideas

Light the way for Santa by lining entry steps with glowing votives. 

 By : Janell Beals

Materials Needed: 

- several glass cylinders or mason jars 

- rock salt 

- votives 

- length of garland 

- matches

Gather Supplies 

Select glass cylinders or jars and gather votives and rock salt.

Fill Containers 

Pour rock salt into each container, filling approximately 1/5 full.

Place Votives 

Arrange votive in each container, pushing votive down into salt to secure in place.

Light Candles 

Light candles, arrange along steps and enhance with a length of garland.

Wait for Santa to Arrive 

Enjoy your handiwork, set out some milk and cookies and get ready for the man in the red suit 

to make an appearance.

DIY Easy Handmade Christmas Stockings 2013 Ideas from HGTV

No mantel? No sewing skills? No problem! These unique handmade Christmas stockings will inspire you to think outside the sock.

Instead of a traditional Christmas stocking, try making these fun, vintage grain sack inspired "stocking sacks" from Marian Parsons. With draw strings and custom painting, these sacks are cute and functional. Use them in lieu of stockings, as a stand-in for wrapping paper or as a personalized hostess or teacher gift.

These burlap coffee sack stockings have an effortless, vintage vibe. Sprigs of greenery peeking out of the top feel fresh and also hide the treasures inside from prying eyes.

Don't toss that old sweater. Instead, repurpose it as custom stockings for the entire family. This project requires no sewing machine or knitting needles and can easily be completed in an afternoon. (That's our Christmas gift to you!)

Give your holiday mantel a high-fashion makeover with custom leather Christmas stockings. Wouldn't these tanned beauties be so appropriate for a rustic industrial holiday?

Rate My Space user QuincyRN had the clever idea to repurpose cowboy boots as stockings for a dose of Southwestern charm.

These handmade plywood stockings from blogger Erin Loechner reflect a Scandinavian aesthetic and the wood subtly warms up the white mantel. Best of all? They're magnetic, so they can be removed and filled with ease.

Give your holiday decorations a playful twist by swapping out traditional Christmas stockings for metal pails painted with fun, bright colors. Who said stockings had to be made of fabric anyway?

Coastal Inspired Holiday Decorating Ideas for Christmas 2013

Designer Casey Noble shares these ways to bring a cool, casual and coastal vibe to your home during the holidays with seaside-inspired decor.

Seashells are ideal for dressing up a simple tabletop. For a casual, coastal look, create small seashell Christmas trees using cone-shaped floral foam. Pick up floral foam forms in three different sizes, then hot-glue seashells of various colors, textures and shapes all over the surfaces.

To put a coastal spin on a classic manzanita branch, dress it up like a tabletop Christmas tree. Use rope-strung shells, sand dollars and starfish as makeshift ornaments to adorn each branch.

Make It: Add casual, coastal flair to your door with a rope-and-burlap wreath. Buy a 24-inch foam wreath form, one spool of white nylon rope, one spool of blue nylon rope, white acrylic paint, one detail brush and one half-yard of red burlap. Use a hot glue gun to secure every third or fourth strand of white nylon rope along the back of the wreath form. Next, add contrasting bands of blue nylon rope to the four corner quadrants of the wreath, creating a two-toned, layered effect. To create the banner, trace the shape of a pennant onto the red burlap, and then cut it out with fabric scissors. Free-hand a seasonal message using a detail brush. Attach the banner to the left and right sides of the wreath using white nylon rope, then hang on the door with an over-the-door stocking hanger.

Sand-dollar sugar cookies add a surprising seaside twist to Christmas sweets. After making classic sugar cookies, use a knife to cut five small slits approximately one half-inch from the edge of each cookie. Press a flat almond slice into each slit to complete the look.

Model sailboats offer a more masculine approach to nautical style. Intended for year-round use, these classics instantly take on a holiday look when surrounded by seasonal colors and textures. To keep a model sailboat from appearing out of place, work in nautical or coastal accents such as rope, weathered woods or aged metals.

Make It: Gather gently used beach towels, dividing them by like color palettes, textures and patterns. Next, print out this stocking template, then cut the towels to size using fabric scissors. Hand-sew or machine-stitch the pieces together, turning the stocking right-side out once finished. Complete the stockings by hot-gluing sections of nylon rope around the top, tying a knot on each end.

Similar to snow globes, glass beach scene ornaments are perfect elements for invigorating seasonal decor. Buy clear glass ornaments and add a layer of sand. Drop small seashells through the ornament opening until they're layered along the sand in a balanced manner.

For a more textural approach to nautical holiday decor, update a green pine-needle wreath with organic embellishments like capiz shells and starfish.

Make It: Pick up driftwood or weathered barn wood planks, then cut to 10-inch-by-12-inch rectangles using a handsaw. Choose your holiday greeting, and then customize each plank with individual letters, shaping the O's as captain's wheels, the S's as ropes and the J's as anchors. Next, free-hand or stencil letters onto each piece of wood using latex paint. For a more casual look, consider simply leaning the letters against the wall. To properly hang the letters, add picture hooks to the back.

Make It: Pick up twine and gather sand dollars, small shells and starfish. Use a small screwdriver and a rubber mallet and create one small hole near the edge of a single arm of each starfish. Unfurl the twine and thread it through the holes in the starfish and sand dollars, tying it into small knots, leaving gaps between each one. Lastly, add a final layer of nautical flourish by securing small shells to each knot using a hot glue gun.

Kids' Candy Crafting Table for Christmas 2013

From creative crafting ideas to candy-colored decor, designer Casey Noble shares fun and festive ways to turn a living room coffee table into a kid-sized holiday hangout.

By Brian : Patrick Flynn

The center of this great room is designated as a holiday gathering spot for kids, complete with snacks and interactive crafting ideas. With kids occupied, parents can enjoy a more formal dining experience in the next room.

Turn a coffee table into a holiday snacking and crafting spot by grouping floor cushions in seasonal hues around the perimeter. Similar to high chairs at standard dining tables, a small stack of fluffy cushions or pillows can help boost toddlers up to the perfect height.

Give kids a designated surface to draw on with a roll of kraft paper spread across the surface of the table. In addition to being able to express themselves creatively, this also gives parents a chance to suggest seating by writing each child's name onto the paper with markers, chalk or crayons.

Similar to vintage milk bottles, Mason jars are a sophisticated alternative to plastic vessels or drinkware. To bring classic farmhouse style to a kids' table, consider using Mason jars for snacks such as crackers or pretzels.

While kids entertain themselves at the holiday soiree, it's important to always consider safety first, especially when it comes to candy. Before laying candy out, be certain to ask parents if their children have any allergies or dietary restrictions, then stick solely with small, soft styles rather than hard candy, which could pose a choking hazard.

One of the keys to making candy and snacks interactive as crafting supplies is to choose ring-shaped options with holes directly in the center. This will allow kids the option to use their food to make crafts by sliding twine, ribbon or string directly through the center to create garland, bracelets or necklaces.

Kids can also put the holiday table to use as a place to create handmade gifts for friends and family. To turn colorful candy into necklaces or bracelets, supply kids with string, twine and ribbon in assorted styles. Encourage them to get creative with color and shape, and then bestow their creations to friends or family.

Candy garland is a more practical alternative to candy necklaces or bracelets. The key to creating these effectively is ensuring kids use safety scissors to cut strands no less than 48 inches in length. Once placed around the tree, these strands can create a cohesive, seamless look without the hassle of having to start directly at the bottom, then winding up and around the tree with one extra-long single strand.

Help tiny guests gather their culinary crafts with unique party bags. Find letters and fonts online, and then print them directly onto paper bags by running them through a basic color printer. Prior to the end of the party, keep the bags displayed nearby as tree decor, encouraging kids to take them down and fill them up before they leave.

Tour of the White House at Christmas 2013

Step inside America's first home during the holidays as designers and volunteers prep rooms from floor to ceiling with handmade crafts, one-of-a-kind art displays and decked-out Christmas trees.

By : Kayla Kitts

Welcome to a White House Christmas
Each year, first lady Michelle Obama chooses a theme for the home's holiday decor. This year's theme is "Gather Around," a celebration of coming together with loved ones during the holiday season. Each room in the White House will showcase this idea through handmade decorations and unique Christmas trees.