Stocking Stuffers (handmade, of course!)

 I am so glad you stopped by! I am busy stuffing stockings this week. I love stuffing stockings! I love trying to come up with little bitty fabulous surprises. I remember loving my stocking when I was little! My mom made my stocking and always put fun little things in it. I think it's the idea of small treats. Bottom line, I love a stocking. I think I love it even more as a mama. I adore watching my children reach in their stocking and pulling out each little surprise one by one. I fill the stocking with a lot of old familiar favorites like an I tunes card or a starbucks card. But it thrills me to find the unexpected and fill it to the rim. I can't tell you anymore things because it's not Christmas yet, but take my word for it, it's filled with lots of cool things. I have to tell you, one year I was running out of time and I enlisted my husband's help. I asked him to do the boy's stockings and I woud do the girls. I will never do that again! Sweet thing, he is the most amazing man ever, but stuffing stockings is not his gift. He thought I was crazy to "redo" the boys stockings, but Christmas morning, when he saw the boys loving all the little surprises, he admitted there is an art to filling a stocking, and I did good. Anyway, you get the idea. I love a stocking. This year I made fabulous rings for the girls stockings. However, it was so easy and so fun, I had to show them and let them make them with me. We had a ball with these. I thought you might like a fun idea to make with your girls this year. This is what we did!



I found these little wood rounds at my local craft store. The wood rounds are everywhere. People are using them for everything. Mine came in a package of ten or so and they were ready to go. Ok, can you cut up a branch from your yard for free? I guess you could. I've not done that yet, but I don't see why not. If you do that, let me know how it turns out!



I then took blue painters tape and taped off the sides of each round. This is really important, because when you pour the glaze it will not stick to the sides of the round. If it gets on the side it can be sanded off. The tape also keeps you from getting paint on the sides. The main thing is that the tape kind of makes a stand for each round and once you pour the glaze it runs down the tape rather than causing the round to stick directly to the surface you're working on.



This is the fun part! Paint! Paint! Paint! I used acrylic paint. Ok, there are lots of fun things you could do at this point. If you wanted to put text on it , this would be the time to do that. KK painted a tiny heart in the center of hers. In other words, be creative. Paint anything you like. You could even put a small photo on it if you wanted too. Go for it.



I'm kind of simple, I just painted all one color. I love it! I will say, I did swirl a little white on the edges so it wasn't completely one flat color.



I bought an acrylic glaze and mixed it up (in a well ventilated area) according to the directions. I found this at my local craft store. I mixed with a popsicle stick and poured slowly onto each round. Once I poured on to the round, I gently spread it with the stick. Now, you could use a polyurethane or spray glaze to seal the round, but I thought a thick acrylic coat would be more professional. But I'm all about using what you have.



This is the hard part. Once it's poured  you have to wait for it to dry....overnight! But let me say, It's worth the wait! These are awesome! One really great tip, the stand you make out of tape needs to be pretty even, otherwise the acrylic will run off the ring completely. It's really disappointing to come back to get your ring the next day only to find it has no plastic coating on top. So get the stand right! It makes a difference.



I found ring pieces at my local craft store. They come like 10 to a package. They run about $3. I really like the wider band. Then attach the round to the flat part of the ring base with hot glue. I recommend using E6000, its a really strong glue.



Do you love this ring or what? I Love love love it! It was fun and easy and anyone can do it! The best part? It is the best stocking stuffer ever! Definitely make one and shoot me a pic. I'd love to see what you create! Have fun! And Merry Christmas! love love love Ruthie