DIY Sweater Christmas Stockings & 12 days of FITNESS!

I just finished the Christmas stockings and jumped right on the computer to post'em up!

This was the easiest project ever, and it was pretty fast from start to finish (once I worked out all the details :)
Here is the step-by-step:

First I went to the DI (our local thrift store) and found 5 sweaters that I liked. The price was 5 or 6 dollars each.
Then I layed the first one out on the table and put my old stocking on top to size it up...

Then I cut around the sock leaving about an inch seam allowance as I cut...

After it was all cut out, I turned the pieces inside out, and then pinned them.  Then I headed up to my sewing room, and sewed around the sock (except for the opening) Don't be jealous of my 1950's sewing machine!! It sews straight and that's about all I need it for :)

Then I turned it inside out and that was it! Except, it was a little bigger then I cared for and boxier (?) too.  So I took it in on both side quite a bit, since I wanted a skinnier sock.  Once I did that it looked like this.

So easy huh!  One of the sweaters I bought had a hood with two strings, so I used that for my hook and sewed it on.  Such an easy project that I decided to keep going.  I made three grey stockings and two white ones.  All the boys have grey and me and my daughter have white.  They turned out great and took me one night to do.  But they were missing some fun Christmas embellishments.  I needed to get our name or something on them.  So I decided to take some of the leftover barnwood that I have from my Bathroom Vanity project and I made some "name tags" and added a little fun to it...

Here is how I did it...

I found a stencil set at Walmart (3 or 4 bucks) and then I had some white acrylic paint and I got a paintbrush and dobbed it in. Dobbed is an interested word I know, but I didn't paint it, I more like dobbed it haha.  I didn't want a solid stroke look...you're with me right?
Here they are waiting for the final touches.

 What do you think?

Easy to do and I really enjoy the comfy feeling of them.


Also today marks the day! 12 days left to Christmas!!
So I thought I would do a 12 days of Fitness series on the blog (since you know one of my true loves is FITNESS)

DAY ONE
So.  My question for you is this:

What can you do in 2012 to make fitness more of a priority in your life?
It may be something such as:

Workout 3 days a week at home
Go to the gym 4 days a week
Try something new, like...Zumba, or running in a 5k race
Or maybe something Nutritionally based, like drink no less then 8 glasses of water a day,  or stop eating sugar for 30 days.

WHAT  WILL YOU COMMIT TO?
WHAT CAN YOU COMMIT TO?

Both are important questions.  And I dare you before you close this page and venture on to the next blog to commit to something. Anything.  And write it down.

Did you do it?  2 minutes is all it takes to commit to something.
Post it up in the comments, I love to read your comments :)

I'll be back tomorrow to post something else fitness, and I am going to share one of my new OBSESSIONS.  Don't miss it :)

Loves,
Jill