I decided not to make them into stocking holders, but instead as a Christmas nativity scene. The gal also used vinyl nativity pieces and stuck them on the blocks of wood, which makes for a quick and simple project. I don't have access to what ever cuts out vinyl pieces (a Cricut maybe?) and so I did consider ordering the pieces from her - she sells them every fall. But then I thought - why do that when I can paint. I googled silhouette nativity scenes and it didn't take long to find pretty much all the same images she had used. A little re-sizing and I was good to go.
I got my husband to cut some blocks for me and I sanded them, painted them an off white, sanded them again to give them the distressed look, traced the nativity scene on and painted again. It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would.
My painting is far from perfect and however in the end they look pretty good.
The faces were a little difficult since my tracing turned out to be a basic outline - the 2 x 4 I used was kind of rough which made it hard to tace a pattern without falling into the grain of the wood. I did sand them down before I painted but it didn't help.
Nativity scenes are my favourite Christmas decorations and is a project I hope to make again! It cost me nothing since I used scrap lumber and already had the paint, just took a little time!
