I've always loved the look of hanging stockings on a fireplace mantel for Christmas and now that I built my very own faux fireplace, I thought it would be fun to make a stocking holder with stuff I had around the apartment: a styrofoam ball, fur and some scrap wood. I wasn’t sure how it would all turn out but it all came together and I absolutely love it!

Step 1: Prepping the Piece of Wood

I started by sanding and staining a piece of scrap wood - I used a 2"x3" piece that's 19" long and I covered the ends with iron on wood edging. I used a white semi-transparent stain on the wood.

Step 2: Painting the Letters

To spell out JOY, I bought the J and the Y from the craft store for about $2 each (on sale) which I painted with some acrylic metallic paint (champagne gold).

Step 3: Covering the Ball With Fur

Since I already had a styrofoam ball and some faux fur from my furry ottoman project, I thought it would be fun to make a fur ball for the “O”. I cut strips of the fur and glued sections onto the styrofoam (I used all purpose white glue), overlapping the seams a bit. It was a bit messy but in the end I was able to cover up the entire ball.

Step 4: Hot Glue a Candle Top to the Bottom of the Ball.

The ball did have one rough spot but I covered it up with a lid from a candle that I had on hand (I used a glue gun to glue it in place). It provides a nice flat surface to secure the ball to the piece of wood.

Step 5: Attaching the Letters and Ball to the Wood

I used removable double sided tape to secure the ball and the letters to the wood base - this way it will be easy for me to change things up next year and do something else to decorate my stocking holder. Before attaching the letters and the fur ball, I screwed on 2 white hooks that I had on hand.

Step 6: Add Stockings and Twinkle Lights!

I chose knit stockings that also had fur to keep the fur ball company and that's it! I didn't weight down the piece of wood so it's good for holding stockings that are empty. If they get filled up than you would need to add removable double sided tape on the bottom of the piece of wood for it stay put.

I’m love how the whole thing turned out and added some twinkle lights and a wreath to complete dressing up my faux fireplace for the holidays. Ho Ho Ho, Happy Holidays!