Behind the Design: The Wattle Christmas Stocking That Took Me Years to Paint

Some designs come together in an afternoon. My wattle Christmas stocking took years.

It sat in my sketchbook for a long time. Every Christmas I'd pull it out, paint it, and it just didn't hit right. Then one day I had the idea to wrap the wattle around the stocking itself, and suddenly it worked.

Why a stocking?

Christmas stockings are a big deal in my family. Every year my dad fills one for my sister and me, and it’s always the same lovely mix of little things. Stationery, lollies, scratchies, maybe a new drink bottle or a lunch container. Nothing fancy, but it always felt special.

I wanted to put that feeling into a card. And because Christmas for me happens here in Australia, I wanted the design to feel like home too.

Why wattle?

Christmas is traditionally red, but I'm a green person through and through. I wanted my stocking to feel more natural, with colours you'd actually find in plants.

Wattle stood out straight away. It's one of the plants Australia is best known for, and that golden yellow felt festive without trying too hard. I also liked the idea of those little fluffy wattle balls as tiny jingle bells. It might sound a bit far-fetched, but it's what my Jingle All the Way card grew out of too.

From sketchbook to Christmas card

I still have a soft spot for the early sketches, even the daggy ones. They remind me that a design doesn’t always arrive finished. Sometimes I need to put it away, pull it out the next Christmas and look at it differently.

The finished Wattle Christmas Stocking card is painted from my artwork in my Sutherland studio and printed here in Australia. If you’d like to send a little piece of my family’s Christmas tradition to someone else, you can find the card in the shop.

You can also explore Jingle All the Way and the Christmas Wattle Card Pack if wattle is part of your Christmas too.