If you’re looking for the perfect stocking, check out these adorable offerings from artist Melodie Musick. Besides regular grade school and high school art classes, Melodie is mostly self-taught but has loved drawing and painting for as long as she can remember.

She opened her Etsy shop in 2019, starting with portraits and tote bags. When she came across a jute stocking she thought might be fun to work with, she painted one for her dog, Trooper. After posting it on Facebook, everyone loved it, and she actually got quite a few orders based on that post. So, she added it to her shop, and it has grown from there — she’s now in her fourth year of creating and selling the stockings and is pleased with the customer response. “It makes me happy when people are so excited about getting their stockings,” she says.

Melodie has spent her entire life with animals. “I grew up with dogs, cats, horses, cows, you name it,” she says.
Her current pet is her dog, Trooper, but she loves cats, too. “I love their independence,” she says. “We all know they are secretly the owners and we are really the pets.”

One of her favorite parts of painting the stockings is seeing the photos she’s sent by customers. “I love their names, their expressions, and I love knowing that they are so loved that their humans want a painting of them,” she says. “I wish every single animal could be that loved in their lifetime.”

See more of Melodie’s fun holiday stockings on her Etsy shop RaeRussellDesigns and on Facebook and Instagram @raerusselldesigns.