Pallet Wall Hanging

This was probably the gift that I was most excited about
giving this Christmas.... a custom wall hanging! I ordered it
from a friend of mine, Tabby-she is so incredibly talented!

 

This was for my husband for Christmas to put in the cabin

that he (and his family) started building this year - so it
was kind of a gift for the whole Haynie side of the family.

My brother-in-law named the cabin "The Accord."

I was so excited about having Isaiah open this, because

it was pretty much the only thing that was a surprise for him!

 

I asked for some hardware at the bottom of the pallet

so we could hang keys on it so it would be functional too.

 

Tabby has an etsy shop if you would like to see

what all she has done - she pretty much does

everything as a custom order so you get exactly

what you want!



Holiday Printables Gift Set

One of my favorite gifts that I gave this year was a

printable set.... a LOT of my friends got them, but I tried to make

them suit each person, so not everyone got the exact same thing.

 

Most of the printables were for the major holidays  -

Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's

Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, & Thanksgiving.

I also did one for summertime, and threw in a couple

random prints to use in between holidays.

 

My sister and I helped each other since we both gave these

as gifts - we had to trace and cut around each one to make

it fit in an 8x10 frame. I chose the Christmas printable to

put in each frame, and put all the other printables in sheet

protectors with a bow tied at the top to keep them together.

All the templates I used are shown below, with a link to get to them. 

New Year's 1 Printable

 New Year's 2 Printable

Valentine's Day 1 Printable

Valentine's Day 2 Printable

Valentine's Day 3 Printable

 

St. Patrick's Day Printable

Easter 1 Printable

Easter 2 Printable

Fourth of July Printable

Summertime Printable
 

Halloween Printable

 

Thanksgiving Printables

Christmas Printable

 

Home Printables

 

 

Playroom Printable

 

Verse Printables

 

A set of printables is a great gift, and can be given at anytime

in the year, not just Christmas! Guess I better hurry up and switch

my printable to the New Year's one...  

 

Crafty Wrapping

A couple years ago I bought tons of rolls of brown

craft paper from the dollar store and have used it

little by little over the years for this or that - baby shower

gifts, bridal shower gifts, birthday presents, etc.

 

Last year I planned to wrap Christmas presents with this

paper, and had bought scrapbook paper to make tags, along with 

twine and ribbon to match. Well, I didn't get around to it last year -

my dad had heart surgery AND a stroke the week of Christmas,

so I really didn't care much what any presents looked like. My

priorities were definitely different one year ago!

 

 But at least I was one step ahead this year =) I used a cricut to make

tags out of scrapbook paper with floral print, diamond print, and

sheet music for "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - all in dark red and

tan colors. I also used the cricut to make initials for a lot of the

gifts that I was giving.  I thought the wrapping turned out pretty... but my

husband and brother-in-law didn't appreciate my crafty wrapping - they

said they would have given me money for real wrapping paper so I didn't

have to use old grocery bags! Mean boys.

 

For presents that needed to go in gift bags, I got craft paper bags

and brown paper lunch bags (both from the dollar store!).

For the smaller gifts, I just put a couple hole punches at the top

of the lunch bag and tied a bow. For the larger gift bags,

I glued a tea-stained doily to the front with a small bow in the

middle, and then added a name tag. I have tons of these doily's 

leftover from a bridal shower my sister and I did back in the spring,

 and I had already decorated one of my trees with them this year. 

So having doiles on some of the presents under the tree looked really cute.

I still have LOTS of these doily's... I'm gonna have to come up with

some other ways to use them all! 

 

 My husband acted like he couldn't believe I turned my Christmas

wrapping into a craft project... you would think he knows me better by now!

 

 

Progressive Christmas Dinner

Christmas is over, but I have a few posts that I didn't get around
to posting before Christmas. I'm just gonna post whatever I can that
is Christmas related until the New Year!

I organized a Progressive Dinner for my church's staff and their

spouses... It's something I've wanted to do for a couple of years now.

There were three different stops - appetizers, main meal, and desserts.

I had the staff/spouses (15 people total) meet at the church - babysitters

were at the church to take care of the 14 or so kids and to feed them

pizza, chips, and cookies while the parents enjoyed a night out!

 

I hosted the main meal, which was lasagna, baked spaghetti,

salad, and bread. Thankfully, so many people offered to help
that I didn't have to do any of the food (thanks Myra, Jennifer,
Lauren, Susan, Glenna & Mandy)! I only had to concentrate

on getting the house clean and decorated.

 

I set my dining room table for 8, and set up a table in my living room

for 7. My color scheme was gold, white, and black so that it would

flow with my Christmas decorations, so it was a little bit on the fancier side.

I made napkin ring holders out of festive gold ribbon and small bulb

ornaments. The centerpieces were sets of pretty candle holders.

 

In my living room, I added some garland with lights, a glass tree, large glittery

ornaments, and crystal candlesticks with champagne colored tapered candles to the

top of my piano, along with the "infamous" book wreath and a picture frame. I also

printed out music for "O Holy Night" to display. I did sit down and play the song one time

so it wasn't JUST for looks =) I didn't completely finish what I wanted to do to the top

of the piano this year, but it gives me something to look forward to finishing by next year!!

 

On the table in the foyer, I had two glass vases filled with shiny and

glittery ornaments, a couple decorative vases, 3 festive candles, and a

wedding picture. I put two strands of garland with lights on the

 table over a gold table runner (from my wedding). I also didn't have

time to do everything that I REALLY wanted to do to that area, but

it looked finished enough. So now that's two projects for next year! 

 

My sister wasn't able to come in town this particular weekend, but she wanted to do

a little something for the staff and their spouses. So she got little gifts for each of

them for a white elephant gift exchange. She bought stuff that either she already

has and likes, or stuff that she would like to have. It was fun to see what gifts ended

up being a hot item - thermal socks, a pickle ornament, chocolate covered peanuts, and

a sham-wow were some of the gifts that were stolen, and some of them multiple times!

 

I think everyone had a good time and it's definitely something I would want to do

again! It's just a small way to show the staff how much they are loved!!!

 

Hope you had a Merry Christmas! =)

Merry Christmas from Switzerland!

My husband and I were fortunate enough to take

a trip to Switzerland in October... so that's what our

Christmas Card showed this year. We didn't really

plan on taking this trip - Isaiah was selected for a training

in Switzerland with his work and only had about a month's

notice. So I flew across the pond on the last day of his

training, and we spent 5 more days going from city

to city.... Lausanne, Montreux, Zermatt, and Geneva... and

even spent an evening in Evian, France.

Some of the highlights of the trip... visting the Olympic

Museum, which is on a boat, in Lausanne, visiting

Chauteau de Chillon in Montreux, and seeing the Matterhorn

in Zermatt. It was definitely an amazing trip and I'm so

thankful that I was able to go!

 

 Anyways, my Christmas card was ordered from Wal-Mart.com

and I have my sister to thank for finding the template =) The

price was extremely reasonable - 28 cents per card including

envelopes... and considering the fact that I ordered 450 cards,

I was REALLY glad for the low price! I had them shipped to
the nearest Wal-Mart, and picked them up a few days later.

 

The return address stamp I used was ordered from

expressionery.com. I saw the stamps a few years ago in my
US Weekly magazines (my guilty pleasure, don't judge me!)
and have used them the last couple of years. There are all kinds of
designs for return address stamps - the picture below is the one from
their website, because I'm not about to post my mailing address!
But this is the style that I used this year.

Merry Christmas from the Haynie's!

Church Christmas Decorations 2012

I decorated the church sanctuary this year for our Christmas program....

it was a LOT of time and effort, but I was thrilled with how it turned

out! I was asked to make the color scheme red, and here's what I came up with:

 First, I asked for Christmas trees that people weren't using this

year to be donated to put up at the church. I actually had 4

trees GIVEN to the church to keep! A 12 ft, 9 ft, and two 7 1/2 ft trees!

 

The 12 ft tree I put in the baptistry (well, my husband basically

put it there - I'm not sure how much help I was getting it up there!)

It isn't actually 12 ft tall, because we left off the very top section of the

tree since it was almost touching the ceiling beams.

On either side of the 12 ft tree I put two small trees with red bulbs

(from the dollar store!) and topped them with red bows that I made.

On the right side of the stage, I set up a 9 ft tree and a 7 1/2 ft tree

with white lights. For a tree skirt, I used red satin fabric pieces and

puddled them under the trees. Also on the right side of the stage, I

set up a poinsettia tree to really highlight the color red. Different

church members paid for the poinsettias and were able to take them home

after the program. I used some spotlights to set off the poinsettia tree.

 

On the left side of the stage, I put a small 6 ft tree (borrowed) with white

lights and red satin fabric for the tree skirt. This is the side of the stage where the

band is, so not too much decoration could fit on that side.

 

Across the whole front of the sanctuary we hung garland. I couldn't find

pre-lit garland that was as full as I wanted it to be, so I added white lights

to all the garland.  Then I added red deco mesh to the garland to continue

the red color theme.  This garland was also added to the back of the santuary

around two windows and the sound booth. Extra poinsettias were put in each

of the 6 window sills of the church, and were also spaced out in front

of the choir loft.

 

 

I also put a tree in the front foyer and one in the back foyer of the church.
I added deco mesh as a garland for each of these trees
to tie in the red color scheme.  For the tree in the back
entry, I also added red ornaments, because it was big enough that
the tree needed a little more than just garland. I think I started
something at the church though - lots of people told me that they
were going to take the deco mesh garland idea for their own decorations!



It took 9 trees, 150 feet of garland, and lots and lots of hours, but the

church looked so beautiful for the Christmas program! Thanks to

everyone who donated trees as well as their time to help set everything up =)

And a special thanks to Bill & Jerri Black and also to my husband for

all their help - it would not have gotten done without you all!

Merry Christmas!



Outside Christmas Lights 2012

I've been adding to my outside Christmas decorations each year,

and even though I still don't have as many lights up as I eventually

want to have, I am getting close!

 

 This year, I added two more trees on my front porch, as well

as garland and a wreath with lights around the front door.

I love the trees in all the windows facing the street. I haven't

attempted putting lights ON the house yet - my husband is a bit of

a Scrooge when it comes to decorating for Christmas, so I have to do

it all by myself! Maybe next year I will just hire someone

to put lights on the house?? At any rate, I still think it looks pretty.

If only my plants would grow faster and take up more space!!

Chalkboard Printable for Christmas

I love this chalkboard printable that my sister

found via Pinterest! It looks great displayed on my

buffet table in the dining room =)

 

click HERE for the link to this printable and many others! 



Leopard Christmas Tree Skirt

I took the idea from the no sew ruffle tree skirt that I

posted about a couple days ago and made a leopard tree

skirt.  I wanted it to coordinate with the

decor in my dining room, and since I recovered my

dining room chairs in a leopard print, I decided to use

some of the leftover fabric for the tree skirt =)

 

 Since I didn't have enough time to do the entire

skirt with ruffles, I just glued one row of the fabric around

the outside of the tree skirt, made out of scrap black fabric.

It's perfect for the room!!

 

Things are starting to finally come together in the

Haynie household for Christmas time...!!!