CLICK HERE FOR FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES, LINK BUTTONS AND MORE! »

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Outside Christmas Lights 2013

Putting up outside Christmas lights was one of the
very first things I got done this year... I put them up in
mid-November when it was 60 degrees out! But I did
NOT turn the lights on until after Thanksgiving :) 

Anyways... the only difference between this year and
last year was that I added lights to two plants on the right
side of our garage. Last year, I told myself that I should get
someone to line the house with lights for 2013, but it just
didn't happen this year. So again, I'll say... maybe next year!

Monday, December 23, 2013

O Christmas Tree... A Fancy Tree...

I LOVE CHRISTMAS TREES!
This year, I've put up 19 trees between my
house and my church!!! Out of the 19, 9 are
at my house. Granted, 4 of them are small ones
that go on my porch, but that still counts.
 
This is the main tree at my house... a 9 footer. 
 
Everything on the tree is gold, silver, champagne or clear.
I've taken some up close pics of some of the things I use
on my tree and have noted where I found them (if I remembered).
 
I found this gold beaded garland at AC Moore.
I have about 6 strands of them on this tree. 

I love the huge plastic snowflakes that I found
at the dollar store... this is also what I used
as a tree topper.
 
I've got a few larger ornamental pieces that I have
coming out of the tree at random places. I can't
remember exactly where this one is from, but I'm sure
it was Hobby Lobby or AC Moore probably.
 
I got about 8 different gold glitter leafs from the dollar store.
I also had a few of the long crystal pieces (that
were used in my wedding!) that are from Hobby Lobby.
 
I mean, some people would say this is a gaudy ornament,
but I think it looks amazing! Also from the dollar store.
 
I have quite a few different word ornaments...
peace, joy, noel, believe, merry.
Most of them are from Wal Mart.

This ornament came from my mother-in-law and is a "new home"
momento - she gave this to us the year we moved into our house.
I think she found it at Kohl's.
 
These crystal dripping brances were the centerpieces at my wedding!
They look perfect laying on the tree branches. They are from Michael's.
The larger crystals were also used at the wedding - I have hundreds
of them and put them on my tree last - any place that is the tiniest
bit bare gets one of them!
 
This ornament is a new addition this year, from Hobby Lobby.
I got about 4 of these that are different shapes/sizes but
they are all the same glass color - they're enormous!
 
I really do love this tree.... and the picture's just do NOT do it justice.
 
Merry Christmas Eve-Eve!!


Friday, December 20, 2013

Christmas Card 2013

So maybe I'm just a little bit crazy.... but I started
thinking about my Christmas cards back in September!
I had decided that I wanted to get some pictures taken at
the cabin my husband's side of the family has been
in the processing of building this year. My family was all
going to be there for a long weekend in September, so it
worked out perfectly for my sister to take the pictures for us.

The picture below is a cell phone screen shot of the card,
so it's a little blurry, but the actual cards turned out great! 
 
I found this printable online that I thought would
be something cute and different to use in a card.
 
I already had the red frame so all I did was get
chalkboard vinyl from Hobby Lobby and then while I
was getting ready, my mom and sister put it on
a piece of cardboard sized to fit the frame. It really
worked well to have 2 people working on it. Oh, and
they used a boxcutter on the vinyl to cut it.
 
My sister used the printable I found as a
guide to draw on the words.... she did a great job!


After I decided on a picture (which really wasn't
easy... my husband wasn't in the mood to get
pictures done, and it was obvious!), Rebekah added
the little bit of wording at the bottom of the picture.
I think it mimics the style of the lettering on the chalkboard
pretty well! Then we emailed the picture to office depot
and they printed off 500 pictures on cardstock and cut them
to size. The lady there gave me two different discounts
which took about $45 off the final price! She said it was
because we had to wait longer than usual due to a rather
difficult customer who was ahead of us in line.
 
For envelopes, I grabbed some from Hobby Lobby when
they were 40% off. I stuffed them during the car ride
to my in-laws for Thanksgiving, addressed the cards on
Thanksgiving Day, and my father-in-law and 2 year old
niece helped me seal the envelopes!  I still have a few more
that I need to get in the mail tomorrow... and a handful to give
out to people when I see them at church on Sunday, but the
majority of them have all been sent/given out.
 
Hope you like it! Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

How I Wrapped Christmas Presents in 2013

I typically coordinate my wrapping paper every year for
Christmas (click HERE to see 2012's wrapping).... for this
year, I chose my wrapper paper based on some gold and black
zebra print ribbon that I've had for about three years now and
really wanted to use.
 
I bought a bunch of different gold and black paper from Target
and just used ribbon and bows that I already had on hand.
I really love how they all turned out!
 

I only have just a few more presents to wrap.... hoping to
finish that up tonight!!!



 

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

What Will It BEE?? A Gender Reveal Party!

On Thanksgiving Day, my friends Josh and Lauren
announced that they were pregnant! I am thrilled for
them and know that they will be amazing parents!
 
They threw a Gender Reveal party with a bee theme
on Saturday evening and it was just so cute :)
 
I loved the baby book that all the guests signed. And
this is one of the cutest diaper cakes I've seen!

 Honey sticks were handed out as favors.

 Josh's sister made this sign that was at the entrance of the party. Perfect!

  5 out of 7 Old Wives Tales predicted a boy....

Josh and Lauren served lots of yummy food... I didn't good pictures of
the regular food... they had Rollzzz and Bunzzz for ham sandwiches,
Meatballzzz, Chipzzz and Salsa, and Deviled Eggzzz!
 
The dessert table was pretty impressive though!!


 


 I loved the decorations too... gotta love a party where
stuff hangs from the rafters!
 

 
 
The news was inside this giant balloon... Josh and Lauren
had their ultrasound tech put the picture in an envelope and seal
it. They took the envelope, this giant balloon, along with pink and
blue confetti to a local florist shop and told the florist to wait til
they left to look at the ultrasound and fill the balloon with the
correct color confetti. Poor Josh... the suspense was killing him!
 
Everyone who thought it was a girl...
 
Everyone who thought it was a boy....
 
And now for the big reveal....!!!!!
 
 
IT'S A BOY!!!!
 
Bronson Josiah Arrick... due May 2014!!
Can you believe Lauren is almost 5 months
preggo? She is so tiny and just beautiful!!
Congratulations friends... I've already bought some
baby boy stuff for baby Bronson!! I love him already!
 

Monday, December 16, 2013

UGLY Christmas Sweater Party

Last night I had my very first ugly Christmas
sweater party! I love that everyone got into it, well,
everyone except my husband.... made me want to sing
"every party has a pooper that's why we invited you" to him!
 
I really just can't decide who's sweater is the best.... 

This couple got their sweaters straight from her mom's
closet... I think the Cow sweater (complete with bells and
a milk jug) is in retirement now though. It's pretty hilarious!
 
These are what I consider the "pretty" ugly sweaters!
 
I love that he squeezed into his mom's Christmas sweater...
 
These two cracked me up.... his sweater is part Santa, part Indian Chief,
part Cowboy! And you can't tell, but his hat had a red bird on it! I was dying.
 
Our small group leaders.... love the reindeer antlers!
 
My sister made this bow for a Christmas gift and it made the perfect
hairbow! I just hot glued it to a hair clip. Loved it!
 
I bought a gingerbread house, thinking the kids that came would
have fun decorating it. BUT... only 2 of the 5 kids actually
came, and one wasn't interested in it. So the girls decorated it!
And  I'm not gonna lie...  I kind of got into it!
 
I definitely will want to do this again next year....
I loved seeing what everyone came up with to wear. And
maybe next year, the guys can talk Isaiah into participating!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Church Christmas Decor 2013

I put up Christmas decorations at my church again
this year.... the theme I was asked to stick with was
"White Christmas." That was the name of the program
that the church did, so they wanted the decorations to
reflect it. I was a little sad because the red decorations
we had last year were so beautiful! But... it made sense
why they wanted to change it up.
 
Unfortunately, the budget for the decorations was much
smaller than last year's, so I couldn't really do too much.
So 10 trees and over 200 feet of garland later... here it is!

The focal point is, once, again, the 11 foot Christmas tree behind
the choir loft. It is a pain to put up because of it's height... and even
more of a pain to fluff the branches and add lights!
But it sure is pretty once it's finished.
 
For the smaller trees, I just put some white garland around
them to help with the white color scheme.
 
For the trees that were on the stage, we added fake snow to the
branches as well as in lieu of tree skirts. I would have liked to
put down more "snow" under the trees, but ran out of time and budget.
 
I found these flocked wreaths at Big Lots and thought they
looked nice. I tried adding some things to the wreath, but in
the end, decided they looked better being just plain.
 
I also had three trees at different entrances to the church. We added
some snowflake ornaments as well as silver ball ornaments, and white
deco mesh ribbon as a topper and garland.  Fake snow went underneath
these trees as well.
 
Front entrance tree:
 
Side entrance tree:

Cafe entrance tree:
I got a little bit electrocuted while
decorating this tree! I was fluffing some
branches with the lights on, and touched
a light that the glass had busted!

I also found these silver snow lined trees at
Hobby Lobby that I liked, and got enough to put
in each of the 6 window sills in the santuary.

 It doesn't look like much, but it took 65 man hours to decorate
the church! It's a huge undertaking, even when doing something
more muted and understated.  I really want to say THANK YOU
to the following people who took their precious time during this
busy season to help me out, whether it was for 5 minutes or for
7.5 hours!!! I can't even describe how much you all saved me -
there's no way it could have been done without you all pitching in!
 
Rebecca Albert
Debbie Bandy
Mark Bandy
Brittany Belcher
Paul Belcher
Beth Calvert
Elizabeth Cooper
Evie Davis
Karisa Dillon
Judy Gibbs
Mary Greene
Lee Hale
Isaiah Haynie
Keith Herbert
Randy Jackson
Paul James
Melinda McComas
Terri McCoy
Brad Miller
Roger Mills
Terri Owens
Mindy Reed
Rob Reed
Bethany Sharp
 
And also, thanks to Pat & Danya McClintic for
donating another tree to the church this year!
 
Now.... who's free to help take DOWN the decorations
on January 1st, New Year's Day?? Pretty please?!?
Many hands make light work!!!