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!

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!!



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!

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!!!

 

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!

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!!!

Progressive Dinner 2013 for Church Staff

Saturday was the second annual church staff

Christmas Progressive Dinner... it's just the tiniest

way to show the staff at our church (along with their

spouses, who usually end up doing quite a bit at the
church too!) that they are appreciated and loved!
*Click HERE to see the first one done in 2012*

There were three host homes, and I got to host again!
I set up a table for 7 in the living room, and a table

for 8 in the dining room. I hate that I had to split the
group up, but there was no other way for me to have it.

I used silver chargers at each place setting. For the dining room,
I made white/black napkins cinched with silver napkins rings.
In the living room, I used silver snowflake napkins.
There wasn't much room left on the table for centerpieces, so
I had to keep them small. The living room centerpieces were just
a couple silver decorative tealights. The dining room centerpiece
was just some ornament balls on a decorative tray.

My house was the main course meal stop.

We served prime rib, mac n cheese casserole, green

beans, deviled eggs, and rolls. MMM mmm good!

I can only take credit for the green beans though.
Thanks to Tom, Susan, Danya, Mandy, Evie and
Bethany for helping me out with the main course!

And why didn't I take a pic of the FOOD?!?

When the staff arrived, we had them pick a seat and they
could eat rolls while they waited on their drink and plate of
food. BUT.... I realized that I am not a very good waitress!!
Good thing I stuck to babysitting when I was in college!
 

After everyone was finished eating, I had the staff play a
little white elephant game. We did this last year - I had good
intentions of coming up with some sort of entertainment that
would be different, but time got away from me. Maybe next year.

 

Anyways, I just went to the dollar store and bought things that I

thought were pretty useful.... lint roller, back scratcher,

disposable casserole dishes, garment bag, ear plugs,

expandable water bottle, high heel insoles, lighter,

Christmas socks, 8 pack of tissues, multi outlet adapter,

massage tripod, eye mask, a shammy and thermal socks.

So nothing was crazy amazing... but its still something that

will probably get used in the near future, or at least re-gifted! Ha! 

 

I think they had a pretty good time... if they didn't,
you could have fooled me!!

Sorry mom... but you are so darn cute, I had to include it!

Also, just want to give a HUGE thanks to all the others
who were involved in putting this night together....

Rebecca Albert and Kurt & Jami Buchanan
for opening their homes as well as making food
for the appetizer and dessert stops.

Leslie Arrison, Sharon Rice, and Jim & Melinda
Beuhring for babysitting 12 children! Whew!

Stacey Martin, Mary Beaty and Jennifer Cottrell
for providing food for the kids and babysitters.

 Lauren Savory, Tom Halfhill, Susan Greenwood,
Danya McClintic, Mandy Black, Mary Beaty
 and Anna Lewis for making delicious food and drinks!

Evie Davis and Bethany Sharp for helping me serve food.
I don't think they knew what they were signing up for... the
poor things ended up helping me clean my house too because
I was running out of time, and they came over early! Love you girls!

Merry Christmas Deco Mesh Wreath

Here lately, the only time I've had to craft has been

during my breaks at work!! I made these two wreaths

for some friends that sit on either side of me at work.

They liked the wreaths just plain and would have been

fine without any kind of decoration on the wreaths at

all... but  I was determined to find a Merry Christmas sign

for the wreaths.  After quite a bit of searching, I found these

signs at Target that I think are perfect. If I had more time or

it wasn't already so close to Christmas, I probably would have

added some ornaments or something else to them, but they liked

the wreaths just the way they are. I guess sometimes, less is more!

 

Amy's Wreath:

 

Tiffani's Wreath:

 

Another coworker of mine watched me make a deco mesh

wreath at work, and now he's (yes, I said HE) started making them...

he's pretty good at it too! He even borrowed my hot glue gun to

decorate them... can't wait to see his finished product =)



DIY Ornaments Using... Scrabble Tiles

I haven't posted in such a long time.... but I've just
been a little busy bee so I've got lots of good stuff
coming up to post! So keep checking back in =)

For today, I'm sharing Scrabble tile ornaments that
I made for zero dollars - I had everything just laying around
the house.... We've had a Scrabble for years and never play
it, so I figured I might as well use the tiles for ornaments. 

Below are all the words I made with my one set of Scrabble

tiles.  If you happen to use your Scrabble game to actually play,
or if you don't have the game already, you can buy scrabble tiles
online, or check your local Goodwill store!

I had to decide if I wanted the word to hang horizontal or
vertical first. Then I broke a wooden stick to be just slightly

shorter than the length of the word. I'm sure there's a better way

to do this that would make a clean cut, but I was lazy and didn't
want to walk out to the garage and get something, so I just used

my muscles! I hot glued twine to the middle of the stick (if vertical,
the top of the stick) and then hot glued the letters on.

 

And that's it! I made 13 ornaments without spending a dime and

helped make my Christmas tree look a little more crafty!