Upcycled: Christmas Decorations at Hillsong LA

This year I was able to help lead the Christmas decorations for church at Hillsong LA. Since we are a new church and we set up/break down every Sunday, decorations had to be durable, easy to move and easy to set up. We came up with the idea of using reclaimed wood, lights and mason jars as our theme. Eventually for Christmas eve, we added a green Christmas trees and presents to the stage.

We were given a large amount of reclaimed pallet wood for FREE which helped us so much in regards to the budget. Outside of using Christmas lights, we decided to build two large wooden wreaths, one large wooden Christmas tree and one large "Peace Has Come" sign.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLEP2xTJ8uA)

It took us a few Sundays to decide which way we liked the decorations. The first Sunday we used string lights alongside the stage vertically, and the wreaths in the blank space. Unfortunately, they didn't show up well, so we decided to change it up for the following Sunday.

The next Sunday we decided to wrap the wreaths in Christmas lights, and wrap lights along to banister next to the stage.

We liked this much more and stuck with it for the weeks to follow. 

We also strung Christmas lights along the railing in the balcony, and around the doors at the entrance. 

(Megan and I)

It was such a fun season and I couldn't have done any of it if it wasn't for the countless helpers and support from my community. You guys are the best and I am so grateful to be serving next to all of you! 

Christmas Gift Painting

One of my friends asked me this Christmas to make her something to give to her Mom. She had seen my picture of the words on canvas that I had painted several months ago and wanted me to do something similar. Except she said she would like it to be a painting of the Fruits of the Spirit and she gave me specific colors to use. 

I decided, however, that since the Fruits of the Spirit are so short, that it would be better to use different fonts, paints and sizes to take up the canvas she had purchased for me to use. 

I remembered this print I had seen a while back on Pinterest and I decided to show it to her. She said she loved it! 

The only problem was that she had purchased a square canvas instead of a rectangle canvas, so I knew the scale was going to be off a bit and that it wasn't going to be exact. Nevertheless, I decided to go for it! 

I had never painted block letters before. So, I knew this was going to be a challenge for me. If you read my post about the words on canvas, you heard me express the patience it takes to paint words. This one required even more patience!! 

First, I had to sketch out the block letters on the canvas and then I painted the letters one color at a time. 

All in all it took me about 5 hours to paint. Definitely a labor worth doing because I can now say I know all of the Fruits by heart!! 

I don't know if I'm in love with the final product. There was one font in particular that I am not a big fan of. But my friend said that her mom loved it! She paid me probably too much for it, but it was still nice to be commissioned to do something and get paid for it. 

For her moms birthday we are going to build her something out of old barn wood. I'm looking forward to it because wood and I are much better friends that paint and I :)