Handel's Messiah on my ceiling

Yep, it's exactly what the title says. I hung the words (well, some of them) to Handel's Messiah on my ceiling. I was on Pinterest and stumbled across this post by Katie Did. She and her husband decorated for Christmas by hanging the words to Christmas carols:

I was inspired. I took a look at my sad, blank ceiling, and went to work.

I chose to do the words to Handel's Messiah, partly because I always listen to it at Christmas, but mostly because the words are straight Scripture that retell this season of waiting and our coming hope. These promises shape my daily living, and it's only natural that they have a prominent place in my home.

I wish I had taken pictures on this step, but I forgot. I used red card stock and cut each piece in half the long way. Then I cut out by hand each letter. 

Some tips:

• Keep a Word document open with the text you want to cut so you can keep track of your progress
• Only use capital letters! Lowercase won't attach to the string at the same height and it will look funny.
• Turn any extra paper at the end of each piece into I's.
• Use a separate piece of paper for letters like A and V. You'll maximize the number of letters you can cut by lining up the diagonals. (ie AVAVA is more efficient than cutting AEV)
• Be flexible! Let your letters come out different widths and don't worry about a few wonky S's.
• Lay out the words you're working on so you don't lose track, and then develop a stacking method to keep them in order.

After cutting out several hundred letters I hung them on fishing line. I just folded a piece of tape from one side to the other over the line. I tried to hang up the finished words so they wouldn't get tangled, and ended up trapping myself. Here's the great word-hanging-saga in pictures:

Finally it was time to put them on the ceiling! I used clear decorating clips that will pull off cleanly when I'm done. If you use those hooks make sure to have the hook open towards the wall. That way the line won't pull off when it gets tight. 

I hung the words with small loops of fishing line wrapped around the original line. This let me pull the words a little bit tighter or looser without taking them off and reattaching them to the hook.

I'm a little obsessed. (And doesn't the space look cozier with my new curtains?)

I didn't end up with as many lines as my inspiration photo, but I might still hang more. The funny thing is that every time I leave the house I end up singing the words in my head.

"And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed..."