I couldn’t resist sharing the tutorial for this DIY Christmas shirt, even if it is only 2 days before Christmas! It’s not too late to make one if you can run out to a craft store and get all the supplies. It is super cute and festive. Better yet, you’ll be the only one who has one because you made it yourself!

This tutorial uses a Cricut Explore Air to make the design. Using Iron on Vinyl, you can make so many cute projects. I also used the same method to personalize our stockings this year.

If you want to use the exact same design that I made, you can download it by clicking here. But I also encourage everyone to make your own projects and put your own personal spin onto it! There are so many cute festive words or designs you can use to make a DIY Christmas Shirt once you know how. And they make great gifts! You can make each shirt something you know the giftee will love. The materials for this project cost less than $10!

All right, if you’re ready for the tutorial, keep scrolling!

Supplies:

• Tshirt
• Iron
• Iron on Vinyl
• Cricut Explore Air
• 12×12 Cricut Mat
• Weeding Tool

Step One: Design Shirt

First, you’ll need to design your shirt in Cricut design space. I used the font bombshell. I wanted my shirt to say “fa la la la la” which is one of my favorite festive phrases.

You can design your design to be spaced exactly how you will want it in the final product. I chose to cut each “la” separately to try and use as little vinyl as possible.

When you’re using iron on vinyl, you need to print it as a mirror image. After you press “make it” in Cricut design space, below where you designate the mat size, you can choose “mirror image,” as you can see in the picture below.

Step Two: Prepare Vinyl and Cut

With iron on vinyl, you want to place the vinyl on your mat with the front facing down. With glittery vinyl, this is super easy to tell, because the front is glittery and the back is dull looking. You can see that in the picture below. You only  need to place vinyl on the mat where your design will be cut. So for my design, that was about 9.5″x6.5″.

Once your mat is ready, load your mat into the Cricut. Be sure that the setting is set to “iron on vinyl.” Then press go and let the Cricut do the cutting!

Step Three: Weed Vinyl

The next thing you want to do is called weeding the vinyl. First, you peel off any of the vinyl that isn’t part of your final design. So pretty much all the negative space will be removed. Iron on vinyl has two layers- the vinyl itself, and a plastic layer on top of that (or underneath it when it’s upside down on the mat). You peel away the extra vinyl from the plastic layer. This should be easy to do, leaving your final design there. If any of your design starts to come up, you can just press it back onto the plastic and it should stick.

Once you peel off the excess, you will still have to remove the holes from inside the letters. This design happens to have holes in every single letter. I use the Cricut weeding tool to remove the middle of the letters. I pretty much just poke it until it starts to come up and then peel it back.

Step Four: Place Design and Iron

Since I wanted to be able to manipulate the letter placement and use as little vinyl as possible, I didn’t print my design how I wanted it to look on the final shirt. So I had to cut each piece and place it on the shirt where I wanted it. The plastic front is sticky, but not too sticky, so it’s easy to lift and adjust each section until you have it where you want.

Once your design is where you want it to be, it’s time to iron. You can place a piece of cardboard inside the shirt to make ironing easier. I used a file folder. Make sure not to use any steam when you iron, and set the iron to cotton. Go over the design until it is fully adhered, and then peel the plastic off the top. If you peel to early and the design starts to come up, no big deal, just press it back down and iron again. It took me about 1-2 minutes of ironing for this design, and that was probably more than necessary.

Once you peel the plastic off the letters, your shirt is ready!

And then you’re done!

Now you’ve got a snazzy new Christmas shirt that no one else will have. One of a kind!

Mine turned out super adorable! The red and gold is very festive. I am always impressed with the quality of Cricut’s iron on vinyl. The glitter does not come off of the design or rub off the shirt, even after multiple washings. If you love your shirt you can wear it time and time again. It will last longer if you wash it inside out, but I sometimes forget to do that and my shirts are still great!

These make a great gift too! You could easily add someone’s name to it, or do different color shirts and vinyls for different people.

This shirt is so happy and festive, what’s not to love?

Now that I’m writing this post and wearing my shirt, I’m never going to stop singing Christmas carols. Tis the season to be jolly…..

And the song may be stuck in my head forever. And now yours too probably. Sorry!

I’m so excited to wear my shirt this Christmas!

Let me know how making your own DIY Christmas Shirt goes for you! You can click the thumbnail below to download the file to make this same design.

supplies in this post

The post Diy Christmas Shirt appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

If you’re looking for a fun easy way to make DIY personalized stockings, you’ve come to the right place! This tutorial is super adaptable, so you can really express your personal style. You can use any font or design you want to personalize your stockings, that way you can know exactly who each Christmas stocking belongs to. I absolutely love the results, and can’t get enough of our super cute stockings!

This tutorial uses a Cricut explore air machine to cut iron on vinyl letters. Once you get familiar with the Cricut, you’ll find that it is super easy to use. And it makes such awesome results!

I love decorations that you DIY. They are so much more personal and can really express your style. This year, I decided to go all out for Christmas crafts. So I made these adorable personalized stockings for my family, and I made some really fun pom pom garlands for the tree. I also made a festive shirt that I haven’t posted about yet, but I’ll link to it once I have.

Cricut projects are especially fun because you can make so much with it. I could never have cut out cute iron on vinyl letters myself. Sure, I’m crafty, but I’m not quite that precise. Even better, the iron on vinyl is washable!

Well, if you’re ready to learn how to make these DIY personalized stockings, keep scrolling!

Supplies:

• Stockings
• Cricut Explore Air
• Iron on Vinyl
• Iron

Step One: Design stockings

The first thing you want to do choose how you want to customize your stockings. I’m lucky that my family has different initials, so I used just the first initial for each person. I used Cricut design space to make and resize the letters. Instead of making them all the same font size or same height, I adjusted them until they were as big as I thought looked good together. I used the font Georgia.

I set each of the letters to cut. Don’t forget to measure your stockings so that you don’t make the letters too big or too small.

Iron on vinyl needs to be cut as a mirror image. If you cut it normally, you’ll get backwards letters on your stockings. . Simply select “mirror” before you go to cut, as you can see in the image below. On the preview screen the selection is right below material size.

Step Two: Cut Vinyl on Cricut

Next you want to put your vinyl on your cutting mat. I used a regular strength mat. With iron on vinyl, you want to load it on the mat with the front facing down. With glittery vinyl this is easy to tell, because the front is much shinier and the back is somewhat dull. So you want the dull side up.

You only need to put vinyl on the areas that will actually cut. So for this project, I cut a piece of vinyl to approximately 3″x10″. You can tell what size you need on the preview screen.

Once your vinyl is ready on the mat, Load your mat into the cricut. Then make sure your cricut is set to “iron on vinyl” then press go! Let the cricut do its thing and cut the vinyl letters.

Step three: Weed vinyl

The next step is to weed the vinyl, which means removing any excess vinyl that isn’t part of the final design. You can usually just start pulling up a corner, and the cut parts will stay attached to the clear layer that makes up the front of the vinyl. I love the cricut weeder tool and use it all the time to help weeding out small areas, like the inside of the e.

Then, once the vinyl is all weeded and only your final design remains, you can cut the letters apart from each other to get them ready to go. You want each section of the design that is going on its own stocking to be separate.

Step Four: Iron

Next you’ll want to iron your vinyl onto the stockings. First, place the letter where you want it to go, with the plastic layer on top. The letter should be facing forward and placed where you want it in the final design.

I cut a piece of a file folder to use inside my stocking to make it slightly stiffer so that ironing was easier. This is optional based on what kind of stocking you use.

You will want to set the iron to a setting for cotton, and then start ironing on top of the plastic over the letter. I ironed each letter for about one minute total, but it would probably have been fine with less.

Once the letter is fully adhered, peel back the plastic layer. If any part of the letter starts to come up, just let the plastic fall back down and iron until the letter is fully adhered. Once the plastic is off, you’re done! You’ve got your awesome DIY personalized stockings.

Step Five: Display!

Now all you have to do is hang your stockings and fill them with presents!

I’m so happy with how our DIY personalized stockings turned out. I think they’re super cute. Some of my family thinks capital letters would have looked better, but I just have a thing for lowercase. I almost always like the look of lowercase letters better.

I love having stockings in non-traditional colors as well. It’s easy to find red and green stockings but other colors are more difficult to come by.

Seriously, how cute do they look on the mantle? I just love them. If you can’t already tell, because I only took about 1 zillion pictures that I couldn’t help but share. I hope you enjoy looking at them!

And if you really can’t get enough, check out my Christmas living room tour.

Let me know how making your own DIY personalized stockings goes for you! I would love to see some pictures.

supplies used in this post

The post DIY Personalized Christmas Stockings appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

This year I finally feel like our Christmas decorations look great and express my taste. So I just had to show them off to you!

Even though I’m Jewish, my husband is Christian. I have always LOVED Christmas lights and decorations, so after we got married I started going all out with Christmas decor. Honestly, my husband is just my excuse to decorate, because he wouldn’t even notice if we didn’t have Christmas decorations at all. I really do it because I just love the spirit of Christmas.

Snow, hot chocolate, twinkling lights…. I love it all. I love how happy most people are around the holiday season, despite the crazy competitiveness people get over parking spots. I love how people are grateful for the things they have during the holidays. I love the spirit of giving and picking out gifts for the people I care about. And I love how charitable people are around Christmas. I just had to express all that spirit here!

So here’s a little glimpse of the decorations we have for the holidays! If you want to find some of the decorations we used, sources are at the bottom of the post.

Most of our Christmas decor is around the tree and the fireplace. I sit on our couch all the time facing the tree and fireplace, and the view just makes me so happy!

One of the things I love most about Christmas is holiday cards! Lars can attest that every time we check the mail in December, all I look for are holiday cards and I’m practically giddy about getting them. I love to display them in our living room.

This year I got this adorable Christmas card display from Crate and Barrel. It’s already full (we’ve gotten even more cards since I took these pictures) so I think I need to get another!

If you look closely in the pictures, you can see our family holiday picture hanging up behind them. It’s the picture we used on our holiday card this year.

I mean, seriously, look at all those cute faces! We have the most adorable friends and family. Shoutout to the people who send cards the earliest because you get to be displayed forever on the blog :)

Most of my first Christmas decorations were gifts from others. My mother in law gave us these adorable moose stocking holders. My husband and his family grew up using these holders in Alaska, and I love how they’re such a big part of family tradition.

The little hedgehog holder is from target, we just couldn’t resist.

I also love this cute chalkboard that says happy holidays. We got the chalkboard for a baby shower I cohosted in August, but I’ve kept using it around the house for decor. It fits perfectly here for Christmas!

On our coffee table I set out these antler bowls full of ornaments. My mom got me the bowls several years ago, and I’ve always used them to hold cute ornaments.

Plus how cute is that little wood penguin? I love him! Even though my dog does knock him over regularly with his crazy happy tail.

I have a hard time finding holiday pillows I love, so we just went with these buffalo check covers this year. I’m always on the lookout for more festive pillow covers that are also soft and the right size!

But the best part of our living room at Christmas is when the tree lights up (every day at 4:30). Those lights always make me smile.

And if you are wondering where I got our garlands, I made them! You can read how to make your own pom pom garland here.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little glimpse into our holiday living room! I certainly love these pictures.

I hope you and your family have an absolutely wonderful holiday season, whatever you celebrate!

Fa la la la la la la…..

Sources:

Tree: craigslist, similar on amazon • Garlands: DIY project • Topper: Crate and Barrel • Stockings: Amazon and amazon • Pillows: amazon • Card Holder: Crate and Barrel (no longer available) • Stocking holders: Target (no longer available) • Tree Skirt: Target • Silver Ornaments: Target

Some of our Christmas Decor

The post Christmas Living Room Tour appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

If you’re looking for a fun, easy, and adorable Christmas craft, look no further. This pom pom garland is so easy to make, and it looks great on the tree. It is the perfect festive Christmas craft. It makes my tree look so happy and unique! And it really couldn’t be any easier to make. So much cuteness from so little effort!

I wanted my Christmas tree this year to be green and white. Last year I did more traditional with a red ribbon, but it wasn’t really my style. I wanted to do a garland this year that would be a little less traditional and a lot more fun! So I figured a pom pom garland would be the perfect way to do that. And I love it!

It does take a lot of pom poms to make the garland, but it is so worth it! This is the kind of craft that is easy and meditative. You can easily do it while watching tv or listening to music and just get into a flow. Bonus points if you listen to Christmas music while you make it. It probably took me a total of 3 hours of stringing to make 70′ of garland for my tree, but it felt like 20 minutes.

And there is no reason to sit there for 3 hours straight working on the garland. I made this over a few days, in between other tasks when I had time. Crafting is such an enjoyable break. So if you love crafting, keep reading for the full tutorial.

Supplies:

• Thin string (Twine is great, this is the one I used)
• Craft needles
• Pompoms (1.5″ (what I used) or 1″)

I wanted my pom poms to be pretty big, so I used the 1.5″ ones. The 1″ pom poms are much more cost effective. I ended up using more than 70 feet of pom pom garland on my tree, so I needed tons of them! I used 35 packs, or 525 pom poms total. If I had known I would need so many, I would go back and use the 1″ ones. I had to keep ordering more!

I definitely underestimated how long the garlands would need to be, but I’m a sucker for the cascading way they are hung. If you hang them without the cascading, you’ll need much less length.

Step One: Cut String and Thread Needle

I cut my strings into approx 5′ long segments because that was about as long as I could manage without tangling the string. The first thing you want to do is cut your string segment, then thread the needle and tightly knot the string. You also want to put a knot at the end of the string so that the pom poms don’t fall off, leaving a little room on the end in case you need to tie any garlands together.

Step Two: String Pom Poms

Next step is to just go ahead stringing the pom poms! You want to pierce the pom poms slightly off of the middle. They should slip on easily. If you feel resistance, go ahead and re-align them on the needle or you will have trouble moving them down the string.

Once you get them on, move them all the way along the string until the end. Space them out so theres about 1/4″ in between each pom. It is much easier to do this as you go along than to try to space them out later.

Step Three: Tie and Hang

Once you’ve gotten all the pom poms on the string, untie the string from the needle and tie off the end. Then hang them on the tree!

I ended up hanging the pom pom garlands and then figuring out the length needed to finish that string around the tree and tying them together to get the correct size. They aren’t hung perfectly, but I really love the effect they make.

This is by far my favorite christmas tree yet! The pom poms remind me of snowballs and marshmallows and they definitely show my whimsical style. I’m a sucker for the combination of white and green.

Plus I love our tree topper that we got from Crate and Barrel. The moravian star shape is super unique.

Here’s a close up of the garland on the tree:

Seriously, how cute are they?! It still makes me so happy to look at, and I see this tree about a bazillion times a day.

Every time I see the tree it makes me smile. I haven’t decorated that many Christmas trees, but this is the first one I really feel like is “my style.” And it’s super festive.

To be honest, I think all Christmas trees are beautiful if they are lit up! And I love how the pom pom garland looks lit up.

This is by far my favorite Christmas decoration. Maybe next year I’ll add even more ;)

So go ahead and make your own pom pom garland, and let me know how it goes for you!

Supplies and Decor in This Post:

The post DIY Christmas Pom Pom Garland appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

It’s always fun to make an easy project that the kiddos can help out with. This awesome homemade sidewalk chalk is fun, nontoxic, and it even uses an upcycled container to make it less messy to draw with. You can customize the colors however you like. It’s a cute crafty project that keeps being fun even once you’re finished!

You have to love a project that takes only 5 minutes of hands on time. And the result will give you hours of drawing fun. As a kid I used to spend forever in the driveway coloring away with sidewalk chalk. I only wish I had been able to make the chalk myself, because it would have made my creations twice as personal. That’s why I knew this would be a perfect kid-friendly craft.

I’m a huge proponent of going green- I write about green cleaning all the time. I love having an opportunity to reuse containers I have finished with, because I’m always trying to reduce waste. That’s why I couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with Tom’s of Maine during Earth Month to bring this awesome upcycling project to you as part of the #LessWasteChallenge!

I’ve been a fan of Tom’s of Maine for a long time. I love their natural personal care products. I’ve even written about their awesome deodorants before. All Tom’s of Maine products are made without artificial colors, flavors, fragrances or preservatives. Even better, they’re not tested on animals. These are all things I look for when I’m shopping for personal care products.

You can get Tom’s of Maine Products at Target. They even have some awesome Target exclusives, like the fragrance free bar soap for sensitive skin that I got.

And what’s super exciting is that Tom’s of Maine is working even harder to make their products environmentally friendly and sustainable. Tom’s of Maine is committed to reducing waste caused by their products. All their packaging is recyclable through TerraCycle- a company that recycles things that aren’t usually recycled. Visit Toms of Maine’s website for more information.

I’m taking the #LessWasteChallenge to reduce 1 pound of waste a week- and you should too! That’s why I made this awesome upcycling project to help me reuse old containers instead of throwing them away. What will you do for your #LessWasteChallenge? Make sure to share your creative ideas using the hashtag so everyone can be inspired by your awesome ideas!

Here’s my awesome project that I came up with to reuse old containers and reduce waste:

homemade sidewalk chalk Ingredients and supplies:

• Tom’s of Maine Deodorant Container
• 2-3 teaspoons tempera paint
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup Plaster of Paris
• Spatula
• Mixing bowl

Step One: Clean out deodorant container

The first thing to do is clean out any remaining deodorant from your deodorant container. If you twist the container up all the way, you can remove the plastic deodorant holder and scrape and wash all the leftover deodorant out of there. I was able to do this using a small knife and a scrub brush and dish soap.

You’ll want to leave the deodorant “residue” in the rest of the container to keep the sides slick.

Then just replace the now-empty plastic deodorant holder, and twist it down to the bottom of the container.

Step Two: Mix ingredients

Now it’s time to actually make the chalk! You’ll want to mix 2-3 teaspoons of tempera paint with 1/4 cup of water. Then stir in 1/2 cup of plaster of paris.

The amount of paint you use will depend on how dark you want your chalk colors to be. Lighter chalk is great for writing on dark surfaces like a black chalkboard, and darker colors are great for lighter sidewalks. I mixed blue and red paint to make a darker purple color. Stir until all the ingredients are well combined.

I told you it was easy!

Step Three: Add to container

Once your homemade sidewalk chalk ingredients are mixed, use your spatula to add the mixture to the deodorant container. You can push down as you add it to make sure you don’t leave too many air holes in the container.

Step Four: Let dry and draw!

All you have left to do now is set your chalk aside to dry. You’ll want to leave it for at least 12 hours to be completely dry before use.

And then go ahead and start drawing!

As your chalk runs out, simply twist some more up in your deodorant container for fun and less messy drawing. If your chalk is being a little resistant to twisting, you can use a butter knife around the edges to loosen it up a little.

I love that I was able to reuse my old deodorant container this way. I never know what to do with finished personal care product packaging (try saying that 5 times fast). I hate throwing them out. So lucky my DIY-ing made it easy to upcycle and repurpose this deodorant container.

It’s so fun to draw with too!

It was so much fun to mix my own chalk colors. I find that most sidewalk chalk is lighter, but I don’t have a dark driveway, just light concrete sidewalks. So the darker color of the chalk really pops on the concrete. Plus I’m just a sucker for purple.

Who would have thought that this homemade sidewalk chalk was in a reused deodorant container?

I can’t wait to see what other upcycling projects I come up with as part of the #LessWasteChallenge. My mind is already churning and thinking of ideas.

Good luck making your own homemade sidewalk chalk, and have fun creating less waste!

Don’t forget to check out the Cartwheel offer on Tom’s of Maine products at Target.

The post Homemade Sidewalk Chalk appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

I love making things- be it a cute DIY project, natural beauty recipes, a cleaning product, or even a decorative printable. And I know there are lots of other DIY-ers out there who agree with me! So this holiday season, I thought I would share some awesome homemade gifts that people ACTUALLY want.

I’ve given out almost every single thing on the list as a gift, and with great responses to all! In fact I have yet to give #1 to a person and NOT have them ask me to make them more.

So, here are my favorite 15 awesome gifts you can make:

1. Aloe Vera Moisturizer

This is one of my favorite homemade gifts. Regardless of gender, everyone needs a good quality moisturizer in the winter. This aloe vera moisturizer is so gentle, and yet so moisturizing, that it works with most skin types.

As I mentioned above, every SINGLE person I have given this to as a gift has asked me for more. So I thought it makes sense to start the list with my favorite. I always have plenty of aloe on hand to make this in the winter!

supplies you’ll need

2. Peppermint Body Butter

This peppermint body butter makes a perfect Christmas gift. It’s festive, cute, all natural, and amazingly moisturizing. The pink stripe is actually made without any food dye and the recipe is without any artificial additives. It’s so natural you could eat it and be fine- but I wouldn’t recommend it, even if it smells amazing.

supplies you’ll need

3. Gingerbread Candles

Nothing says Christmas more than gingerbread! I love the smell so much, I knew I had to replicate it for an awesome holiday candle. Candle making may sound intimidating, but trust me, it’s easy! The custom blend of scents smells like freshly baked gingerbread, and is sure to get anyone in the holiday mood.

supplies you’ll need

4. Custom Sign

I love making custom signs! This DIY may be a little more difficult if you aren’t a crafty person, but it is definitely doable. These make such a great gift because they are completely customized. Plus once you figure out this method you can use it to make all kinds of homemade decor for yourself and others.

supplies you’ll need

5. Mint Chocolate M&M’s Fudge

I made this awesome mint chocolate fudge recipe and it is SUPER delicious. It makes a great gift that you can make in bulk for friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. Lars became the hero of his office when he brought this fudge in last year. The mint chocolate flavor is perfect for Christmas, and the fudge is actually cute to boot.

supplies you’ll need

6. Laundry Detergent Tabs

These laundry detergent tabs are awesome! They are completely green and natural, and they’re easy and inexpensive to make. They make a great gift for someone you know loves to live a natural lifestyle. Who doesn’t love clean clothes, right?

supplies you’ll need

7. Cocoa Butter Body Lotion

Can you tell how much I love giving natural beauty products for gifts? They always get an amazing response. This cocoa butter body lotion is so deeply moisturizing. It feels so luxurious and expensive. It will make your giftees feel like a million bucks while only costing you a few!

supplies you’ll need

8. Homemade Lip Balm

Everyone uses lip balm, right? This homemade lip balm makes a perfect gift. I gave someone a tube once, and they told me it was “better than Bert’s.” So that’s a pretty great endorsement! It’s an easy gift to make for stocking stuffers, or as part of a gift basket, or when you just want to give someone something small.

supplies you’ll need

9. DIY No Sew Reuseable Duster

Everyone has to dust. But who likes buying disposable duster heads? They’re so costly and wasteful. This DIY washable duster head requires no sewing, and works like a charm. Since they are so easy and inexpensive to make, they make a really great gift.

supplies you’ll need

10. Green Tea Scrub

Green tea is amazing for your skin. This awesome green tea scrub is so healthy, and it smells amazing. Anyone would love to get it as a gift. This one has been highly requested by friends and family. It makes your skin feel fresh and moisturized.

supplies you’ll need

11. Etched Soap Dispenser

A cute dish soap dispenser next to the sink really makes it look better. You would never notice how big a difference it makes until you replace a plastic bottle with this adorable etched soap dispenser. That’s why it makes such a great gift- everyone uses dish soap, or hand soap.

supplies you’ll need

12. Aloe Vera Face Wash

This aloe vera face wash makes a great gift alone or with my aloe vera moisturizer. It’s one of the more popular posts on my site, and people really seem to love it! I used it exclusively for over 2 years, but I’ve since added a few more products to my rotation. It’s a great gift for the natural beauty maven you know!

supplies you’ll need

13. Peanut Butter Cookies

Everyone loves cookies. These peanut butter cookies are so easy to make with only 3 ingredients, and they are gluten free! They are a great gift that you can make in bulk to give to lots of people, or for just one person. Or for yourself. Because you might not want to share these awesome cookies!

supplies you’ll need

14. Essential Oil Kit

Essential oils are awesome because they can be used in so many ways. If you make a kit by putting together a few classic oils, and maybe even a diffuser, it makes a great gift. You could even do seasonal ones, like a christmas themed kit with cinnamon, ginger, and pine.

supplies you’ll need

15. Homemade Shower Soothers

The height of gift-giving season is also the height of cold season. These DIY Shower Soothers are a perfect gift that someone can use when they’re sick, or just for a relaxing shower that smells great. You can package them in a mason jar- which would look adorable! Who wouldn’t love that?

supplies you’ll need

The post 15 Awesome Homemade Gifts that People Actually Want appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

The holidays are coming fast! I always get nervous about having people in my home for the holidays. Especially at this busy time of year, things get messy and disorganized quickly. In my dream world I would have days and hours to clean everything up, but I usually only have a short time to fit it in. There are a few sure fire things I do to prep my house for guests to make it visitor ready in 30 minutes or less.

This list is prioritized in the order that tasks should be done. The first few make the biggest difference, so if you have a limited amount of time you can focus on doing as much cleaning as you can in order. Make it through as many steps as you can in 30 minutes.

You can also tweak the order to suit your needs. If your house is one major dust ball, you can always move that up higher on the list, and the same applies to any of these. Although I do always recommend starting with “manage the clutter” because it makes the biggest difference.

If you do it right, you’ll be able to fake a super clean and guest-ready home in 30 minutes!

1. Manage the clutter

Do you know why all the awesome decor pictures in magazines and on Pinterest always look amazing?

No clutter.

There’s no papers strewn about, or toys on the floor. No empty glasses are left sitting on the coffee table, and no board games are sitting out half finished on the kitchen table. Surfaces and floors are clear of clutter.

To me, this is the step that makes the biggest difference. When all your clutter is out of sight, your house will look at least 50% cleaner.

So the first thing you should do is gather all the clutter in any areas guests will be, and put them in some kind of box or basket. A laundry basket can work well for this. And then put the basket out of sight, in a closet or in a corner of the room.

And voila, your house will appear magically cleaner!

And think broadly in terms of what you can consider clutter. Even if you usually have 10 jackets hanging on the hooks by the front door, those can be put away for guests. The same goes for shoes. Entryways are always important to have extra room when guests come, because their things will end up adding to whatever clutter is there already.

This isn’t a long term solution, just a quick fix. In general if you specify a location that every item in your home belongs, you’ll find you have much less clutter. Maintenance is usually the easiest way to keep your home guest ready.

2. First impressions

First impressions matter!

Whatever the first impression of your home is will affect how comfortable your guests feel in your entire home. If you make the first impression positive, they will think the rest of the house is cleaner. Psychology is strange, but it works.

So consider what your guests will see first, and make sure that space is clutter free and clean. For me the biggest thing is my kitchen island, which you can see from the front door. Keeping it clean and clear of debris and any clutter makes the entire house feel cleaner. Even something as simple as moving a recipe print out from the island to the counter makes it feel cleaner.

3. Sweep and vacuum

It’s amazing what a difference it makes to have clean floors. Your home could be covered in clutter, or spills on the counters, and as long as your floors are clean, it won’t feel icky or dirty.

If your guests come in and take their shoes off, they don’t want to be stepping on yesterday’s crumbs (all though I’ll admit I’ve been guilty of this at times!) Walking on a floor that doesn’t have any dust or crumbs makes you feel like the house is clean, no matter what else is going on.

For us one of the major floor messes is dog toy stuffing. Our pup likes to tear up his toys faster than we have the energy to pick up all the fluff. Just getting the fluff off the floor makes the house look and feel much cleaner.

So even if your floors aren’t amazingly gleaming and shiny, just getting dust and debris off will make a huge difference. Walking on a clean floor is a sure way to make your guests feel comfortable. I’m in love with our dyson vacuum which makes vacuuming go so quickly.

4. Tackle odors

Smell is such a powerful sense. A house can look clean, but if it doesn’t smell nice, nothing else matters. Luckily smells can be a pretty quick fix.

Scented candles, a quick spritz of some homemade febreeze, or simmering some apples and cinnamons on the stove can make a big difference.

5. Clean all surfaces

Do a quick wipe down of surfaces in rooms your guests will see. Clean up bathroom and kitchen countertops, and also wipe down any coffee or side tables. A quick cleaning will make such a big difference. My reusable cleaning wipes are perfect for this.

I think the bathrooms make the biggest difference. When there is no dust and hair all over the place, it feels so much cleaner. Getting the toothpaste gunk off the sink really just makes it look that much better.

Clean surfaces will make your guests feel comfortable to rest their hands or arms on surfaces. After all, there’s nothing that feels ickier than accidentally placing your hand on something sticky. Clean surfaces are the way to go.

6. Dust major areas

If you have time to make it to this step, your house will already be looking almost guest ready. Dusting is just a little extra bonus to your hosting-friendly home.

Hopefully your house isn’t super dusty, but if it is make sure to give it a little extra oomph with homemade dusting spray.

You know best where dust collects in your house. Focus on visible areas (don’t worry about tackling the top of the kitchen cabinets this very second). If you have time to, dusting the baseboards will make your house feel so much cleaner. But that’s really just icing on the cake.

7. Mop floors

Nothing says clean like a good shine! Taking a few minutes to mop and shine wood, laminate, and tile floors will make your guests think that your house is the height of cleanliness. I make an awesome homemade wood floor cleaner that really gives it an awesome shine.

If you make it all the way to step 7, your house will be spic and span. Or, at least your guests will think it is. They don’t need to see the giant box of clutter in the closet, right?

Anyways, this last step will give your house that extra boost. Shiny floors are the ultimate “this house is so clean” message. The look and feel of them is so inviting.

So there you have it! Use these steps to get your house guest-ready in 30 minutes or less. No one has to know how messy you really are, right?

Enjoy hosting!

My favorite cleaning supplies

The post Cleaning for the Holidays in 30 Minutes or Less appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.

I am kind of obsessed with organization. I love making order out of the chaos, and I save so much time because of it. I like to stay on top of things to make sure I know which way is up. Opening a drawer or a cabinet and seeing labels and order just makes me feel good. I always have my schedule organized and pegged down to the last minute.

But with all that organization, it’s so easy for me to get bogged down in projects and work that I forget the things that I actually want to get out of life.

The important stuff. Things like spending time with my family and friends, remembering to be grateful for what I have, and reminding myself of things that I’m proud of. These are all the things that make me a happier person.

Well I wanted to do something to keep me focused on living intentionally without sacrificing organization.  So that’s why I designed my series of life planners!

I wanted a solution that marries my two goals:

Living intentionally and focusing on what matters to me
And staying organized and keeping track of my busy schedule.

With these planners I can be organized and project-oriented while still remembering to live intentionally and focus on what actually makes me happy and fulfilled. Keep reading to find out all the awesome ways these planners help you live intentionally.

The 2017 version of my planners are now available in my etsy shop! I’ve made some improvements to my August-August planners, and I couldn’t be happier with the result.

There are six different types of planners available:

1. Weekly Intentional Life Planner
2. Monthly Intentional Life Planner
3. Student Weekly Intentional Life Planner
4. Student Monthly Intentional Life Planner
5. “Light” Monthly Planner
6. Pick Your Pages Planner

And I am excited to tell you about them! The Pick Your Pages Planner is totally new this year, so make sure to keep reading to find out how they work.

intentional life planners

The Intentional Life Planners help you to reflect and reevaluate on a regular basis. If you follow along with the life planners, not only will you keep track of your schedule, you will also stay on top of your goals and remember what is important.

All four of the Intentional Life Planners start out with an overview of the year, with space to write in your own holidays and important dates to remember.

They each give you some time to reflect over 2016 and set your overall goals for 2017.

With the month at a glance page you can highlight the most important things coming up in the month ahead, including keeping track of bills, or assignment due dates in the student version.

The weekly planners come in a two page weekly spread with a dedicated to-do list for each day.

The monthly planners come in a two page monthly spread with lots of extra space for notes and lists you might want to add.

And each month there are check-ins to remind you of your goals, accomplishments, favorite moments, things to work on, and more. Organization and mindfulness were both equally important for me in creating this planner.

And what’s really cool about all my planner designs is that they come as an interactive PDF. That means that you can easily add text on a computer before printing out your digital planner files.

This all comes in a bright happy layout that will make you excited about staying organized.

Organization comes easily to me, but I sometimes have to work at living intentionally. I’ve been using my planner for the past several months and it really has made a difference in my life. Once I got used to using the end and beginning of months to reflect, evaluate, and refocus, it became a habit for me.

And it also reminds me of all the great things that have happened! Looking back through my month in review pages and my goal check in pages shows me how far I’ve come. It reminds me that all my hard work is paying off.

Who wouldn’t love that?

pick your pages

The Pick Your Pages Planner is completely new this year!

I know that not everyone may want the pre-planned package. You may want the goal setting sheet, but not care about the month at a glance page, or vice versa. Or maybe you want even more awesome pages in your planner, like a daily agenda, a detailed daily to-do list, or a meal planning PDF.

Well that’s why I made Pick Your Pages. Each different page is offered a la carte, and you can combine them to make your ultimate dream planner.

The Pick Your Pages Planner allows you to choose from over 20 different planner page designs to customize your dream planner. This a la carte approach allows you to get exactly what you want out of your planner and avoid paying extra for planner features that you don’t want.

There are so many options to choose from:

• Colorful cover page
• 2017 overview
• 2017 holidays
• Birthdays on two pages
• Important dates and birthdays
• Goal setting
• Goal check in
• Month in review
• Month in review and goals
• Month at a glance
• Daily agenda
• Daily to do list
• Meal planner with groceries
• Organized grocery list
• Week on one page
• Week on two pages
• Month on one page
• Month on two pages
• Notes

So you can mix and match to your heart’s content!

And the great part is that I will continue to add more Pick Your Pages designs as I get more feedback and come up with new ideas.

And I’ve got something awesome for you…

If you buy a 2017 planner before December 9th, I will also make you a custom cover page!

Just use the coupon code:

COVERPAGEPLEASE

And let me know what design, font, and words you would like!

All right, who’s ready to live intentionally? Don’t miss out!

The post 2017 Intentional Life Planners from ThePinStudio appeared first on Pins and Procrastination.