quickly create a YOGA MAT CLEANING SPRAY // namaste bitches

i'm gonna make this short and sweet, because after taking an hour or so to type out this entire blog post, i mistakenly clicked the refresh button (assuming blogger had autosaved) and was much dismayed to find it had disappeared. there's an hour i will not get back... UGH doesn't that infuriate you?

so to the point! why are we all here? we're here for this awesome yoga mat spray cleaner that is super quick and easy to make and works really really good!

what makes it a better mat cleaning spray than the other million essential oil mat cleaners you might have seen? it's the witch hazel! this natural astringent will help to wipe away all the oil and sweat left behind on our dirty ass yoga mats, while the essential oils will take care of the bugs. double the cleaning whammy.

so lets make it! gather your shit:

• liquid measuring cup
• empty spray bottle (mine held about a cup)
• witch hazel
• essentials oils
• water

the cleaning solution ratio is 3/4 water and 1/4 witch hazel + oils

after determining how much liquid your spray bottle will hold, pour enough water into your measuring cup to take up 3/4 of the bottle. my spray bottle held about a cup of liquid, so i used 3/4 cup of water and 1/4 witch hazel (pretty straight forward, hah)

next you'll add your essential oils! experiment with different smells and strengths, giving a test sniff every now and then. don't forget to use some of the oils that are known for their cleaning power, oils like:

• tea tree (fights germs, bacteria and viruses)
• lemon (antiviral and antibacterial)
• eucalyptus (germicide)
• peppermint (antibacterial)
• sweet orange (tough on grease)
• lavender (antibacterial)
• rosemary (antibacterial and antiseptic)

then you'll pour carefully...

and label accordingly...

and bam! you've got yourself one handy dandy fast acting, germ fighting, magical mat cleaning spray! and why not spread the love? make one for a friend! or do as i do and make this sweet smelling citrusy cleaner for your lovely yogi students post savasana!

Tweet

VISION BOARDS // how to make them BEAUTIFUL and AFFECTIVE // self sunday's

my biggest problem with my vision board, is that it had no vision. it was just a bunch of pictures and magazine clippings that i thought were pretty or looked nice and complemented the other photos.

after reading the book The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)by hal elrond, and discovering during the chapter on visualization, that i needed to get a clearer picture of exactly what i wanted in my life, and put THAT up on that board, not just what looked nice on the wall.

now i needed to find photos that would represent my dream life. i started flipping through all the magazines in my house, then i flipped through the ones in my moms, and i did find a few good cut outs, but nothing really specific, and specific was essentials to using the board affectively.

so how can i find photos specific to my unique plans for my life, while still maintaining a nice flow to the board and staying visually appealing on the wall?.. pinterest.

i got to searching through my pinterest boards and browsing the keywords for what i wanted our house to look like or where i hope for it to be placed geographically. i collected some photos of a green house and a big veggie patch, with mountains in the background of course. and then after saving a bunch onto my camera roll (i'm doing this from my iPad by the way) i then imported them into a photo collage creating app (i used picaboo) and once again saved them onto my camera roll.

then when i went to have some photos printed for a client, i uploaded these photo collages to the set as well and had them printed in 8x6s. once i had them home i cut them up and placed them up on to my vision board - after giving the board a clean sweep and taking down a bunch of random clutter.

the result is a perfect (getting there!) picture of what i hope my life to look like! there's still more to add, but it's a fantastic start. so now when i do my miracle mornings at 5:00am, i can sit in my comfy office chair, relax and visualize for 10 or 15 minutes, enjoy my tea and stare at the photos displayed on the board, and just day dream myself into them.

SELF sunday's is a post series devoted to healthy lifestyle, mind body nourishment, and self development, composed of words written without limitations and paired with my sunday morning coffee.

Tweet

Salt Dough Alphabet Letter Ornaments

I wanted to think of a fun activity that everybody could take part in at Sawyers first b-day party.

I love the idea of all the guests painting a wooden letter to complete the alphabet for Sawyer's room, but wanted to do something a little different...

SALT DOUGH recipe:

1 cup salt

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup luke warm water

Mix together the salt and flour in a large bowl. 

Gradually mix in the water until it forms into a doughy consistency.

Using your hands, knead the dough until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Using a rolling pin, flatten out the dough to about a half inch thickness. Then using a knife or a cookie cutter, cut out each letter of the alphabet.

Before transferring each letter to your parchment paper covered cookie sheet or glass baking pan, use a toothpick or a straw to pierce a hole for hanging.

Bake at 100 degrees C (200 F) for a few hours. You can also leave them out to dry for several days at room temp.

Tweet

DIY Bird Feeders

Our backyard is a jungle. It literally has it's own ecosystem.
The previous owners of the house clearly just let it go, and since we bought it last year, we've been so busy with other renovations - mainly indoor - that we haven't gotten around to sprucing it up yet.

The cool thing about having a wild backyard is that you get plenty of birds. Sometimes the not so peaceful and unwanted magpies, but lately we've seen and heard TONS of sweet little chickadees and finchy type birds.

So I had to throw together a few bird feeders. These were really cheap and super fast to put together.

Supplies:

- a mason jar (plus lid)

- a small plate

- 3 beads or something similar

- hot glue

- sand paper

Start by buffing the plate, beads and mason jar lid wherever you will be glueing.

Glue the 3 beads on to the plate to act as a barrier between the mason jar lid and the plate so the seeds have space to pour out.

Then glue the mason jar (with lid on, just the screw part) to the beads.

Unscrew the jar from the lid and fill er up with bird food.

Reattach and flip right side up (outside is probably best).

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME.

Tweet

Natural Easter Egg Dye | a New Tradition

It's been years since I've dyed Easter Eggs! But keeping with the spirit of my New Years Resolution of Creating More Beautiful Things, and in hopes of starting a tradition that Sawyer will eventually be a part of, I'm giving Natural Egg Dye a go!

Coffee . Brown

Blueberries . Blueish Gray

Red Cabbage . Blue

Paprika . Faint Red Orange

Turmeric . Mustard Yellow

Beets . Dark Pink

I found the recipes on Better Homes & Gardens website:

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/easter/eggs/natural-easter-egg-dyes/?socsrc=bhgpin041114naturaleastereggdye&crlt.pid=camp.KjU41GrppHjJ

I left all my eggs to sit over night but I might do things a little differently next year. For instance the turmeric produced a VERY yellow egg. Had it sat for less time it likely would have been a nicer softer colour.

Letting them sit over night also produced a bit of a film on some of the eggs (red cabbage, blueberries). I used a scrubby and buffed it off which revealed a much softer colour, especially on the cabbage eggs.

Next year I think I'll dye two dozen eggs and give a few more recipes and colours a try!

Tweet

Wedding and Bachelorette Party Planning

I've got big plans for my bachelorette party! I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to be planning it, but I really want to head up this operation.

As I won't be able to photograph my own wedding for obvious reasons, but would like to take advantage of the amazing props I will have collected for the big day, I am going to plan my bachelorette party as a Styled Shoot so I have a photo set to submit to some publishers when it's all said and done!

Once I have the exact directions to the property I'll map out the directions on a third invite card like these two and any last tid-bits of information the guests will need.

Last week was when we officially {finally} found our venue and chose our Wedding date! A couple days later I started creating in photoshop and came up with these Save the Date postcards.

The venue is a family friend's hunting property near Hudson Hope, BC. The land is mostly uninhabited and somewhere around 300 acres of trees and meadows along the river, so we'll have our choice of places to set up everything we need!

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the area in the Summer time yet, but these Winter photos give you an idea of what the place is like.

If you like the fonts I've used in the invitations, I've provided links to their download sources below. 

I also created a template of the Mint Chevron Frame in photoshop. If you'd like the file leave your email in the comment section and I will send it to you!

Tweet