31 Days of Deep Cleaning Your Home

It is here! Starting tomorrow I will be posting every day in October, sharing a task to help us get our homes in tip top shape.

These tasks will be the same tasks I do (or should do) for spring cleaning. Doing these tasks twice per year can really help keep your home beautiful. This will not include basic cleaning tasks like dishes, cleaning the bathroom or laundry. What I will be writing about (and doing) are those tasks most of us don't normally do on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis. 

Some of these tasks will take less than half an hour, others of these could take you a few days to complete depending on how much time you have. I have two small kids, one of which is home with me everyday and is like a little tornado. I won't always get all these tasks done in one afternoon. If you are feeling overwhelmed getting the task done throughout your whole house, then just focus on the dirtiest or most used room in your house and work from there! 

You will want to work top to bottom when cleaning. This way you will not be getting the areas you have already cleaned dirty again. Bookmark or pin this page, as this is the one I will be updating daily with what tasks we have already completed. So, you can jump in any time!

Day 1: Dust Cobwebs

Day 2: Clean Ceiling Fans and Light Fixtures

Day 3: Wash Curtains

Day 4: Clean Blinds

Day 5: Clean Windows and Windowsills Inside

Day 6: Clean Windows and Screens Outside

Day 7: Purge and Organize Kitchen

Day 8: Clean Cabinets and Drawers

Day 9: Clean Small Kitchen Appliances

Day 10: Clean Dishwasher

Day 11: Clean Stove Top and Oven

Day 12: Clean Refrigerator and Freezer

Day 13: Clean Pantry

Day 14: Clean Kitchen Table and Chairs

Day 15: Wash Bedding

Day 16: Clean Bedroom Closets

Day 17: Clean Under Living Room Furniture

Day 18: Spot Clean Couch and Rugs

Day 19: Clean Bathroom Cabinets

Day 20: Wash Shower Curtains and Liners

Day 21: Clean Linen and Coat Closets

Day 22: Clean Washer and Dryer

Day 23: Purge Files and Paperwork

Day 24: Clean Behind Furniture

Day 25: Clean Trash Cans

Day 26: Clean Doorknobs and Light Switches

Day 27: Clean Interior Doors

Day 28: Spot Clean Walls

Day 29: Clean Baseboards

Day 30: Clean Exterior Doors and Light Fixtures

Day 31: Printable Cleaning Checklist

If you will be following along with me, I would love for you to leave me a comment. It is always nice to have support and motivation from others to get the job done! See you tomorrow!

Linked up here:

The Nester, Tatertots and Jello

Friday Freebie : My Memories Masks {9/28}

Today's freebie from My Memories are just in time for Halloween. I have a fun Halloween mask for you to download and customize. The download includes the masks plus all the elements and papers used to create them. 

You will need to create a My Memories account to receive your free downloads. You can also download a trial version of My Memories on the website! If you would like to purchase the My Memories software, see my special discount code at the end of this post. And as always, you can download these for use with any photo editing software (Photoshop, etc.).

This week's kit:

Freebie Kit 1

Download your Freebie Kit 1. Be sure to download this kit right away. It changes every few weeks and after that, this particular download will no longer be available for free.

Here is what the finished masks look like (from My Memories). Aren't they cute?:

Here is tutorial (from My Memories) using the above kit:

Using MyMemories Software to Customize your Masks

1.  Download template file and install it into your software
2. Using MyMemories Suite, choose Create Album From Designer Template and find your project
3. Now you can print and enjoy the provided template, or customize it with your own papers and embellishments.

TIP:
You can right-click on the white guide and lock it in place to keep it from moving while you are working. Make sure this is the top layer of your project before printing. 
Just SAVE and PRINT on cardstock!

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DISCOUNT:

Enter code STMMMS30543 at checkout to receive $10 off the My Memories Suite v3 Software. You will also receive a $10 coupon to use in the My Memories store. (A $20 value!) 

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Enjoy your downloads. If you create anything with your My Memories software or these free downloads, I would love to see it. Please share a link in the comments!

Tulip Glam It-Up! Iron-On Embellished Towels

Recently, I was sent some surprise goodies from I Love to Create for a Fall Craft Challenge. We were challenged to create a project for fall using whatever supplies they sent to us.

One of the items I received was a Tulip Tie-Dye & Paint Kit. I tried my hand at doing a tie-dye project, and it was a total craft fail. I may share that with you sometime in a future post. I did tie-dye a t-shirt as well and it turned out really cute, but I wanted to think outside the box with the supplies we were given, so I had to go back to the drawing board.

The other item I received was some really cute Tulip Glam-It-Up! Iron-On Fashion Designs in a Halloween theme. I got a set of spooky eyes, a pumpkin and a witch. Right away when I saw these I knew what I wanted to do. So, I set off to the store to find some Halloween colored towels.

Tulip Glam-It-Up! Iron-On Embellished Halloween Towels

Supplies Needed:

• Tulip Glam-It-Up! Iron-On Fashion Design
• Towel
• Ribbon
• Sewing machine and coordinating thread
• Iron/ironing board
• Thin cloth

Step One:

Gather up your supplies. I found these Halloween theme towels with a fun fabric already stitched onto them. (You could easily get a plain towel and add fabric to it.)

I then got out my ribbon stash and found some ribbons I thought would coordinate with each of the towels.

Step Two:

Lay out your ribbons in the pattern you would like for them to be on the towel. Trim them to approximately the right length, leaving a little extra on each end. Also, decide on the placement of your Glam-It-Up! Iron-On design.

Step Three:

Seal the ends of your ribbon. I do this by carefully holding the end of my trimmed ribbon above an open flame. Do not touch the ribbon to the flame. You can see when it starts to melt a little and then pull it away from the flame. (You can also use some type of seam sealer or just fold and stitch under the end to finish it off.)

Step Four:

Pin ribbon to your towel.

Step Five:

Sew ribbon to your towel. I used a clear nylon quilting thread to attach my ribbon. This way I didn't have to keep switching out my thread for each individual ribbon. For the thin ribbon I stitched right down the middle, for the larger ribbon I stitched down both edges of the ribbon.

Step Six:

Preheat your iron to the wool setting. On my iron that is number 5.

Step Seven:

Peel the backing from the plastic. Be careful doing this so you do not move around the crystals.

Step Eight: 

Position your iron-on onto your fabric, plastic side up.

Step Nine:
Cover with a thin cloth. Press and hold iron over design for 45 - 60 seconds. Allow it to cool.

Step Ten:

Carefully peel off the plastic. If it seems like the crystals are not sticking, iron for a little bit longer. (I had to do this. You can see in the picture how one of the crystals was still stuck to the plastic.)

Turn your fabric over and iron on the back of the design for 15 - 20 seconds.

Now you are all done and you can enjoy your new fancy towel! I completed the same steps for both towels. I will primarily be using these towels for decorative purposes, but if you need to wash them, use the gentle cycle and line dry.

You can find other great products and ideas from I Love to Create here:

Web, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest

Click the links below to see the other great projects made for this campaign:

Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with iLovetoCreate and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are 100% my own.

Linked up here:
Delightful Order, The Shabby Nest, Tatertots and Jello, Itsy Bitsy Paper, Project Inspire, The Gunny Sack, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, The Kurtz Korner, Not Just a Housewife, Clean and Scentsible

October Preview {31 Days}

Every year for the last three years, The Nester has organized a series for October in which you post on one single topic every day for the month of October -31 days. I didn't find out about it until too late last year, but this year I am planning on participating.

Earlier this month, I started brainstorming about what topic I could write about for 31 days straight. Honestly, I could probably do a 31 day series about planning a Lego Ninjago party, but that really won't appeal to most people (imagine that!). I needed to choose a topic that would be helpful and is something I am already working on. I almost decided to do a series on 31 days of finishing up unfinished craft projects, but I have so much else on my plate right now, I figured I wouldn't really be able to commit to that.

The only other option I thought other people might like to follow along with would be to work with me in my fall cleaning schedule. This is the same schedule I do in the spring. I have been pretty bad about doing it the last few seasons, so I figured if I committed to blogging about it for 31 days I would have to get it done! Win, win for everyone. Hence, the '31 days of deep cleaning your home' was born!

This will not include basic home keeping like dishes, laundry and vacuuming. No. This is the nitty gritty, I look at this every day and it looks gross, but I don't feel like doing it kind of cleaning. Dusting cobwebs, cleaning ceiling fans, scrubbing out the oven, cleaning baseboards. Basically 31 different projects to make your home sparkle! This is perfect timing I think for most of us. October officially kicks off the holiday season with Halloween and how nice will it be to have all these items checked off your list before the rush starts?

Whose with me? 

If you are a blogger, you still have time to join in this fun series. Here is a link to The Nesting Place, explaining all about the 31 day series as well as some buttons you can download and customize for your own series. 

Party Planner Printable

I am in full force party planning mode for my son's Lego Ninjago birthday party next month. I tend to go a little overboard when throwing parties, so this year I wanted to be more realistic and organized so I didn't stress myself out so much. Parties should be fun, right?

I created a printable to keep it all together. I have a section in my home management binder for holiday and event planning and these worksheets are perfect. Before, I had this information, but it was written down all over the place - in notebooks, on paper and on post its.

First up, is a party planning timeline. This is my way of staying on track and making sure I have enough time to complete everything! You might not need quite as much time as I do to plan your parties, but since our birthdays happen around the busiest time of the year, I need a lot of time to prepare. And if you are a crafter like me, you probably make a lot of decorations, etc. for your parties yourself, and that requires more time.

Next, I created a guest tracker. This is the place to record anything and everything about who is coming. You can check off if an invitation has been sent, whether the guest can come or not, as well as record how many people will be coming, what gift the person gave and that a thank you card has been sent.

(I have seen some printables with places to list addresses, but I have an address book (both paper and online) and it would be redundant to have to write all that information down for a party.)

The next page has a place to record party details - theme, date, time, and place. There is a section to record what food and drinks you will be serving at the party as well as a place to jot down a shopping list as you think of things you need to purchase.

What is a party without decorations, games and favors? The following page has sections to record what party supplies you need, how you plan to decorate, what games you will play and what to include in the party favors. There is also a small section at the bottom for any additional notes.

The last page can be used for party planning and could also be used for every day expenses. I like to tally up how much I am spending on our parties (and keep our budget in check). This sheet lets me keep all that information in one convenient location. It is really easy to tape an empty envelope to the back of the page to store all my receipts in, in case I need to return or exchange anything!

So, there you have it. All your party planning in one convenient, organized location. These sheets could be easily used for holiday entertaining as well if you host events such as Thanksgiving or Christmas!

Download your free party planning printables.

Linked up here:
Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, Not Just a Housewife, The Kurtz Korner, Clean and Scentsible, Tatertots and Jello, Project Inspired

Ninjago Party Invitation

My son's birthday is a month away and I have started preparing for his party. He is turning 6 and requested a Lego Ninjago party. He specifically likes the green ninja - Lloyd ZX.

I created an invitation for his party using my My Memories Software.

To create the invitation I opened up a blank 4 x 6 album. I added a rectangle shape to fill the page and filled it in with black. I added an image I found on Google for the picture at the top using the 'add photos' button. Lastly, I added a text box with all the information for the party. 

I plan on printing them out at Walgreens (this is why I chose the 4 x 6 size to create my album). Now, all I have to do is get some envelopes from the craft store to mail them out!

I created a Ninjago Party Pin Board on Pinterest if you need more ideas for your own Ninjago party! Tomorrow I plan on sharing a printable that I created to help me plan my party. Every year I tend to overdo it and get completely stressed out. I hope by being really organized this year I can eliminate some of that stress and not add too much to my plate.

Do you go all out for your kid's birthday parties or do you keep it simple?

(You can get a discount on the My Memories software by using the code in my sidebar under 'Sponsors')

More Ninjago party posts:

Ninjago Invitations, Ninjago Lollipops. Ninjago Favor Bags, Ninjago Water Bottle Labels, Ninjago Cupcake Liners, Ninjago Cake

     

Upcycled Garden Tote Bag

Over a year ago I saw a blog post about making an upcycled garden tote bag from a pet food bag at Garden of Eden Goods. I bookmarked it, and then when I started using Pinterest, it was one of the first things I pinned. Now, over a year later, I finally got around to making my own.

If you have been around the blog for a while, you know about my not so green thumb. You have also have seen how, slowly, over the years, my green thumb has been improving little by little (especially outside). This is the time of year we are constantly harvesting from our garden. I figured it was finally time to get this bag made!

I followed along much of the original tutorial, but had to change up a few things to make mine work.

Upcycled Garden Tote Bag

Supplies Needed:

• Pet food bag (washed)
• Sewing machine and thread
• Scissors or rotary cutter

Step One:

Wash and dry your pet food bag. When I washed mine the bottom stitching came apart. (I was going to originally just use that as my bottom).

Step Two:

Turn the bag inside out. Stitch bottom edge closed. I did this using a zig zag stitch, but a straight stitch would work fine, as well. Turn the bag right side out again. (To make things simpler, you could even leave the bag right side out and just stitch across the bottom edge, but I wanted my bag to look more finished.)

Step Three:

Cut off top edge of bag. I cut off about 5 inches on my particular bag.

(If you look closely, you will see the bottom accidentally became my top - oops! I stitched the wrong edge first.)

Step Four:

Fold the bag over with right sides together.

Step Five:

Using the bag you trimmed off in step three, cut this piece of bag lengthwise. Then cut one of the edges, so you have a long straight piece. These two pieces will become your handle.

Step Six:

Place each handle strap right sides together and pin. Stitch around three edges to create a double-thickness handle.

The red dashed line is where I stitched around each handle strap

Step Seven:

Pin straps to the top of the bag on both sides. Stitch handles to bag.

Step Eight (optional):

I folded my handles in half at the top and used a straight stitch to make the handles a little less wide and more comfortable to carry. If you cut smaller strips for your straps, you won't need to do this step.

I use my bag to carry in all the veggies we collect from the garden. You could also use this to corral your kid's outdoor stuff or even as a re-usable shopping bag!

Inside of bag

Have you crossed any projects off of your to do list lately?

Linked up here:
The Girl Creative, Homemaker on a Dime, Sew Many Ways, Tip Junkie, Not Just a Housewife, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Clean and Scentsible