a beautiful DIY all natural air freshener for your home

 

i love a good natural way to freshen up our home while giving our guests a warm welcome with beautiful + calming scents as they come through our front door. i've found dried florals blended with essential oils makes a lovely diffuser + air freshener while also adding a touch of pretty to your space.

- how to make a natural air freshener for your home - 

simply gather dried phalaris grass  + sweet annie  + celosia cockscomb flowers. these types of flowers and grasses tend to soak up the oils best, which make their use and aroma last for a long time. depending on where you live you may find them foraging or you can simply ask your local florist if they carry them. farmer's markets are good places to find these too or you can also order them online. i've been lucky enough to find mine at our local farmer's market. 

once you have gathered your goods you're all ready to create your bouquet. make however you want or like, just make sure to leave some stem for hanging. you can use floral wire to tie the stems together as well as to hang your bouquet. 

after your bouquet is made it's ready for those yummy oils. we use young living essential oils you can find here or order here but you're certainly welcome to use whatever you have on hand. simply add a few drops to your dried florals and it's all set and ready to be hung and welcome you home. 

where we gather // a family's room

what once was a dreary family room filled with bulky furniture and an entertainment center much too big, is now a bright much more functional space for us to gather in. our family room is the ultimate cozy hub in our home. it's where we gather most evenings to wind down after a long day of play or where we cuddle up when we're not feeling well or for rainy day movie marathons or where we tend to scatter our toys and crafts about. we spend a lot of time here and because of that i wanted to make it into something better than it was.

a while back i had an idea to give this space a better feel and look from the dark not so functional space it once was. i wanted the space to feel bright. clean. bigger. and more functional than what it had going on. once i had Aaron on board, we drafted up the plans and worked with my step-dad to help us carry it out. it took us a little over three weeks from start to completion.

the built in saves space but offers us all the storage we need for movies, books, blankets to cozy up with, or the like.  

i'm still playing around with things but for the most part it's complete and ready to be lived in. i think my favorite thing about this room though is the poster size photos of the girls. i loved putting them together and coming up with the images to frame. it was super easy to do too, which is always a bonus! 

a source list for all the things :

- chocolat leather sofa from article 

- rug from rugsUSA

- throw pillows a blend of pottery barn here + here and ikea 

- lamp is target 

- poster size picture frames frame bridge // i use them for anything that needs to be framed. seriously, they are amazing! 

- little clock is from target

- gray pot for plant anthropologie 

* beautiful photography by Melissa Oholendt for when our home was featured on The Glitter Guide. You can see more images of our home on The Glitter Guide, here 

keeping your business + self organized

it's been nearly a year since the soft launch of my bloom business. in june of twenty sixteen i took a leap of faith to start my dream business. i have been dreaming of bloom for a long time. what once was this idea spinning around in my head for years, i finally took the rumbling storm head on. i put aside perfectionism, invested in some fabric, and told myself 'you're never going to know, unless you try' over and over again. my quest became 'think less + just do'. stop talking. start making. in just a few short weeks my mother and i sewed 150+ sets of pillow cases and sold out faster than we ever imagined. i had no idea what i was doing, really. and i had absolutely no idea where all this would lead. but what i did know is that i wanted to share my designs and creations with all of you, and i'm glad that i have.

since this time last year, i've learned and gained a better understanding of how to run a small shop online. while i'm certainly no expert, and have a ways to go, the one thing i do know for sure is keeping myself and my business organized, regardless big or small.

after months of trying to manage things simply by memory or sending out ridiculous, and quite possibly embarrassing invoices, i subscribed to a program specifically for those that are self-employed to help me out. the QuickBooks Self-Employed + Turbo Tax Self-Employed program has literally put my old system to shame. by not only providing efficiency, this program breaks things down categorically and the best part is, it's simple. the thing i have found most helpful is the use of their app to track my mileage. i was terrible at remembering to write my miles down. now with the help of their program, my phone simply tracks how far i've traveled and the reason of my travel. easy, right? you can also manually add miles or forgotten trips too, which is nice. i've learned that every mile counts towards those end of the year savings, so this is such an important thing to remember for any business owner.

the other thing i love about the program is how easy it is for me to track my expenses. there is no need to fret over making sure all my receipts are accounted for at the end of the year. this program has made the process so much easier for me and decreased some anxiety too. i simply add my expenses and it tracks is all for me. i also like having that visual of seeing my expenses in one place. it helps not only keep me accountable and in check, but it helps when it comes to prioritizing as well.

i can honestly say i'm managing my business much better now having this program in place. i was lost before, but i've found a much better way.

with all this said, i am more than happy to answer any questions that you may have about bloom, my process or even how i started. again, i'm no expert and have a lot to learn yet, but i would be more than happy to share what i do know.



* this post is brought to you by a partnership between living life's moments and QuickBooks + Turbo Tax Self-Employed business program. all opinions are my own. thank you for supporting posts like this that help support and build content for this space. the photography is my own with the help of my three year old daughter. she took the images of me.