Merry Christmas! I hope you had a lovely day, whether it was quiet or chaotic. This was my favorite Christmas ever. I don’t know how I’ll ever sort through all the photos and videos I took. I just couldn’t stop! I want to remember everything when my kids are this fun age. Here’s our Instagram pic!
Today I’m looking back on the new year today with the Top 10 most read blog posts, starting with number 10 …
10. Large Lord’s Prayer posters
I’m shared my Lord’s Prayer poster for kids in three different translations and three different color palettes! And they are a large 16 x 20″ size too.
I made this poster to hang in my boys’ room. They learned the whole thing fairly quickly even though they couldn’t read. I pointed to each symbol to prompt them as we recited it.
Sharing our Lord and savior with children is the most important work! May God bless you and your children as you spend time with Him together.
Large Lord’s Prayer posters for kids
9. Doll house makeover & DIY Barbie furniture
I saw this dollhouse by the side of the road on our way home from church and knew it must be ours … I mean Clara’s! It must be Clara’s.
I had a goal of a few hours and $20. It makes me crazy to find a freebie and then spend a bunch of money on it. That defeats the purpose! I ended up spending 5 hours on the house itself and $28 total for supplies. I may or may not have gotten a little lost with time coming up with free DIY Barbie furniture.
Doll house makeover & DIY Barbie furniture
8. Favorite affordable light fixtures
I love consistency throughout the house and I’ve tried to do that with paint colors, as well as lighting. These are all the fixtures I currently have in my house. I took a lot of time to find the most affordable and timeless lights. Let’s take a little tour! I’ll show you my capiz fixtures, drums, natural woven, outside options, fans and inexpensive ceiling medallions!
Favorite affordable light fixtures
7. Porch makeover: I painted the walls, doors and floor!
Everyone loves a good before and after — especially when it was all done with paint! I’ll show you how I painted our french doors black and how I stenciled the floor using a large-scale stencil.
I painted the door and stenciled the floor for about $100.
Porch makeover: I painted the walls, doors and floor!
6. $100 board and batten entryway with hooks
This is one of my favorite projects ever! I completed this board and batten wall in two days all by myself — with no power tools and little to no skills. It was under $100 — wood, paint, hooks and all.
It has a big impact with little money. I’m looking forward to decorating it with the seasons! I’ll show you each step of how I did it, mistakes and all. If I can do it, please believe me, you can too!
$100 board and batten entryway with hooks
5. Coconut and ACV skincare routine
In 3-phase effort to detoxify my home and body, I have started a crazy new skincare routine! I’m washing my face nightly with coconut oil and using apple cider vinegar as a toner.
I think most of us have heard about using ACV as a toner, but I found out I was doing it wrong. I wasn’t diluting it, I had only tried putting it straight from the bottle right on my face. And that stings!
I wasn’t familiar with using coconut oil as a face wash, though, and was very skeptical when I read about it. I tend to have oily skin, so why would I put more oil on my face? But I decided to give it a try and it works!
I’ve been experimenting with this for several weeks and have come up with what works for me. If you’re interested in trying an effective, inexpensive, all-natural skincare routine, you can start here and modify it to best suit you.
Coconut and ACV skincare routine
4. My favorite clean makeup and non-toxic products
Is your makeup safe? I thought mine was fine, but some of it was 8 out of 10 on the toxicity scale! Today I’m sharing my favorite non-toxic products, and showing you how to measure your own products. I’ve spent my own money and lots of time researching and testing to find quality products at the best prices. I also like products that are multipurpose to save even more. (And everything can be found on Amazon!)
So let’s go! I’m going to walk you through:
- makeup products
- lotions
- sunscreens
- haircare
- men
- kids
- household products
- my natural deodorant experiment results!
- natural ways to fight wrinkles
I’m also sharing how to avoid wrinkles and some natural things to help repair them. I know there are a couple in there you’ve never heard!
My favorite clean makeup and non-toxic products
3. DIY pink dip dyed dollar store vases
Walking down the Target aisles I stopped at an all pink end cap display. Actually, I notice most of the women stopped a the all pink display! But with the average price of $20 per product, I passed. That was about my entire Valentine’s centerpiece budget!
I decided I would find a way to make my own, cheaper pink Valentine’s display. I chose dip-dyed dollar store vases and faux tea roses. I had all but two of the vases and some paint. I just needed some flowers.
DIY pink dip dyed dollar store vases
2. Office organization ideas and minimalist checklist
Let’s organize the office! And I don’t just mean putting our supplies in an orderly fashion in the drawer, I mean purging paper, getting important documents safe, even clearing off your computer and phone! And you know I have a ton of free printables for you.
Office organization ideas and minimalist checklist
1. Definitive guide: How to start a blog and make money
This one went viral on Pinterest!
Here’s my promise to you: This post on blogging is the most helpful, comprehensive, detailed, realistic, applicable, with the most free resources you have ever read. Sound good?! I’m also sharing exactly how much I make blogging part-time and how you can too.
I have read probably 50 posts on “How I make money blogging” and walked away with essentially NOTHING. They tell me to pick the right name, use WordPress and get a hosting company and that’s it! What about SEO, how to get affiliate links, what ad service to use, Lightroom presets, free photo sources, the best plug-ins, Pinterest strategies, growing traffic … ?
After blogging for six years, I have hundreds of ideas and tips. I want to actually share with you ALL the practical information I’ve gathered from trial and error, research and blogging friends during this time!
I have never spent more money on my blog than I have coming in. I currently pay no regular fees for my site except for hosting. I’ll show you how!
Definitive guide: How to start a blog and make money