Mother’s Day DIYs & Diffuser Blends

Creativity, Diffuser Blends, DIY, Life, Parenting, Recipes

12 Traditions & Diffuser Blends of Christmas

Posted on December 5, 2018January 2, 2019 by Shell Vera

Start some new traditions while diffusing these great diffuser blends that were originally shared on the Young Living blog in two separate posts (here and here), with a few added bonuses and modifications from my own handbook and family traditions. (Note: This post will probably look best on the laptop or computer due to having to columns.)

For each of the 12 days of Christmas, there is a diffuser blend and a family activity to help you create a new tradition in your home.

Not into oils yet? That’s okay. Try these traditions without the oils. You’ll still have fun; it just won’t smell as great!

On the first day of Christmas…

While diffusing this blend, make scented pine cones as a family!

Go out and gather some pine cones, make sure they’re clean before laying on a foil lined baking sheet.

Bake at 200º F in oven for about 30 minutes.

Wait for them to cool and transfer to paper bag and then place the paper bag within a gallon zip-top bag.

Add about 30 drops of your favorite essential oils and leave bag sealed for 1-2 weeks. The longer you wait, the stronger the smell.

Place out just in time for your holiday celebrations. (From YL’s FaceBook post)

On the second day of Christmas…

While diffusing this blend, trim the tree with your favorite ornaments and decorations.

Then sit down and make some ornaments for next year by grabbing supplies to make your favorite ornament from this vast selection of homemade ornaments from Country Living.

On the third day of Christmas…

While diffusing this blend in your ORB diffuser or USB diffuser, drive around and look at holiday lights with your family.

Talk about what your favorite houses were and why those decorations were your favorite.

While you’re at it, watch an episode or two of The Great Christmas Light Fight and talk about why you would or wouldn’t decorate you’re house the way the contestants have. Do you agree with the show’s pick for a winner?

On the fourth day of Christmas…

While diffusing this blend, try the Lavender Hot Chocolate recipe shared by Young Living here.

The video below shows you step-by-step instructions on how to make your own hot cocoa from scratch!

On the fifth day of Christmas…

Try making something sweet with your family while diffusing this delicious scent.

Bake your favorite holiday cookies or try some new ones from this list from the Food Network. Not into cookies? Make some peppermint brownies (see recipe below)!

On the sixth day of Christmas…

While diffusing this blend, try making some DIY gifts for your family and friends! Need some ideas? We’ve got you! Here are some of our family favorites:

*DIY Bubble Bars

*DIY Mood Soothe Bars

*DIY Homemade Body Butter

and of course, our favorite DIYs that kids from every age can make safely with adult supervision – and they’re tons of fun:

On the seventh day of Christmas…

While diffusing this blend, get the whole family around the fire (or just around the dining room table) and read one of these Christmas favorites:

*A Special Place for Santa

*God Gave Us Christmas

Bonus points if you act out the story!

On the eighth day of Christmas…

While diffusing this blend, make some DIY Aroma Dough and sing Christmas carols with the family while creating your own village of dough houses and people.

Use your favorite play dough recipe or try the one below from our friends at The Oily Home Companion. Our favorite scents for this time of year are Thieves, Christmas Spirit, Sacred Mountain, and Northern Lights Black Spruce.

On the ninth day of Christmas…

As you diffuse this blend, host an Ugly Sweater party with neighbors and loved ones. Didn’t read this until today? No worries – create some ugly sweaters as a family and wear them Christmas day. It will bring new meaning to “famous Christmas portrait”!

Don’t like that idea? That’s okay, we get it – some people aren’t into ugly sweaters! Diffuse the blend and take time to look around the house and ensure it is ready for the upcoming Christmas Festivities. Make it fun by having a small prize for everyone with a clean room and who helps pitch in to clean shared rooms like the Living Room, bathrooms, Dining Room, Kitchen, Den, etc. Try these ideas from House Beautiful.

Want to make the night really memorable? Brew up a batch of the Holiday Spiced Apple Cider and enjoy while taking part in the evening’s activities. It’s a hit for the entire family.

On the tenth day of Christmas…

In honor of Christmas and Gingerbread men everywhere who sacrifice themselves for this holiday, diffuse this scent while baking up a fresh batch of gingerbread dough to create a family gingerbread house or village.

Not that creative? It’s okay – I’m still happy you found the blog. Grab a kit at your local retail store and assemble it together as a family.

Either way, creating together helps you see one another’s strengths and areas to improve! But make a vow to enjoy yourself while creating your house or village.

On the eleventh day of Christmas…

As you get the stocking stuffers ready and diffuse this blend, don’t forget about the Young Living printable tags for the oils you will be giving family members!

Not giving oils as stocking stuffers? That’s okay too! Try these printable coupon stocking stuffers.

Some stocking stuffers we rely on yearly at our house include:

*Scratch Lotto tickets

*Mittens and scarves

*Gift Cards to favorite restaurant

On the twelfth day of Christmas…

We’ve made it to Christmas Eve! This is a perfect night diffuse this blend while reading the nativity story in Luke 2:1-20. Talk about how it must have felt to be a young Mary and Joseph, fleeing for protection, and finding out no one has room for you. Then say a prayer as a family to ensure you always have room for Christ in your life.

It gets busy this time of year and we often forget WHY we celebrate this holiday, but don’t let your family get lost in the season without remembering the reason. Christ has given us all we have, even if it doesn’t feel like enough some days. Let’s take time to be thankful for those around us this night and tomorrow.

Tell us what your favorite blends and new traditions were! Or – tell us about traditions you have that aren’t on the list!

Don’t forget to check out the following blogs for other diffuser blends, gifts, food, and treats.

Diffuser Blends, Oils

Fall Diffuser Blends

Posted on November 16, 2018November 25, 2018 by Shell Vera

I’ve already shared a few blends on other posts but since I found a couple of new ideas, I decided to share them all here in one space. Diffusing is a great way to get your space smelling wonderful while creating an environment conducive to creativity. When you diffuse these scents, you may feel more centered, energetic, and ready to explore your creative vibes.

What are you creating this weekend? These blends will set a wonderful atmosphere that smells like being outdoors so you can enjoy your creative session that much more!

Diffuser Blends, Life, Oils, Parenting

Back to School Hues

Posted on August 23, 2018November 25, 2018 by Shell Vera

It’s that time of year when the kids are heading back to school and schedules are changing once again. I’ve heard it called the blues but I feel like there are many colors that could describe the feelings in our home since my daughter is super excited to get back to school! We thought we’d share our reactions to various thoughts and give you a little insight to our Back to School preparation process today.

Wait – did I just tell you that my daughter can’t wait to go back to school?

Yes, you heard that correctly! She can’t wait to head back to school. She loves her school’s principal, its teachers, and all of the electives she gets to participate in, as well as the learning from her regular courses!

You see, my daughter loves to learn! How can I call this blue?! Isn’t that more like pink or magenta, some fun fiery color of excitement?

While we were at lunch today, we talked about some of the things that will change over the next few weeks. One of them is that Thieves use will increase in our home due to its great smell and ability to promote wellness. Now that she will be around others again all day, Monday through Friday, it’s important we do all we can to ensure she is increasing wellness and decreasing unhealthy habits and practices.

Do you have a favorite Thieves product?

We increase our use of sanitizer and oil during the Fall and Winter months. We use the household cleaner all year round. After all, when you have kids around who have been around other kids all day, you are very likely to bring some unwanted germ-like critters into the home.

Who likes that?!

We looked through some of our resources from our friends at The Oily Home Companion. Full disclosure: Crystal and Verick are in my upline within Young Living; unlike the stories some network marketing folks have, I have only great things to say about how they have supported the team since I joined as a Member back in 2014! Since we are a super creative household, we love the back to school focus and how the various blends are named so we know when to use them.

These are also a wonderful addition to your teacher’s back to school welcome gift if you send your child into school with one! Write out the blends on a nice index card or design it with handlettering if you’re gifted there, and package it with some Thieves Sanitizer and Cough Drops!

While we were looking through resources, we found these goodies as well!

Do you have favorite oils, supplements, or home care products you use this time of year to ensure your family’s wellness and energy?

When we think of all this wonderful stuff, we can help but get excited!

Do those faces look blue to you? We think they look more purple or yellow like – maybe even the neon type!!

To make this time of year smooth, we begin going back to a “school schedule” three weeks before school begins so we can both get used to waking up at the crack of dawn, being up all day focused on work instead of play, and ensure we are getting our bodies used to the new sleep schedules.

Do you do this at your home as well?

Computer time becomes more limited, with no electronic devices allowed after 7:30 pm. This is a time to relax, prepare lunches, get outfits ready for the next day, and spend family time together before bed. During family time, we:

Journal
Read together
Pray
Talk about our day – highs and lows
Color
Listen to music
Meditate, if it’s been a stressful day
Talk about an upcoming event we’re looking forward to

This transition from day into night helps our minds wind down and prepares her for a good nights rest. We don’t do all of the activities every night. We pick one or two.

What are some ways your family spends the time before bed?

In addition to preparing our bodies, we start to ensure she is caught up with math, reading, science, and other core subjects by playing some computer games throughout the day, using homeschool curriculum we’ve used throughout the summer, and having pop quizzes from time to time throughout the week. This helps her get back to using her mind frequently throughout the day.

She just realized that those pop quizzes were actually work not just fun!

With all the fun things we get to do, it can be hard to change your schedule. At bedtime we diffuse Lavender oil to promote relaxation. It leaves a pleasant smell in the room and allows her to enter a restful state quickly after the lights go out.

Each morning we diffuse either Christmas Spirit for a wonderful smelling pick me up or a blend of Lemon, Peppermint, and Sage or Rosemary to help us get moving! If we are still struggling to move our bodies quickly, I’ll put a dab of Brain Power in the bottoms of our feet.

We’re going to enjoy these last days of Summer as we transition into Fall and going back to school. But we’ll do so during the school hours to help us get used to our new after-school schedule. This means we try to move all appointments to their new time and ensure the school day hours during the last week before school are left open for any last-minute preparation.

And that makes us both happy!