If you are brand new to digital planning, here is a 5 step beginner’s guide to digital planning.

Digital planners are a great way to organize your life and stay on top of important tasks. They allow you to create lists, set reminders, and capture notes with ease.

Digital planners can be used on any device, but iPads seem to be the preferred method. They feel the most like an original paper daily planner – except you can erase any mistakes you make, move items around easily, copy and paste tasks you repeat each week or day and you can block off times in many different colors without picking up different pens and highlighters!

Digital planning is awesome and here is your 5 Step Beginner’s Guide to Digital Planning.

Step 1
Download GoodNotes

The first step in digital planning is to download a note taking app. GoodNotes is available in the App Store and is free for the first 3 notebooks you create. This makes it perfect for getting started with a daily planner at no cost. And, GoodNotes was named Apple’s iPad App of the Year for 2022, which means it’s pretty dang good.

Here are some of the features I find the coolest – you can turn messy handwriting into any font you want, you can search your planner for any words or text you’ve written over the year, choose which layers to erase from a page, scan and import paper notes or documents. There is a whole lot more – which is why I’ll be doing tutorials to get you started, so be sure to follow me on social media.

Step 2
Download a Digital Planner

Next, you’ll need to download a digital planner. There are tons of digital planners out on the market but I created my own because I am often up working at wee hours of the morning and I needed a planner to show a full, 24-hour schedule. I also like to track my sleep (because I often don’t get enough) so I wanted to see a full day schedule for each day. (I don’t know why so many planners don’t have a full day and it drives me nuts!)

You can get my first quarter of 2023 digital planner for FREE here (January – March). I do ask for an email address so I can send you a notice once the next quarter becomes available to download.

Step 3
Import Planner into GoodNotes

Once you’ve downloaded a planner, open GoodNotes and click on the plus sign and click import. Then find the planner in your folder on your iPad to import.

Step 4
Time to Learn the Basics

Now it’s time to start learning the basics of planning in GoodNotes. It’s easy but it will take a little practice to get the feel for it. The hardest part is remembering that links to other pages don’t work in writing mode. And you can’t write or use the other tools while in reading mode.

I’ll be going over the basics in tutorial videos so be sure to follow along but this article outlines the toolbar and basics for you.

Step 5
Start Planning Your Day, Week and Year!

Now it’s time to start planning!

Plan your days, weeks and important dates and tasks throughout the year. Set an hourly timer for the first few weeks and write down what you’ve done that hour in your schedule. This will help you stay focused and on track. But most of all, have fun while planning.

SHOP LISA’S FAVORITES:

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Losing a loved one before your wedding day is an emotional event. Therefore, finding a beautiful way to honor their memory can be comforting. However, “the perfect way” to do this depends on your personal style and what you envision on your special day. Here are Five Wedding “In Memory of” Memorial Ideas for your wedding.

Idea 1
Create a Memory Table

A memory table is a perfect place to display your favorite photographs that remind you of your loved ones. Additionally, this table can be setup at the wedding ceremony venue or reception venue, and is an elegant way to honor the memory of someone on your wedding day who has passed away.

In essence, all you’ll need are some photos and memorial signs, along with some flowers or candles that match your wedding color scheme. These are a few memorial signs that can be placed on the table.

As seen above, this shop has unique poems that include custom drawings of the bride or groom with their deceased relative. Additionally, the poem can be edited and the drawings are handmade from photos submitted to the shop. This makes a touching piece to be displayed on a memory table or chair. And, because it can be brought home to keep forever, it also makes a good gift.

SHOP LISA’S FAVORITE TABLE SIGNS

The signs above are also popular items for a memory table. Add a few photos along with some flowers and your memorial table is complete!

Idea 2
Leave an Empty Chair

If you’d like to honor your loved one at your ceremony, many people choose to leave an empty chair or seat reserved just for them. Decorate the chair with your favorite photos, a personalized reserved chair sign or a small plaque.

For a mother of the bride or mother of the groom who is deceased – you could bring their favorite flower. Then, place it on the chair or reserved seat. This can be a very meaningful way of remembering someone important on your special day.

SHOP LISA’S FAVORITE CHAIR SIGNS

Idea 3
Boutonnière Charm Pin or Bouquet Charms

If you’d like a more intimate approach, you can use charm pins. For the groom who has lost a mother, father or other close loved one, a boutonnière safety pin with a locket or a charm containing a photo can be pinned to the boutonnière, or inside his jacket or vest. This is a personal way to pin them close to your heart on your wedding day.

Similarly, if the bride has lost her mother, father or other loved one, photo charms can be pinned inside of her dress or wrapped into her bouquet for her wedding day. These examples are a more discreet way of honoring the memory of the deceased at your wedding.

SHOP LISA’S FAVORITE MEMORY CHARMS

Idea 4
Memory Candles

Memory candles lit at your wedding ceremony or reception in memory of a loved one are another nice way to honor them. Generally, this has a more dramatic effect at a night wedding as opposed to day, due to the evening ambiance.

Also keep in mind that wind could play a factor at an outdoor wedding. In that case, flameless candles or lanterns that block the wind would work well.

SHOP LISA’S FAVORITE MEMORY CANDLES

Idea 5
Including your loved one in your Wedding Program

Many of your guests may not even know that the bride or groom lost a mother, father or other family member before their wedding day. Especially if they have been gone for sometime.

Including the loved one in your wedding program may help with any confusion for guests and is another way of keeping their memory alive for your wedding day. You can include a personal note or state “in honor of the late (name, relation)” in the program.

And those are five wedding “in memory of” memorial ideas to include your loved ones that have passed away in your wedding day. Those we’ve lost before our wedding day were often there for some of the most meaningful times in our lives. Therefore, it’s a beautiful idea to include them in the biggest day of your lives as well.

Need Last Minute Favors for your wedding guests? Get them here

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With 4th of July and Labor Day celebrations coming up soon, it’s time to get festive with some free patriotic printable sparkler tags and food flags!

Freebie 1
Party in the USA Patriotic Food Flags

If your BBQ needs a little patriotic flair this year, these Party in the USA food flags will do the trick. If you have printable sticker paper sheets, just print, cut, fold and stick to toothpicks. But you can also use cardstock or regular printer paper and tape or glue too.

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Supplies Needed for Patriotic Food Flags

• Printer
• Sticker paper or copy paper
• Scissors or a cutting machine
• Glue or tape (unless using sticker paper)
• Toothpicks

Instructions

Download and print Party in the USA food flags. Cut two squares in a row together for one flag and fold down the middle to create a double sided flag. Place toothpick in the centerfold and stick, tape or glue to toothpick. Repeat process for all 12 toothpicks and print more if needed.

Freebie 2
Fun & Fireworks Sparkler Tag Holders

Sparklers are a great addition to patriotic holiday parties and these tags will dress them up with fun! Easily print these on 8 1/2 x 11” white cardstock. Each sparkler tag holder measures 3×3”.

Supplies Needed for Patriotic Fun & Fireworks Sparkler Tag Holders

• Printer
• Letter 8 1/2 x 11” cardstock
• Scissors, paper cutter or cutting machine (Cricut or Cameo, etc)
• Standard hole punch or scissors
• Sparklers

Instructions

Download and print Sparkler Tags on white cardstock. Cut each tag as a 3×3” square. Then cut a small slit with scissors or an x-acto knife at the top and bottom of each tag for the sparkler to fit (see photo above for slit placement). If you’re using bigger sparklers or want to put more than one sparkler in each holder, a hole puncher can be used.

I hope you enjoy these Free Patriotic Printable Sparkler Tags and Food Flags and enjoy your 4th of July and Labor Day festivities. Be sure to sign up below for more freebies coming soon!

Supplies Needed to Create a Photo Booth for your party List:

All celebrations should have lots of photos to create lasting memories. Why not add an affordable DIY photo booth to your party this year? Check out this post on how to do it

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With inflation rising steadily, we are all looking for ways to cut costs. An average bottle of laundry detergent can cost .20 cents per load. Here’s a recipe for making your own laundry detergent that costs less than half that amount. At around .06 cents per load, you can save over $100 a year!

• 3 bars of Fels Naptha soap
• One 36 oz. box of Borax detergent
• One 3lb box of Arm & Hammer Laundry Booster Super Washing Soda
• 2 cups of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
• 1 of the 3 lb tubs of Oxi Clean
• Scent Beads (any scent – optional)

If you don’t like these brands for any reason, here are other options:

• FOCA detergent (instead of Borax and Arm & Hammer)
• Castille or Zote Soap (instead of Fels Naptha)

Directions: Grate or chop in food processor all bars of Fels Naptha soap. Add box of Borax and box of Super Washing Soda, 2 cups of baking soda, 3 lbs of Oxi Clean and optional scent beads into a large container or clean plastic trash bag and mix all ingredients together well. Use 1 tablespoon per small load or 2 tablespoons per large load.

NOTE: I have heard that the Fels Naphta may not disintegrate unless finely chopped in a food processor or melted by using hot water in your washing machine while washing clothes.

Want some Free Printable Laundry Labels to put on your jar of detergent you’re making? Get 12 Free Printable Labels here

Q&A

Is this safe to use in HE washers?

Check your owners manual but yes, it is safe to use in mine and should be safe for most if not all HE washers due to the low suds quality of the detergent. If you want to be safe, fill up washer first and add to water

Does it get your clothes clean?

YES! It gets out grass, mustard, ketchup, mud stains, etc and works really well

What about sensitive skin?

As always, test first if you have sensitive skin and research ingredients but we have a person with eczema in our household and have no issues.

Let’s face it, doing laundry is a dirty job but we’ve all got to do it. And, we spend a good bit of time in our laundry rooms each year. So why not make them pleasing to our eyes while we stand there to wash, dry and fold. Here’s how to makeover a laundry room in one weekend.

Step 1 – Assess The Laundry Room

The first step in making over your laundry room is to think about functionality. Where are your dryer sheets, laundry detergent, bleach, stain remover, etc. currently stored? Where are they going to be accessed most easily? Do you have them in cabinets or on a shelf? Or, do you have them sitting on top of your washer or dryer? If you have them on a shelf, do you like the shelf style currently? Or do you want something different?

Do you have a place to fold and hang clothes? If not, do you want one? Many people like folding and hanging their clothes in the bedrooms. Others prefer doing it in the laundry room, then taking them to the bedrooms and bathrooms. Just take some time to think about how you prefer to do your laundry and what makes the most sense for you.

If you have cabinets, do you like the current style and color of the cabinets? If not, do you want to paint them? Would adding cabinet knobs or pulls update them? I personally prefer cabinets because I can keep my washing products in their original packaging and store them out of sight. However, many people prefer open shelving and storing their products in jars and bins with pretty labels (I have free printable 3×3” labels below). A word to the wise though, glass jars are heavy once filled with bleach, fabric softener or liquid detergent. Therefore, plastic carafes are more practical for these cleaning products unless you choose the glass ones with pumps.

Step 2 – Find Your Style

The next step in your laundry room makeover should be completing a little research to find your style. I’m talking about the fun kind of research – lookup laundry room makeovers on Pinterest and Google Images, watch a few YouTube videos and pin down the style you’re going for in your laundry room. You’re already doing a great job on this first step because you’re doing a little research by reading this article!

Step 3 – Complete any renovations

Once you’ve decided your laundry room layout, I recommend completing any renovations such as painting walls or hanging cabinets, shelving and clothes racks first. You wouldn’t want your new, cute signs or baskets to get paint on them! And, as a result, you’re more likely to be successful with your overall vision of how decorations fit into the room once you’ve completed your renovations.

Step 4 – DECORATE!

Now comes the best part – time to decorate! In other words, shopping, crafting and/or creativity. Along with plants, baskets, jars and canisters, there are cute signs, rugs, and they even have magnetic lint boxes that stick right to the side of your dryer. But don’t overdo it. Choose a few of the things that you can’t live without in your design and go from there. And it doesn’t have to break the bank either. I will be doing another blog in the next couple of weeks and giving away a free SVG laundry sign design and you can download my free printable labels for your jars, jugs or canisters below. If you want to save more money, check out my recipe for laundry detergent that can save you $100 or more per year!

Step 5 – Download & Print Free Laundry Labels

For my Free Printable Laundry Labels I suggest using waterproof printing labels otherwise your labels will get ruined when water, bleach or liquid detergent get on them. You can buy waterproof labels here. You can also print on paper and use clear packing tape as an overlay. The labels are 3×3” but can be cut down as small as 1×3”. Labels Included are:

• Laundry Detergent
• Liquid Bleach
• OXI Clean
• Dryer Balls
• Stain Remover
• Fabric Softener
• Scent Booster
• Laundry Powder
• Dryer Sheets
• White Vinegar
• Baking Soda
• Detergent Pods

Vision Board of Supplies you may NeeD:

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As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualified purchases.

Photo booths make weddings, parties, showers and get-togethers so much fun! If you don’t want to pay the expensive prices that Photo Booth companies charge, here’s an easy way to set up a DIY photo booth using your iPad or iPhone.

(Using an iPad is preferred because it will free up your iPhone for regular use during your event and has a bigger surface area for your guests to interact with).

Step 1
Design Your Photo Booth Space

Design your photo space around the theme of your event. There are lots of creative ways to design a photo area that won’t break the bank. You can create a backdrop using a printed backdrop, fabric shower curtain, a regular curtain, wrapping paper or other decorations.

I’ve found several themed shower curtains for weddings and holiday themes on Amazon and Wish for under $20. You can purchase a backdrop stand or tack the curtain to a wall. You can also incorporate furniture pieces, balloons, floral pieces, hay bales or anything that fits your style – just get creative with it!

SHOP LISAS’S FAVORITE Backdrop Stands

Then, be sure to set the backdrop up in a location that won’t block traffic flow for your event. Think of a corner or wall of unused space for the setup.

SHOP LISA’S FAVORITE BACKDROPS

Step 2
Setup the iPad/iPhone

Next, you’ll need a tripod to setup and attach an iPhone or iPad, with the front camera facing forward. Be sure to charge the device beforehand and you’ll want to setup “Guided Access” on the device so guests can open and take photos easily, without accidentally messing up the photo settings.

Then, open the camera app and flip the view to forward facing, as if you were about to take a selfie. Set the timer on the photo to 3 seconds. Make sure your backdrop is positioned correctly in the photo and take a few test shots. You then have the option to share the photos by text, AirDrop, social media, etc. I have a video above to show you how to access these options on your iPad or iPhone.

SHOP MY FAVORITE TripoDs

Paid Photo Booth App option

Of course, if you’d like a little fancier option, and don’t mind spending a few dollars (from $1 to $80) , there are some pretty cool photo booth apps out there for purchase. The pictures you see in this post were taken using the Pocketbooth Party photo booth app. I started with the .99 cent version (called Pocketbooth) and used it for a couple of holiday parties. It was a hit, a lot of fun and easy to use.

I do recommend the $1.99 version if you’re looking for a budget-friendly option. You can also AirPrint or share via text, email and social media right from the app. However, it only has a 3 and 4 pose option for the photo strips. And most social media platforms do not support that size photo, which will cut off portions of the photo strip when shared online. It also does not have a customizable skin to add a colored or themed border and event title and date. But, it’s definitely a great option for the price and is compatible with iPhones as well. Here’s the front screen your guests will use, settings inside the app and a preview of what the 4-pose strip looks like with the $1.99 version:

I eventually upgraded to the Pocketbooth Party photo app. I wanted more versatility in adding colored borders and event titles/dates. It also has an online gallery to share the photos. The Party version costs around $19.99. However, there are many different photo booth apps at varying price points available for download in the App Store. Depending on your budget and needs for your particular event, there’s sure to be one to suit you.

Step 3
Photo Booth Props

All great photo booths have plenty of fun photo props for guests to use in their photos. And you can get photo props from several different places – stores sell them online, there are free printable props online to download, print and cut. I have free, printable, Wedding-themed ones here and Thanksgiving-themed ones here and plan to add more for different events in the future. The Dollar Tree also has lots of fun items that guests like to use, such as glasses, feather boas and tiaras.

SHOP MY FAVORITE PROPS

Step 4
Photo Booth Directional Signs

If your event space is large and the photo booth is setup in a conspicuous space, you’ll want to have some directional signs pointing guests to the area. These can also be found online for free or to purchase. It is a good idea to also have a sign that tells your guests how to operate the photo booth – which button to click to take the photos, how to share the photos, how to print the photos, any hashtags associated with the event or a link to a website where the photos will be shared online.

SHOP LISA’S FAVORITE PHOTOBOOTH SIGNS

Step 5
Photo Booth Lighting

And last, but certainly not least, is making sure there is enough lighting. If your event is during the day and there is enough natural lighting or if it is in a well lit area, there may be enough lighting for your photos. However, if your event will be at night or in a dimly lit area, you may need to purchase some lighting. Most of us have heard of ring lights by now. And they really do make a difference. But they’re pretty pricey! I’ve used these lights instead and they’ve worked well. Remember to bring an extension cord and power strip for any equipment that needs to be plugged in for power!

SHOP LISA’S FAVORITE LIGHTING

And that’s all you’ll need to setup a DIY photo booth for your next event using your iPad or iPhone! It will surely make lasting memories you’ll cherish.

Supplies Needed List:

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It’s hard to imagine that not long ago, save the dates weren’t a thing. You sent out invitations and RSVPs before the wedding, and your guests responded. Perhaps they marked their calendar from word of mouth.  But today, save the dates are extremely popular for all weddings and even more so for destination weddings! They are a great idea to give your guests a reminder to set aside time for your upcoming event.

It gives your guests time to plan ahead for your big day – book hotel rooms, make flight arrangements and take off of work, if necessary . It also gives you an opportunity to share your engagement photos in a unique way and creates excitement around your upcoming event . And there are so many different designs to choose from online, and so much fun to look through all of them!

If you are planning to DIY parts of your wedding, I highly suggest investing in a cutting machine like a Cricut or Silhouette Cameo. If you aren’t familiar with these machines, there are plenty of tutorials out there on YouTube and around the web but here’s one to get you started .

I fell in love with the airline boarding ticket design and decided to create one from scratch. Our Save the Dates were created using a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine and included a jacket to hold the ticket, a custom luggage tag and a magnet that I designed and bought from Vistaprint. (If you want to create this design, you can get the file at my Etsy shop here. It includes SVGs for cutting the ticket, the jacket and a #10 envelope).

Since we were having a destination wedding, I wanted to give my guests plenty of time to plan ahead if they wanted to attend. I decided to send out my save the dates nine months ahead of the wedding date, although many planners suggest one year in advance for a destination wedding. Keep in mind, you may need to know many of your wedding details before creating your save the date and will have to figure that into your timeline for sending.

You’ll want to have the details of the event, your theme, guest list and address list pretty much finalized before you start to create your save the dates. I decided to also place a map of the area, showing places to stay within a two-mile radius from the wedding and reception to make it easier on guests to book accommodations.

Find a map of the area online, take a screenshot of the map and add text and directional arrows in a free photo editing app (I used Font Candy), email the final photo to yourself – then print them to send with the save the dates. You could also make them into postcards and there are some reasonably prices ones at Vistaprint.

We also decided we wanted a magnet for our guests to place on their fridge as a reminder, and I came up with the below design to incorporate the magnet on the ticket. I bought the magnets for a reasonable price at Vistaprint ($16 for 50 magnets with a coupon) and I was able to highlight our favorite photo from our engagement shoot.

If you want to create this design, you can get it at my Etsy shop here. There are also great design ideas on Etsy, Zazzle, Vistaprint, Minted, Shutterfly and all over the internet. Just remember to have fun with it and create a wonderful memory!