Category: Freelance

Exhausted parents, here’s how to hang in there before school starts

Posted on August 4, 2020 by

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I am exhausted. Truly. We are in parental damage control mode, where it’s all about just surviving the next month and getting to the finish line that is Sept. 8 – the first day of school.

Category: Freelance, Our Daughter, Our Son, Pandemic, Parenting, The Mom SceneTags: , , , , ,

The life-changing magic of adding water to cornstarch

Posted on February 4, 2020 by

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I paused for a second. “Maybe later.” I was hurrying to clean up the kitchen in between phone calls, since a snow day for the kids doesn’t mean I get snow day from my work. I was flustered and already thinking through my next task for as soon as I could escape back down to my home office.

Category: Career, Freelance, Parenting, Parenting mistakes, The Mom Scene

The (7th Annual) Freelancer Christmas Party

Posted on December 20, 2019 by

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I’ve been freelancing for nine years now, but I started throwing myself a holiday party seven years ago after feeling sad that I no longer got to attend an office Christmas party.

Category: Freelance, Holidays, It's all about me

I’m Heather Laura Clarke. I’m writer living in beautiful Nova Scotia, I have a 11-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter, I married my high school sweetheart, and this is the story of my handmade life.

I have depression and anxiety, and I fight like hell every day to keep it from taking over my life. Making things isn’t just a hobby — it’s part of what keeps me alive.

Whether I’m writing novels, decorating a room, busting out my power tools to build furniture, getting muddy in the pottery studio, sewing clothes for my kids, or cross-stitching a swear word, I’m all about using my creativity to craft a life I love.

I’ve been writing this blog since 2009, so if you dig deep into the archives, you’ll meet a bright-eyed 25-year-old newlywed who was basically obsessed with having kids, buying a cozy house, and supporting herself full-time as a writer. (Spoiler alert: she got exactly what she wanted.)

Pizza Bites (425F for 10-15 min).
@HFXHeather on Twitter
My Top Posts
DIY dog crate cover
Easy DIY sofa tables
Build your own slide-out pantry
DIY memory quilts from loved ones's clothes
DIY quilt made from old jeans
How to transfer photos to wood (without a million failed attempts)
Sew a reversible circle skirt
How to sew a cozy nap mat
How to re-cover patio furniture cushions
Songs about trying to conceive, pregnancy and babies
PREGNANCY blog posts
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© Heather Laura Clarke and Heather’s Handmade Life, 2009-2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Heather Laura Clarke and Heather’s Handmade Life with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.