Category: Money-savin’

Can you paint fabric storage cubes?

Posted on January 29, 2018 by

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Just about everybody has one of those “cube” organizers, whether it’s Ikea’s Kallax or one of the thinner knock-offs sold elsewhere. We had a six-cube unit* that floated around the house for years — closets, bedrooms, different closets — before winding up in our daughter’s…

Category: Money-savin', My Handmade Home, Organization

Upcycled DIY headboard

Posted on December 11, 2017 by

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Upcycled DIY headboard {Heather's Handmade Life}

We spent $0 making a DIY headboard by reusing what we had Our guests have always slept in our basement playroom, which was possibly the least restful spot in the entire house. I mean, how can you truly feel relaxed when you have dozens…

Category: Darling Husband, DIY, Fusion Mineral Paint, Money-savin', My Handmade Home, Woodworking

How to serve leftovers your family will actually eat

Posted on August 22, 2017 by

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The key to serving leftovers your family will actually EAT is presentation. You need to take old, tired, sad food and make it look NEW, DELICIOUS and NOT LIKE LEFTOVERS.

Category: Cooking, Money-savin', UncategorizedTags: , , ,

I’m Heather Laura Clarke. I’m journalist and blogger in beautiful Nova Scotia, I have an 9-year-old son and a 7-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 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.

@HFXHeather on Instagram
We’re talking about lightbulbs 💡 over on Facebook today and the conversation is super fun because we’re all like “THESE LIGHTBULBS GIVE ME LIFE” and discussing how we never thought we’d care so much about lightbulbs. . . . Search “Heather Laura Clarke” to find me on the booky! I share my favourite type of lightbulb (it’s not a brand or a type, it’s a specific Kelvin temperature!) including a link to grab them for about $2.40 each. . . . Also I keep thinking I want to paint over these (dated) chevrons but then I think, eh, I still kinda like them. And I will always like the WASH YOUR HANDS sign I painted so many years ago. . . . #powderroom #homedecor #lightbulbs #homehack #chevron #washyourhands Weird confession: I love DIY and decorating, but I HATE “tablescapes” and table decorating of any kind. It just seems annoying and pointless to me. IDK. I’d just rather a nice plain wood table with plates and cutlery? 🙊 . . . Hosting a small Thanksgiving today and here’s my best effort. I ironed a plain white tablecloth. I stuck two fall-like pillow covers in the middle like a fake runner. I stuck my favourite fake plant in the middle of the pillow covers. Whatever. Lol. 🤷🏻‍♀️ . . . #thanksgiving #tablescape #notreally I took these photos this afternoon, five minutes apart, for #worldmentalhealthday. . . . On the left, I had just completely melted down worrying about how I'm going to handle everything today (including dragging my children along to three different places I need to go, since my husband will be working). Life felt overwhelming. My calendar felt disastrous. I was angry and sad and defeated. I was sitting on the basement stairs (go-to mope spot) and wondering if going off my antidepressants last week was actually the worst idea I'd ever had. I could almost feel a tinge of tears, and I haven't had the ability to cry in years thanks to the meds. . . . On the right, the plan was to show how happy I *could* look and remind you that not everybody SHOWS their dark moments and a smile doesn't mean someone is actually happy. I was going to write something about how you never know how a person really feels, and some people hide their pain. But after messing around with Instagram filters for a few minutes, I actually *was* feeling a little better. Not a lot, but a smidgen. Enough that I was able to pick myself off the stairs, shake out the wobbly foot that had gone to sleep while I moped, and return to my desk to get stuff done. . . . It's still a bad day. . It's still a crummy schedule. . I still have #anxiety. . I still have #depression. . I still wish I could fast-forward to tomorrow. . But I'm trying. Slogging. Pushing through. . I'm always, always fighting. #sicknotweak . . #worldmentalhealthday The prettiest sewing kit ever!🧵✂️ . This is actually a @betseyjohnson LUNCH BAG, but when I saw it at @winners I knew I had to have it. The sparkles! The jewels! The gold! The sequins! The cupcake shape! 🧁 . Since I work from home and have NO use for a lunch bag, I had to come up with a reason to buy it. Hmm. Makeup bag? Nail polish storage? SEWING KIT! . I loaded it up with thread, needles, scissors, and a current hand-sewing project, and suddenly an hour in a loud taekwando gym didn’t seem so bad. (It comes with a detachable shoulder strap that I wound up using around my neck so the bag didn’t slip off my lap. Worked perfectly!) . #sewing #sewinglife #betseyjohnson #betseyjohnsonbag #multipurpose #sewonthego #handsewing #cupcakes #sparkles #sequins Today on the blog: how we taught our kids to pack their own school lunches (!!!) using a handy printable for the fridge. . Grab three FREE printables at the bottom of the post so you can customize one for your own fam. . GAME 🙌 CHANGER 🙌 . #linkinbio #parenting #kids #school #schoollunch #printable #freeprintable #momlife #dadlife #elementaryschool I LOVE the look of an impasto painting — the texture of the swirls, brush strokes, and thick dabs of paint gets me every time. 😍 . While I’m still working on my painting skillz and hope to create a “real” impasto painting soon, I’ve discovered a trick that amateur painters can use to make FAUX IMPASTO paintings using a medium that’s unexpected, cheap, and available just about everywhere. . Full details today on the blog! . #painting #impasto #impastopainting #handmade #create #creativelife #makesomething #paint #minipainting #paintingtips #linkinbio
@HFXHeather on Twitter
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