Category: The Mom Scene

Teaching kids to pack their lunch

Posted on October 9, 2019 by

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Teaching kids to pack their lunch + FREE PRINTABLE {Heather's Handmade Life}

I decided our kids were surely old enough to pack their own lunch, so I printed out a list of guidelines and stuck it to the side of the fridge.

Category: Our Daughter, Our Son, Parenting, School, The Mom Scene

Confessions of a Catechist

Posted on October 8, 2019 by

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If you had told me three weeks ago that I’d be a Catechist — a Catholic Sunday school teacher — I would have never believed you. My husband didn’t even believe me … and accused me of being high on cold medication.

Category: Religion, The Mom Scene

Have wheels, will Heely

Posted on October 1, 2019 by

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Have wheels, will Heely {Heather's Handmade Life}

Our son and our daughter had been obsessed with the idea of getting these shoes called Heelys. Sneakers with wheels in the bottom? Sure, what could go wrong?

Category: Our Daughter, Our Son, Parenting, The Mom Scene

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
The way this girl loves slime, it’s no wonder she loves Magic Mud (or “Oobleck” as the kids today apparently call it). Perfect indoor snow day activity. Mix three cups cornstarch with 1 1/2 cups water (approx.) and a few drops of food colouring to get a gloppy goop that you can pick up like a solid and then it then instantly to a liquid. My mom used to make it for me and my sister and it’s still really fun. Way better than slime because of the way it changes. Just don’t ask me to explain the science behind it lol. #snowday #again #snowdayfun #indooractivities #handmade #oobleck #magicmud #messy #butnottoomessy When you walk into a project area in your dining room that looks like a @craftsmanca photo shoot except you actually staged nothing! 😂 Can’t wait to show you guys how this BIGGGGGG project is turning out! #DIY #woodworking #furniture #DIYfurniture #buildingfurniture #design #custom #customfurniture #craftsman If you scroll through my posts, you’ll see right away that I make things. I sew. I build. I paint. I craft. I design. I decorate. Oh, and I also write and edit newspaper, magazine, and web copy for a living. Always making stuff, I am. What you don’t see — at least not unless you dive deep into my Insta stories and blog posts — is that there’s something different I’m trying to create. A novel. Finding the time, the headspace, the permission to work on this novel is harder than all the sewing and building and painting and crafting and designing and decorating and “writing for a living” in the world. But I’m trying. I try to work on it every single day, even if I only come out ahead by a couple hundred words. It’s still a couple hundred words more than I had the day before. Baby steps. And there are also stolen moments, like this photo I just snapped, when I take five minutes — in between the family dinner and the family game and then the bedtime routine — to read a few pages of novel-writing wisdom (#savethecatwritesanovel) and scribble down notes to myself. It all counts, however small. It’s all getting me closer. It’s all going to be worth it. I know it. #novelwriting #novel #aspiringnovelist #futurenovelist #onedayatatime #writerlife #writing #amwriting A school week’s worth of handmade cotton dresses, ready to wear. Cupcakes 🧁 Rainbows 🌈 Flowers 🌸 Ice creams 🍦 and forests 🌲 #sewing #handmade #dresses #sewingforkids #sewingproject #thisisseven #handmadewithlove #handmadeclothing #handmadeclothes Sundays are for quilting. Especially with fresh fabrics. 🌸 🌼 🌸 🌼 🌸 #quilting #florals #fabric #quiltersofinstagram #fabriclove Last year, I started sewing memory quilts for people who had lost someone close to them. These quilts are a nice way to preserve someone’s favourite items of clothing — T-shirts, dress shirts, ties, nightgowns, sweaters, jeans — in a way that allows their loved ones to still snuggle up with them. Today’s blog post walks you through the whole process, from prepping the clothes to completing the quilt. 💕 N E W B L O G P O S T 💕 #sewing #quilting #memoryquilt #memoryquilts #handmade
@HFXHeather on Twitter
My Top Posts
Easy DIY sofa tables
DIY dog crate cover
Our board game wall
Build your own slide-out pantry
Anne of Green Gables quilt
Super easy quilt top for beginners
How to sew a cozy nap mat
DIY quilt made from old jeans
How to transfer photos to wood (without a million failed attempts)
Sew a reversible circle skirt
PREGNANCY blog posts
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© Heather Laura Clarke and Heather’s Handmade Life, 2009-2019. 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.