Heather's Handmade Life

B is for brownie

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

The world’s best vanilla buttercream frosting recipe

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

The changing face of blogging

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

1 Comment

Very recently — I won’t say exactly when, to cover my own rear — but very, very recently, I was super-angry.

It wasn’t the kids. It wasn’t Darling Husband. It wasn’t a broken-down washing machine (ours hasn’t broken yet *crosses fingers and knocks on wood anxiously* but I expect it will soon).

It was a professional problem from my work-life (as a freelance journalist) and even though it was consuming my thoughts, I couldn’t talk about it here. I make it a point to never talk about my work here, because my clients could read it — although who knows if they actually do?

Gone are the days when I used this little blog as a place to vent all of my frustrations and plot out my dreams and plans. The days when nobody read Laptops to Lullabies except for a few dear friends, and I could say anything I wanted. Remember those early keen posts about how desperately I wanted to be a mom?

I think that’s a problem most bloggers have. We start off earnestly with a cute little site, ready to share our thoughts with the interwebz. We don’t tell anybody about our blog, at first, because we’re afraid it’s lame. Then as we slowly start to make “online friends” and get positive feedback, we decide maybe our blog is OK, and we tell a few friends and family members about it.

Then, suddenly, it’s five years later and your blog is no longer just a cutesy hobby. It’s a sort-of business where people know you, and you’re paid to talk about things and review products. Not only do your friends and family members read it, but a healthy dose of acquaintances — and maybe even enemies? — read it, too.

Doing sponsored posts and product reviews are the perks of having a well-visited blog, and they’re great. But nobody talks about the fact that you do sacrifice the ability to realllllly say anything, at any time. By making your blog into a business — however bitty — you are building a brand.

Instead of posting unfinished rooms and messy spaces, we feel the need to wait for Pinterest-perfect finished products to show off — as Emily from Imperfect just mentioned in a recent post. It seems like every “real” blogger is posting nothing but gorgeous home photos, and perfect tutorials — complete with PicMonkey graphics! — and recipes with DSLR-shot photos. Bloggers are apologizing for using iPhone photos, you knows! (I don’t even use my regular camera any more — and when I did, it was a cheap point-and-shoot.)

A couple of weeks ago, there was a huge controversy in Bloggie Land, when I blogger (whose site I read daily) said some things that upset a lot of people. I was interested to hear what they were saying, and I found myself on a little site called GOMI: Get Off My Internets. It was a total wormhole, and I found myself fascinated with how these blog readers dissected posts and compared photos from the “major” blogs out there. Some of it is very cruel, and some of it is honest discussion about how certain blogs have been failing, changing, improving, etc.

While it was very interesting — and also kind of like looking at a car wreck and not being able to tear your eyes away from it — I was also terrified of being ripped apart like that. Of course, there wasn’t a forum dedicated to this little piece of the internet — we’re not that famous! — but the idea that a single blog post can get so many people angry/fed up/annoyed was eye-opening.

I have been blogging less and less often, it seems, and it’s not for lack of something to say. Mostly it’s due to lack of time. But sometimes it’s because I have things to say, but don’t feel I can say them here.

What do you think? Should we start a secret forum where we can call spill whatever’s on our minds, anonymously? Like PostSecret for bloggers? My first post will be about how the inside of my washing machine is kind of disgusting, but I never bother to do anything about it — how’s that for Pinterest-worthy content?

Shift / Shifting / Shifted

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

2 Comments

I think the hardest part of being a grown-up — for me, at least — is that no matter how much I organize and categorize my life, it’s always shifting.

I love order and routine and knowing exactly what’s going to come next. A totally typical first-born, Type A with divorced parents. Textbook!

And while I do my best to stay hella-organized, there’s just only so much in life I can control. Which I’m grudgingly accepting, but not really LIKING, you know?

Remember when Darling Husband worked full-time at the boring-but-billpaying Job A, and worked part-time at the fun-and-awesome Job B? And then he went full-time at Job B and lost his part-time gig with Job A because he couldn’t put in as many hours as they wanted?

Well, in the summer he started contracting part-time at Job A again (because they missed his awesomeness) while still working full-time at Job B. It was hectic, but it was good to have the extra money. His contract ended on Dec. 31, so he’s back to one job. Which is good in terms of having more time at home … but then, of course, I feel more pressure to work (since he’s home to help with the kiddies). Oh, and of course, his work schedule has been changing all the time, so it makes it hard to get into a groove … and when we do, it’s gone again just as we settle in.

I usually feel like I’m fighting the whole Mommy War against myself, as I feel conflicted about hiding away in my office to pound out stories (and bring in freelance cheques). Some moments, I absolutely love it — peace! quiet! professionalism! paycheques! — and other moments, I wish I could just hang out with the kids and be a real stay-at-home-mom.

There’s nothing to really change about that. I know moms who march off to an office job feel the same conflict, and I know moms who stay home (and don’t work) do, too. I just keep reminding myself that yes, I am extremely lucky to be able to work from home. I wouldn’t have it any other way, but that doesn’t mean it’s not ever difficult or frustrating.

The kids are delicious as always. Little C is trying her mightiest to be potty-trained long before she turns two. It’s been kind of insane to see her little pantied butt running around the house. Wasn’t she born like five minutes ago? She is full of personality and spice, and basically rules the roost.

D is still loving preschool. He comes home every day announcing new things that he’s learned, like how you have to stay away from poisons (“run away” actually). Earlier this week, he demonstrated how to stop, drop, and roll “if da fire gets on yer clothes.” It didn’t even faze him, and yet he was terrified of the poisons coming out of the cupboard to get him?

Other than D’s room renos a few weekends ago, not much in new house-wise. I’ve used up just about all of the walls (yes, really) and every room is decorated except two of the bathrooms. Sad because I love planning rooms, but happy because the house is looking a lot more “finished.” I’ve been feeling a purge-y urge lately, and sold a few pieces of furniture on Kijiji (bookcase, changing table, dresser) because we simply don’t have room to keep anything extra. The joys (?) of having a house with very, very little storage, but I know it’s good to “move lightly through life” and not get all Hoarders-esque.

The New Year’s resolutions are going OK-ish. Darling Husband and I have been on TWO date nights this month (excellent), I’m not having any luck losing the post-nursing weight (although haven’t really been trying yet, ugh), and my flossing has been subpar (keep forgetting).

On a creative note, things are wishy-washy lately. I really, really, really want to write a new novel and restart the trying-to-get-it-published process. As longtime readers remember, my first (and last) novel was dropped like a hot potato literally the exact same day I found out I was pregnant with D. I don’t even have the desire to try to get that novel published anymore, because I feel like I’ve grown a lot (a lotttt) as a writer in the last four (!!!) years. I have some general ideas for a new one, but not anything really plotty (to use a totally real term). I just have the desire, but not the … plan?

(Also — and this can be filed under “Sad but true” — now that writing is my career, I find it kind of exhausting to think about spending MORE time writing in my (very limited) spare time. Isn’t it strange how that works? Spend my days at a desk job project-managing, and I can get up early to write. But write full-time, for a living? And it’s like I’ve run out of steam when it comes to “creative” writing.)

I haven’t even been sewing lately. Not for three or four weeks, which is a lot considering I was obsessed with sewing for a solid six months. I started my little dress business in August, and I’ve done OK selling to friends and acquaintances via Facebook. That was exciting. But when I got the opportunity to put them in a real store here in town, it was basically a huge bust. I sold ONE — and that was to a dear friend, who would have bought it directly from me anyway. I took the dresses out at the beginning of January, because it was depressing to keep them there. I think (hope?) they would have sold better during the spring and summer, but oh well. I’m not sticking around to find out.

I still love making dresses — and made a few last month for C that turned out well — but I’m not into the idea of mass-marketing them unless I have a set venue to sell them in. Some of my friends sell crafty-goods at shows, but I’m not sure I’m sold on the idea. When I start back up again, I may just make pieces I want to make, and post them online to see if anyone’s interested. I like doing custom orders, because it’s fun to know who’s going to wear it while I’m making it.

I’m also toying with the idea of making more “decor-like” items to sell — namely paintings and mixed-media canvases for kids’ rooms. My only creative project lately has been making things for C’s room and D’s room (as part of the mini-redesign) and it’s been really fun to paint again, and play around with embroidery.

The grey painting is going to go in D’s room, and the rest are for C’s room. Don’t mind the basement carpet peeking out from behind them.

I have no idea what the point of this post was, except to explain my absence a bit and let you know where my head space is right now. January hasn’t been a bad month at all. It’s just been a not-feeling-very-settled month. Lots of work, lots of scheduling issues and changes. Lack of direction with my creative projects. Ambivalence about the direction of my writing career — if I’ll ever actually be a novelist like I planned, or if newspapers and magazines are going to be my jam permanently — and how I feel about that. While I still love the idea of writing books, I’m also finding it hard to believe I ever had creative fiction floating around in my head — these days, it’s all facts-facts-facts, and it’s feeling very comfortable.

Onward, to February!

xoxo

DIY rain gutter bookshelves

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Heather Laura Clarke

5 Comments

DIY rain gutter bookshelves for just $12 {Heather's Handmade Life}

After three years of having a blah faux-wood bookcase in our son’s room, I
decided it was the worst possible way to store children’s books.

Unless I carefully tidied and arranged the books, the bookcase looked terrible. It was a dumping grounds for sloppy, falling-down stacks — shoved there by both kids during clean-up time — that made it impossible to see what we had.

I saw a photo on Pinterest — those are probably the six words I use most often — of a rain gutter shelving system, and decided it was the perfect way to store and display our kiddie books.

Here’s how we made our own …

● We went to our neighbourhood home supply store and bought two white
vinyl rain gutters (K-style, four inch deep, 10 feet long) and a package of
plastic anchors (yellow devils) and screws.

● We decided to cut each gutter into three equal-ish pieces (I’m not much of a measurer) so we would have six bookshelves in total. We used a hacksaw
to make the cuts, and smoothed the edges with a bit of sandpaper.
● We trekked everything up to our son’s room, and I held each gutter against the wall to see if we liked the placement. We used a level to make sure it was straight-ish, and then my husband drilled through into the wall — to make sure the vinyl wouldn’t crack. He tapped the plastic anchors into the holes, and then screwed the gutter to the wall.

● We didn’t measure the distance between each shelf (not my style) because I wanted some shelves to have room for our large, hardcover books, and
other shelves to be sized for smaller paperbacks. We made sure our three-
year-old could reach the bottom few shelves, and that a few shelves would
be out-of-reach (for special books).

● Once the shelves were in place, I giddily loaded them up with our son’s
book collection. Because the gutters are vinyl, there’s a bit of give to them —
but they’re strong enough to hold a LOT of books. Having six shelves allows
us to separate our collections (Little Critter, Berenstain Bears, Robert
Munsch) and make his walls feel like a little library.

Because these gutters are a nice, shiny white vinyl, they don’t need to be painted at all. They even have a little ridged detailing on the front, that looks — from a distance — like crown moulding.

We liked these gutter bookshelves so much in our son’s room that we built
another set in our daughter’s room — and happily sold the old bookcase on Kijiji for $10.

They make it MUCH easier for the kids to clean up their own books — and, most importantly, no matter how they toss them on the shelves, they always look good!

So that’s our rain gutter bookshelf adventure! Now want to see the rest of D’s “new-ish” room?

Big development: moving his dresser into the closet to make room for a new (hand-me-down) desk!

He is thrilled to have his very own desk (“Just wike Mama”) but we still need to buy a chair for the poor kid. We were also able to bring back his blue lamp (Walmart) since he seems more responsible now (i.e. please don’t light the house on fire with it)

I bought him this cute Debbie Travis basket for $7 (!) at Canadian Tire. It holds his “quiet time” activities to do when C is napping (and Mommy’s working), like his Melissa & Doug sticker books, Magnadoodle, and a giant farm puzzle Auntie Lesley gave him for Christmas).

There’s his dresser! It’s perfect in there. We removed the second closet rod, because he barely has any “hang-up” clothes at this point, and it just wasn’t being used. I also bought these two red canvas baskets (insanely good price of $3.99 at Canadian Tire) to store his socks and undies. The grey plastic bins on the top shelf hold his summer clothes (or what I suppose *may* fit him this summer) and his “keepsake” clothes (because I’m a mushpot).

His two beds are the same, and his bedding is the same, but everything looks nicer against the fresh board-and-batten and navy walls. Artwork to come!