Hi, I’m Natalie. Some people call me Nat. That’s cool, too.
I make stuff. A lot. It’s part of who I am. I’m a crafty person, not by choice, but by DNA, I think. I love Mod Podge, but I also knit, sew, paint, and am dabbling in lots of other things. That’s not all you’ll find here, though. I love food, I’m in the process of completely readjusting my eating habits, and I love a good (easy) party. All this is to say, my blog is about stuff I do.
I am also a mom to three cute kids, ages 5, 3, and nearly 1. You’ll see them sprinkled throughout in my posts. They come first, so you’ll rarely see me post daily, and that’s okay with me. I’d rather give you good stuff than fluff.
You’ll find that I’m part Martha-Stewart-Wannabe, and part realist. Nobody can be Martha except, well, Martha herself. And while I love perfection, I also love the process of getting there just as much. I screw up a lot, and will be sure to let you know so you can laugh- either at or with me, depending on the scenario.
To get you started at Crafting Crazy, here are a few of my favorite posts:
I recently painted my kitchen chairs.
I Mod Podged fabric onto a table and it looks rad.
My hall closet is always organized (even if the rest of my house looks like crap).
I made our duvet cover. It took forever.
If you’re still reading, some other things I can tell you:
- I’m a bit accident prone. Okay, I’m a klutz. Glue guns and signs are particularly dangerous for me. Yup. You read that right. Oh, and car doors.
- I love my husband. His name is Michael. He tolerates me, and my propensity for crafting and injuring myself on a regular basis, with grace and patience. He is amazing.
- I love my kids. If you’d like to check them out, you can read my family blog here.
Thanks for checking out my blog, and if you have one yourself please let me know so I can pass on the karma. 🙂
Takin’ some time to smell…
…Mod Podge drying
…acrylic paint drying
…dish soap (I feel like I do dishes 80 times a day- do you?)
…lotion (because I do so many dishes, I have to use lotion all. the. time.)
…poopy diapers. (Sorry, but it’s true.)
…dry shampoo (I love it- do you?)
…ink drying (I’m working on some more printables & a new schedule for myself, which I keep having to redo and reprint)
oh, and the roses…
I’m definitely in a blog funk. I want to blog. I have a lot to blog about. But I need a break. I’m reading a book, organizing & decluttering my house, putting finishing touches on my guest room (it will have a guest soon- hooray!), and trying to just, if you’ll pardon the phrase, “get ‘er done.” I also have a job that will earn me money, but the amount of money I will earn is directly proportionate to the amount of work I put in, so I need to work. Blogging, as much as I love it, is not bringing me a paycheck {yet} so I need to prioritize and be real.
I do have tons of projects lined up. Now that my guest/craft room is almost usable it’s going to be way more fun and easy to make things.
Oh, and to add to my world of chaos, Emily is getting ready to crawl at any moment. CRAZY KID.
There’s lots to come, I promise- I think I’m just in a phase of realizing there’s only so much I can do, and it’s not worth the stress.
Free printable alert!!!
This has been on my mind lately. And I like it. It’s good. See, I’m lucky. And so are you. Did ya know?
I’ll be having a crazy moment with my three impossibly cute kids. Usually this means at least 2 are crying and one is whining, or a combination similar to that. Maybe we’re in the car and they don’t like the songs we’re listening to. Or maybe they don’t want to run one more errand. Perhaps I won’t let them have a lollipop in the car (the horror).
Whatever the case, I will be tempted to lose my temper, or snip at them in some way. Sometimes I do- don’t we all? I hate it when I let myself, because then it’s all about me. But I’m human. Lately, though, I’ve tried as much as possible, to instead remember how stinkin’ lucky I am.
I get to do exactly what I want, which is to be with my kids every day. I get to love them, care for them, and let them be little for a while. I also have the blessings of a home that I have grown to love, a family who loves me, a husband who cares for me immeasurably, a sweet dog, clothes to wear, food to eat… you catch my drift. I’m lucky. Compared to the lives of so many others …. I’m really, REALLY lucky.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the mundane, the routine of our lives. I fiddled around and came up with this printable to help me remember that, even if I really do hate mopping the floor (with a passion), I’m damn lucky that I have a floor to mop.
Maybe you’re lucky because you have a job you love, or an amazing partner. Maybe you’re lucky because you follow your passion or know that someday you WILL follow your passion. Maybe you have your health. Maybe you went through something crazy-difficult, and now it’s in the past and you’re okay. If so, you’re lucky.
I did a black and white, plus three colors. With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, maybe you’d like the green? And, if you leave me a comment, I will add more colors if you don’t think you’d use one of these. I’ll limit that to five, just to save my sanity a bit. I’m sort of at a loss for color right now, so I’d love suggestions.
I’d love to hear what you feel lucky for or about. It’s neat to hear positive things about other peoples’ lives, too. Do tell!
Hi everyone!
I am pleased to give you my first VLOG! I’m linking up again with Chronically Distracted and their Happiness Project.
I already know that I need to make myself a HUGE sign that says, “Don’t Say UM!” I also realized that I didn’t talk too much about vitality, but that’s okay- I’ve always had a problem following directions. 🙂
I’m also learning the ways of uploading a video onto my blog. I would love to hear how you do it, if you’ve done a vlog before. This one I did by uploading to YouTube and then embedding it into the post. Is that right?
Can’t wait to link up and see what everyone else says!
Hi friends,
I am in the process of doing lots of little things in order to do one big thing: simplify my life. I am re-evaluating lots of aspects of my day-to-day routine and world. How much “stuff” do I really need? How much time can I devote to different things I want/like/need to do? These are questions I’m asking, answering, and then moving forward with based on the answers. It’s shaking things up a bit. I know the end product will be awesome because I will have less stuff, more focus and (hopefully) more energy.
To add to the mix, my husband and I are laying pavers outside our patio so that we no longer have a mud pit for a play yard for the kids. I am so excited, and so exhausted at the same time. This weekend has been a whirlwind of back-breaking work, sweat, laughter, tears, time with just me and my man, missing my kids, and PB&J for dinner because we’re so tired (and also wondering how much money we have left in the bank). Today is the last day- we have to finish, because tomorrow it’s back to reality, patio or no patio.
And so, then next time you see me will likely be Thursday. I need a break from posting every day, and that is also something I’m examining- do I really need to post every day? I’m thinking it’s not sane for me at this current time.
But guess what?! You will SEE me Thursday because the ladies at Chronically Distracted have assigned a VLOG for our Happiness Project. My first reaction: “I need to put on makeup for that.” My second reaction: “No way. Not gonna do it.” My third reaction: “Buck up, Nat. You can do it.” So, after I figure out the best angle for my face, I will follow through the assignment and you will actually get to see me AND hear me on Thursday.
See you then!
Nat
I have decided it’s too much for me to post every day along with all of the other things I want to accomplish. For example, this weekend, instead of enjoying our extra day with my husband, we are
The Happiness Project: Do Nothing
As I started to write this post I was trying to do too much at once. What’s too much? I was trying to read the prompt for this post while also catching up on email and watching the Grammy Awards from last weekend. Yeah. Too much. I realized this and shut off the TV instantly. Focus!
I’m having a crazy week. A wonderful week that includes new babies (not mine) and big personal changes, but crazy. This has been frustrating for me on one level, though, because last week I did a lot of work on my schedule and my organization. Having this much chaos in my own brain/life after dedicating a lot of energy to downsizing my chaos feels a bit like slamming my thumb in the car door. No wait- I’ve done that. That was way worse. Things are great!
The prompt this week from the ladies at Chronically Distracted reads:
- What are your biggest personal barriers to PROGRESS?
- Fear? Time? Opportunity? Discipline? Knowledge?
- Would *you* commit to setting a do nothing rule in order to achieve your goals?
(In case you aren’t in sync with these awesome ladies, they are referencing this post from The Happiness Project blog written by Gretchen Rubin.)
My answer? Time. I feel like a court jester, juggling little blocks of the day that are intended for one thing and then a kink happens somewhere and the time gets dropped or *gasp* disappears entirely (where did that naptime go?). Time is amazing because it can pass so quickly and so slowly, yet it always passes. I feel that 9 times out of 10 I find myself chasing time more than any other element of my day.
I actually have tried the “do nothing” rule without knowing it. I’ve been practicing it the last few weeks when I go to Starbucks to write and work on my blog. When I’m at Starbucks and I’m by myself, my focus level rockets so high– it’s amazing! I have no little fingers asking me to fix something, no mouths to fill (except my own), no phone to answer. I close all of my browser windows except those pertaining to my work, and I WORK. The first time I did it I came home and told my husband, “Wow! I accomplished something!” There were, of course, times when my brain wandered, but I did not allow myself to check Facebook or any other techno-fun things. I worked. I felt like an adult. Like an intelligent adult. I think the trick for someone with kids is to find this time, or rather, to MAKE this time for themselves. That is tricky at times, maddening at others, but it’s part of parenthood.
I have come to a place where I am realizing that my life, at this particular time, is just plain whacky. I am trying to do a lot of things, and it’s been stressing me out. I have one voice nudging me a bit, saying, “Natalie, take something off your plate. You don’t have to do all of this.” And I have another saying, “You can do it! You can do it ALL!” This voice carries a set of pom-poms with it at all times.
The reality is that I can’t do it all, and I’m trying to whittle out something that will help me at least try it. I’m aiming to share that process with you all to help demystify a bit of the premise that blogging is a perfect fit for everyone, or that bloggers have perfect lives because they work from home.
Can’t wait to see what others post today in the Happiness Project! I’m probably going to lay low this week and not post again until next- my brain is unsettled and unfocused, so best to leave you out of that. 🙂 Happy Weekend!
Mini Cupcake Baking Tips
To all of my lovely readers: thank you for visiting my blog as often as you do! Would you help me out? I’m working really hard on my blog and I’d love you to help if you have a few seconds. If you like what you read, if you find it interesting or useful, please pass it along. You could leave a comment below (be sure you’ve clicked on the post title if you’re on my “home” page), you could pin a photo to Pinterest (there’s a “Pin it” button at the bottom of this post), or you could share a link via Facebook. Anything helps. If you’re not a blogger yourself you may not know that the world of blogging revolves around sharing and comments- they are sort of the currency of the blog world. Thanks so much! And now, back to the post at hand….
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I was busy making mini-cupcakes for the kids to take to school, thus the lack of posting yesterday. I’m capitalizing on the fact that one teacher just said to bring something, and I did not specifically hear the words, “healthy snack,” so I’m bringing mini-cupcakes. That way, if it was supposed to be healthy, it’s just a mini-cupcake rather than a full-size one, and the teachers can eat them if they want to hide them from the kids- I don’t mind. Ha!
While I love eating mini-cupcakes (or 7 or 8), I loathe the batter process. All those tiny cups that have to be filled “just so,” the washing of the pans…. Today I discovered a new trick that I’ll share with you to hopefully make it go faster and neater for you, too. I’ll also share some other tricks of my cupcake trade. They aren’t revolutionary or anything, but if you’re a new cupcake-making person, hopefully they will help.
As I said, my issue with the process was getting the batter into the cups. I didn’t want to waste a pastry bag, but… pouring the batter from a measuring cup into those little tiny cups was also too messy. Spoons don’t work well- the batter falls off the spoon and doesn’t always go where you want it to. Yesterday was my “a-ha” moment.
Here’s what you do:
Make your batter.
Also (not pictured) prep your mini-cupcake pans. Either line them with paper or spray them with a non-stick baking spray. Or if you’re REALLY good, smear butter all over them- I’m a spray person these days.
Line a 4-cup measure with a gallon food storage bag, preferably one with two layers of zips. You may have to use something else if your measuring cup is too wide. My cups are the “OXO” brand and it fit perfectly.
Pour in your batter. (Are you impressed? I took the photo with my LEFT hand while pouring with my RIGHT.)
Zip up your bag.
Turn your bag and smooth all the batter away from one of the bottom corners. Snip the corner of the bag. Make it small- you can always make it bigger.
Mine was actually a smidge too big, and it was probably about an inch wide, so next time I’ll make it 1/2 inch and see if that helps.
Carefully move your bag over your pans and start squeezing! The batter comes out fast unless it’s a thick cake batter, but you’ll get a rhythm going and pretty soon all of your pans will be full. Love it!
Here’s that red one up close:
This made the process of mini-cupcakes sooo much easier. And here are my finished products:
Now some other tips:
- To frost cupcakes, regular or small, the fastest way… I always use a pastry bag with a #16 Wilton tip (or some other star tip). It is so much faster to use the pastry bag, and it really doesn’t take that much practice to make them “pretty.” All frosting is pretty, really. If you find yourself reading this and thinking, “No way. There’s no way I can do that…” If my girl scout troop leader could simultaneously teach 8-12 girls scouts, all sixth graders, to decorate cakes, then you can try it. Just try it once. You’ll thank me. I frosted about 50 mini-cupcakes in 15 minutes yesterday. Boo-yah.
- If you’re displaying your cupcakes and it’s possible, frost them AFTER you position them. For example, I’m taking these cupcakes into school today. I frosted them after I placed them in their containers. The less you have to move something after it’s been frosted, the less likely it is to get messed up. This is impossible with a cupcake stand, but with platters it works great.
- For the best tasting cupcakes on little time, I use a box mix of cake but I always make fresh frosting from scratch. If you think about how long canned frosting sits on a shelf waiting to be used…. it’s really just shortening with sugar. Bleh. Buttercream or whip cream frosting is yummy and preservative-free. My favorite is buttercream, and I love this recipe– it’s super easy. For some reason dry ingredients sitting around doesn’t bug me as much as frosting on the shelf. Just me.
I used that red silicone heart tray for the first time today. For me, the jury is still out. I was expecting them to just fall out of the silicone, but they didn’t. Anyone love them and have any tips?
Do you have any cupcake tricks? Please share! I also wrote a post about making a hat cake- you can read it here.
Operation Organization: Art Station
I realize that this is not rocket science. It’s a simple plastic bin with labels. But I LOVE to see how other people organize their crap, so I thought I’d share what I did in this situation.
I was going absolutely bonkers. For reals.
As I mentioned in my recent post about Anna’s mail slot, she is a very creative little girl. She comes up with crazy Tinker-Toy creations, she builds amazing things with blocks (engineer, architect perhaps?), and loves, loves, loves to draw. She loves art so much that I have to throw things away on the sly, lest our house become a fire hazard of paper. I’m still working on a system to determine what stays and what goes, but what was more pressing was how to contain her supplies and her completed work.
I mention in my “About Nat” page that I am a practical crafter. While I LOVE looking at DIY art stations with cute, color coordinated tubs, repurposed antique holders and such, that is not me. If I put a lot of energy into something that is likely to get used, abused and tired, it will make me mad/frustrated/annoyed if it doesn’t hold up, stay perfect and pristine. So with something like this, I like to go with easy, plastic bins from Wal-Mart.
I think this thing cost about $17. I may get another when Jack gets more into art, but right now I’m lucky if I can keep up with the sticker trail he leaves all over our house. He has one coloring book right now. That’s all he needs.
What I like about this thing is it can only hold so much, so every once in a while I go through and downsize to prevent further insanity.
I started with simple labels on the drawers. From top to bottom they read:
- All done!
- Not done & Blank Paper
- Coloring Books & Stickers
- Art Supplies
- Activity Books
The labels however, did not stick to the plastic bins- they kept curling up. So I sliced up a scrap of paper and stuck them to the paper. Then I used some adhesive squares to stick them to the drawers, and now they stay nice and flat.
The art supply drawer is great:
The kids can pull out a tub (Target $1 section- they always have these) of crayons or markers, take them to the table, and then put them away easily (in theory). Or, in reality, when it’s time for dinner, it doesn’t take me forever to get their crap out of the way. 😉
I’m sure there are cuter ways to do this- if you have one, please do show me. If I see something too cute to resist I may do something different, but for now, plastic bins rule this particular roost.
Happiness Project
I’ve decided to join up with a great new blog, Chronically Distracted. These ladies say in their elevator pitch:
“We’re two moms trying to strike a balance between family, fun, and friendship. We believe we represent, truly represent, a lot of parents out there who want to do and be everything but some days we just don’t have the attention span or patience to balance it all. Are you with us? I’m guessing you are.”
Every Thursday is about The Happiness Project. Now, in keeping with my theme for 2012, “Keep it Happy,” I simply must participate. I also love to write, and would like to improve my writing skills. I think this is a great way to do both. I’m jumping in a bit late, and have not read the book they are talking about, but I hope to get it soon and catch up.
On Mondays, participants are sent a prompt to write about. {I could say, “about which to write” but that feels so snooty.} Then, we post on Thursday and link up. I can’t wait to see what others write, too!
This week’s prompt:
- Are your day-to-day actions supporting your choices of change (resolutions)?
- Is your MIND propelling you in the direction you want your actions and resolutions to take you?
- If the answer is No, how can you make it happen?
- yes
- not always
- focus
In more detail, though, it gets complicated. I was talking to my husband about this just a few nights ago. I’ve found that, now that I have a new “work world” here on the computer {more about that later}, I have a new form of ADD. I think it should be called “TADD” which would stand for “Technology Attention Deficit Disorder.”
You see, I sit down at the computer and am faced with so many tasks. They can be whittled down and placed under these things:
- personal business (emails, bills, etc.)
- personal fun (Facebook, reading blogs, surfing the net, etc.)
- blog
- work
Then there’s the fact that one of the main focuses of my blog is to craft things. To make things. Hmmm…where to find time for that these days? It’s getting more challenging when I have three kids and none of them are on the same schedule anymore.
At times I sit at the computer and stare. Other times I just click from tab to tab in my browser, click over to Photoshop, click over to iPhoto, and then… press “repeat.” I think a majority of my inability to focus is due to the fact that I am overwhelmed.
I was talking to my sister this week, mentioning to her that it’s been interesting shifting from having a job in the classroom to having a part-time job on a computer, and also having a passion for blogging, which is also computer-centered. It’s different than being in a classroom with 20-30 little faces staring at you, waiting for you to bestow knowledge upon them. That puts you on the spot. When it’s just you and your computer, there’s no one holding you accountable except you and your bank account.
One thing I recognized in this overwhelmed state that I have been in, is:
I need clarity in my home.
Because of that I’m going to be sharing soon how I’m making things a little more sane around here. I love it. I’m nearly done organizing a few last areas of our house and some other tasks, and then it will be so much easier for me to do all of the things I want to do. As much as I’d like to think that I have it all together, I don’t. And that’s okay. But I really do want to achieve a new lifestyle for myself and my family. In order to do that, I have to be willing to put forth the effort to make it happen, and I have to be able to focus. That effort is going to feel different and pretty uncomfortable at first because it’s so new and unfamiliar. But if it means that I can stay with my kids, raise them, and make some money to help my family out, then I simply must give it my best effort.
Thanks again to the ladies at Chronically Distracted for providing an excellent venue to talk about our resolutions and goals. Love it!
Anna’s Mail Slot
My daughter, Anna, loves two things: art and mail. She’s a very creative little soul, and she likes nothing more than the thought of sending one of her creations to someone far away, whether it’s a friend in town or her cousin, Paul, in Kansas.
We were getting to the point where I needed to have a system for her because she would give me a piece of paper and tell me it needed to be mailed to (insert name here). I’d set it down, and then days later she’d ask if I sent the paper, and I’d have no idea which one she meant. So I whipped up this little mail slot and stuck it on the side of her art station, which I’ll talk about more later. I love it because it works AND it doesn’t take up a lot of space. Would a little mailbox be cuter? Yes. Would it get lost, in the way, trampled and tripped on, too? Yes.
Now, when she has something to send, she gets to stick it in her mail slot, and I can ask her who it’s supposed to go to when I get mail ready to send. You’ll see in the photo on the right she’s stuck in a special drawing for someone. 🙂
I’d like to say this is a tutorial, but I came up with it so fast that I didn’t take totally detailed pictures. The light is very wonky, too- it was too hot to have the kitchen shades up (in January!) so the light is very yellow. Better to have weird lighting than no lighting at all…
You will need:
- three sheets of 12×12 scrapbook paper (ignore my four sheets there- I had one extra). I went with traditional red, white, and blue to mimic our postal service, but you could make them whatever color you like. (I really wanted to find some air mail paper but had no luck.)
- You could easily do this with glue or a glue stick, but I found zips adhesive strips to be super fast and less messy in this case.
- I also used adhesive squares.
- Some decorative letters are also nice, but not necessary.
Take the paper that you are going to use as the front of the slot and cut it in half diagonally as shown below. I used a ruler to eyeball it because it won’t fit in my paper cutter. Do NOT paste them together yet.
With your trim color, cut yourself five (not four as shown below- see? Horrible tutorial!) 1-inch strips, and fold them in half. Crease them so that they are folded very precisely.
If you’re using a glue stick you’ll take the diagonal edge of one of your triangles- the edge that will go where the mail will enter the slot. This will be the covered-up edge, so you don’t need to cover the whole edge. I would probably apply the glue to the white strip (nice and thick) and then press down. Let dry, flip it over, and glue the other side of the white strip down.
For the zips, you can see I cut a length just a bit shorter than the white and then pressed it down. Turn over, repeat.
Either way, trim the extra off after it’s set.
This is what you end up with:
Now you can adhere the blue/front pieces together at the bottom.
Put your red/back piece behind the blue/front pieces that are now glued together. Use your remaining white strips to trim the bottom and sides. You will have to trim here and there to make it all flush at the corners. This is where the zips came in super handy, but if you don’t have them, I’m sure glue will work fine. Just be sure to use a heavy-duty glue in case your kid wants to send lots of mail. 🙂
Stick some letters on if you want/have them, and you’re done! Anna loves having this, and it has taken one more thing off the counter.
Do you want some fun mail? I have about a bazillion pieces of art I could send you….
Today I’m sharing on:
Living in SoCal has so many perks… it’s a bit ridiculous. I’ve lived here for 10 years now (wowzers) and there are still days when I say to myself, “Holy Cow. I live in California. Southern California, no less.”
When we moved into our house, which is also the house my husband grew up in, I was sort of non-plussed about having a lemon tree right outside our kitchen. It’s cute and everything, but I didn’t really let it register. Can I tell you something?
It’s awesome.
Need one lemon for a recipe? Done.
Have a four-year-old who loves lemonade? And a two-year-old? Done.
Want to add some zest to something? Done.
Our lemon tree is a Meyer lemon tree. Apparently they are milder in flavor and are more closely related to the orange. Hmmm. The lemonade we make with them is definitely not too tart- it’s very smooth, but still lemon-y if that makes sense.
All I know is they are delish, and I love them.
They also make great last-minute gifts.
Do you have any simple pleasures where you live? It’s the little things. Or in this case, the rather big things that produce the little things…
About Natalie
Life is crazy. Craft it well. Thanks for stopping by Crafting Crazy! I'm stumbling into a new sort of life after leaving a 12-year teaching career. More of a practical crafter, I'm trying to temper the perfection a bit. If I mess up, I’ll be sure to share- then we can laugh together. Here you'll find anything I like that makes my life better or fun. Crafts, of course, but also posts about food, home decor, exercise... whatever I'm dabbling in at the moment. I'm so glad you're here- thanks for stopping by! Content Brewing!
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