A bit about ME

I love the crafty bloggers out there that can so easily incorporate the right amount of "themselves" into their blogs without it being TMI! I am still trying to find my voice, and the balance between sharing the crafty, and being personable at the same time! Hopefully it won't take TOO long!

*ETA* Totally kizmit that I created this post a couple days ago, and then today I see Sassy Sites has created a link party for NEW blogs so that we can all go out and make some new friends. YAY!

So....

{P.S. Trying to take a flattering picture of yourself when you are 

38.5 weeks pregnant is NOT an easy thing to do!}

My name is Claire. My daytime job is as a production grunt- everything from operating machines to shipping/receiving to first aid and everything in between- basically I am the workplace bitch! I am currently on maternity/parental leave for all of 2011! YAY!!!!

For the purpose of semi-anonymity in blog-land I refer to my Hubby as that or "Hubs." My older daughter was born in 2005, and is "Small Child" and I have a bun in the oven due March 2011 that I call "The Parasite."

I like to do a LOT of different things, and am the master of none. I think I have CADD (creative attention deficit disorder :) My longest sustained "hobby"" is crocheting, I've been doing it since I was 7 or so. I also like card-making and scrap-booking, have dabbled in embroidery and sewing, and am slowly learning to be a better cook. Small Child also likes doing artsy/crafty things, so I try to do things with her, and give her access to new activities whenever I can.

My family also LOVES animals. My husband and I had a business breeding and selling reptiles before Small Child was born. We currently have one cat, one dog, two snakes, three birds and one tarantula! We also had chickens and turkeys until a few months ago when a family of raccoons decided that they were hungry! :(

{P.S. I LOVE RAINBOWS... is it obvious??!!)

I started blogging in January 2010. In November I decided to separate my "crafty" items from the more "personal" aspects of my former blog- and therefore Claire Gets Crafty was born. I really like blogging, but I also didn't realize how much time it takes to have one of those blogs! It takes me HOURS to compose even the simplest post! I can't imagine posting EVERY week day like those blogs suggest... CRAZY! I follow blogs like TIP JUNKIE, THE GIRL CREATIVE and CRAFTAHOLICS ANONYMOUS, that have THOUSANDS of followers, and I therefore definitely struggle with the "I want to be like X blog" syndrome!!

Well, I don't think there's too much more you'd need (or want) to know about me, but feel free to ask if you do!!! I LOVE getting comments on my little blog! I'm learning a lot about replying to comments, and that a "blogger" should really try to reply to EVERY comment when you have a small blog, either via email or a comment back on the other person's blog, and I really do try to do that! I think it's a nice gesture and a way to show interest in this whole huge space that is blog-land! See you around!


 

I finally figured out how to get a siggy at the end of my posts that I like. Yay. It only took me something close to 6 hours to get it all figured out.

Yes, I said 6 hours, just to get a little rainbow'd siggy.

Because, sometimes, I'm anal like that.

I think it might be a "condition."

According to some who know me, it's because I'm "slow." I really can't argue with them....

Anyways,

here it is.

Pretty, huh?!

More Blog Editing Stuff...

This whole siggy thing is a little weird. It's an image that automatically appears, and then you type ahead of it, so it moves down to the bottom of your post...

I'm wondering if/how much of my "photo" limit it's going to take up...

I'm also wondering if I even like it...

Hmmm...

Blog Editing and "Beautifying"

So, I had this for a header and button:

While I liked them originally, and had spent a long time working on them, it just wasn't as "me" as I would like.

See, I kinda have this thing with rainbows. I also have a very hard time sticking to ONE idea. So, I've decided to change to this:

I even created a little siggy picture too:

All these are super simple to make using Paint.net, as long as you don't want anything too fancy. I am sure something like Photoshop would work well if you are computer literate/ tech savvy and want something a little more "fancy". The hardest part I had was adjusting the header size so it would fit my blog template.

Getting them loaded and functional on the blog was a lot harder because I don't do code. At all. In fact, I NEVER would have had a button, or a custom siggy if it weren't for Nina over at Momma Go Round. She has an incredible series called "Beautify Your Blog" where she offers FREE tutorials on how to do everything from Creating a Custom Header (wish I this tute a year ago when I started blogging!) to Adding Fonts and Post Signatures.

So now, I have all these new goodies, and am starting to see why so many people have these big, elaborate blogs full of extras- they're FUN!!!

I MADE A BUTTON!

I made a button... I made a button! I MADE A BUTTON!

See:

And then I made it grab-able!!! (You can see it over there ----> at the top of my sidebar!)

Can you tell that it excites me? I've tried before, and NEVER succeeded, but this button-making tutorial, and a lot of time on my part (I had some floating text that I had to delete), I finally did it!

And when it wouldn't center above the text box, I used this tutorial on centering gadgets, and voila, perfect!

All of this is thanks to Nina at Momma Go Round and her Beautify Your Blog Series.

The best part? Not only is she offering all of these tutorials for free, but she personally emailed me when I had problems, offering to do what she could to help! How awesome is that? SO AWESOME!!!

I am definitely looking forward to adding a signature next! (and waiting for more tutorials that I want to use!!)

HELLO, WELCOME!!!

Separating my "crafty" life from the more "personal" aspects of my previous blog.

Just getting started, it'll take me a while to get it all sorted out!

Crocheting, kids' crafts, cooking, papercrafting, and random bits of everything else!

Thank you SO much for taking time to come see my blog!