Our Daily Craft Helping women create every day

I try not to talk about it too much, but any parent knows that at a certain point in your toddler’s life, potty training becomes a big deal. Competitive parents keep an eye out to make sure some other kid in the same age group doesn’t give up diapers first. Other parents go crazy on Pinterest and decorate the bathroom ... Read More »

There is a lot of stuff in my purse. It’s such a big purse, in fact, that I usually call it “my bag” instead, because “purse” just doesn’t seem to do it justice. I’m reminded of the question put to Ally Sheedy’s character in “The Breakfast Club”: “Do you always keep so much shit in your bag?” If you’re a ... Read More »

I originally thought this post might be a good entry for Listen to Your Mother, but then I decided there’s no way there’s a moral or heartwarming end to this story. So I share it with you now. You’re welcome. I am lucky to be a work-at-home mom whose child goes to day care. For about 6 hours a day, ... Read More »

I love that part at the beginning of the Pioneer Woman’s show where she says “here’s what’s happening.” It makes it all the more personal, and because I live in Arkansas and she lives in Oklahoma, we’re practically neighbors, so I can imagine she’s come over for a chat. And maybe to make me mashed potatoes. There’s nothing so exciting ... Read More »

When it first started getting cold, the Bit went through a brief legwarmer phase. She wanted to wear them to bed (which was great, because she never wants to wear socks, and is sketchy about using a blanket, so any little extra warmth she can get is fine by me) and occasionally wanted to wear them to school or around ... Read More »

It says something about my age that every time I’ve thought about writing this post (which has been a bunch of times, since I’ve been meaning to do it since last Halloween, as in 2010) I get the song “Sussudio” by Phil Collins stuck in my head (welcome back, 1985!). Anyway, I’m not much of a girly-girl, but I can’t ... Read More »

My daughter has never had a matching set of bedding. I made her crib bumper, and she mostly had plain white or thrift-store-vintage fitted crib sheets, with a couple of random printed ones from Target thrown in. She’s never had flat sheets (well, I guess I did buy one once, but we hardly used it) because she’s always hated to ... Read More »

Every year of my daughter’s life I’ve made some part of her costume. The first year she didn’t really have a costume, because she was seven weeks out of the NICU (and eight weeks out of me) so we weren’t exactly leaving the house. But she did have a Halloween-themed onesie, and I had a pumpkin hat that didn’t really ... Read More »

So, a week from Halloween seems, to me, like a totally reasonable time to start sewing my daughter’s Halloween costume. I’ve always wanted her to be Yoda for one of her Halloweens, mostly because of this adorable baby Yoda hat that I never made her when she was that little. For her first Halloween she was an 8-week-old preemie, and ... Read More »

Yesterday was our monthly MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, and this month our speaker was a professional photographer and mom who specializes in taking pictures of kids and families. She was there to tell us how to take better pictures of our kids, but she was also there to give us a talking to about not getting in the pictures ... Read More »

An improperly wound bobbin can completely wreck your sewing machine’s tension, causing you to swear and fiddle with the tension much longer than would be necessary if you knew this to start with. It’s possible to improperly wind a bobbin. I always thought that was a legend perpetuated by “how to sew” book writers. You (or me, anyway, I don’t ... Read More »

I don’t have time for a real book club, but I still read some interesting books that I want to tell people about. Thus the recurring series “Book Club of One.” I have never intentionally brought and “princess” stuff into my house — except for the princess vitamins, because I think it’s funny to say “eat your princesses!” The girl ... Read More »