Real Women of Blogger County: Laura’s Crafty Life

Welcome to the Real Women of Blogger County Series!

Blogger County

The purpose of this series is to SQUASH the notion that DIY bloggers have it all together. We post our very best on our blogs and you only get to see the beauty shots of our projects. Well, that’s about to change! Every Saturday from now through April I will be giving you the inside look at what really goes on behind the scenes in our everyday lives. Ahem, what you might see if you were to pop by unannounced! You won’t see perfectly edited photos in this series. This series is about KEEPIN’ IT REAL!
::..::..::..::

Hello! I am Laura and I blog over at Laura’s Crafty Life. You will find posts about crafts, DIY, organizing and a little life thrown in. I am a stay at home mom to two kids – 7 and 4 years old. My family is my world. I squeeze in blogging and crafting during nap time and after the kiddos are in bed at night.

Laura from Laura's Crafty Life

I am really excited about being here for the Real Women of Blogger County series. With sites like Pinterest and Facebook in our faces everyday – showing us how wonderful, perfect, and together everyone else seems to be – it can be hard to remind ourselves real life isn’t really like that. What you are seeing on your favorite blogs and Pinterest boards is a tiny snapshot of what real life is for that blogger. I am sure there are some women out there that really do have it all together (and if you are one of those ladies, I would love to hear your secrets!), but I am not one of them.

For example, this week I was making an ornament wreath for Valentine’s Day. You will get to see the finished wreath on my blog next week, but what you probably won’t see are the two failed attempts to get it right. You also won’t see the behind the scenes for my photo session. When you pull away from the close up, you will see I am using some cheap-o foam board and a science project display board to reflect light and act as a plain white background (to obscure the mess of dishes in my kitchen).

picture taking set up

science display board as photo back drop

kitchen full of dishes

The best lighting in the house happens to be this tiny little area in my kitchen where we also eat, do homework and play games.

window picture taking set up

Even though I am lucky enough to have a crafting space I share with my husband and his hobbies, I can usually be found taking over the kitchen table. Often there will be a child or kitty ‘helping’ me do my projects.

cat on table

You also won’t see the mounds of folded laundry on my couch waiting to be put away. Seriously, how many people live here? (And this is only my kid’s clothes!)

laundry piled on couch

You won’t see my crappy floors that need to be replaced (unless you follow me on Instagram). My husband and I are saving up the money to hopefully have someone come and re-do these floors for us. We are a DIY kind of couple, but living in disarray for who knows how many weekends while we re-do the floors ourselves, all while trying to entertain our 7 and 4 year old in the process, is not my idea of fun. But who knows? If it is too expensive, you might be seeing some awesome DIY floor tutorials on the blog before the year is up!

messed up floors

When I am planning parties, my counters will look like this up until about an hour or two before the party. Really anytime I am doing a project my counters are a mess.

messy counters

Of course, as a blogger, I want to put my best foot forward to my readers. And, the best way to do that is with really great pictures and content. But, behind the scenes there is real life happening every day. I am a mom first and foremost. I am also a wife, and a woman that needs to take care of herself. I love to blog and it definitely is my creative outlet. I hope to inspire others to not feel so intimidated about trying something crafty! But we all need to remember we have a lot of different shoes to fill and balancing it all out is incredibly hard! Really, we are not doing it all!

signature for posts

Similar Posts

7 Comments

  1. Wow Diana! That is so very honest and meaningful! And if I may add very brave of you to show the ‘real’ picture…not everyone can do that. I am so glad to have found your blog.

    1. I’m so glad you found us too!!! 🙂 Thank you so much for your comment. XOXO

    1. That’s what I was hoping for!! I know it helps me! 🙂 XO

  2. Love the look behind the scenes. Honest and accurate for lots of us.

Leave a Reply to Patti Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *