Hi, my name is Clarissa and welcome to my blog!  I’m so glad you dropped by and hope you’ll stick around for awhile.  First let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I have been a blogger for a couple of years but recently decided to try my hand at it full-time. I’m married to my best friend, Jim and we have two teenage daughters, Chloe and Jensen.  Luckily I’ve been able to be a stay at home mom since Jensen was born. With both girls older now I was ready to dip my toe back in the working world pool again and actually did for a bit.   I recently worked as a library secretary which I loved but the position was eliminated. We live in Pennsylvania with two dogs, five cats, two turtles and one parakeet.  And I am a middle sister!

The Crafty Middle Sister was the name of my blog when I started on Blogger years ago.  When I decided to go full time into blogging I wanted to stick with that name so I wiped the old blog clean and rebranded it.  I redesigned The Crafty Middle Sister as a place to share some of the things in life that I’m passionate about.  I love baking, gardening and shopping so most of the things I post here on the blog are related to those subjects in some way or another.  Also, I love beauty products, crafting and anything that helps make life easier so you’ll find some of that here, too.

Let me tell you a little bit about each category now.

I joke and say that I’m high maintenance but that doesn’t mean the things I like to do are.  Almost all of my recipes use simple staples or ingredients you probably have on hand, there’s nothing fancy or gourmet here!  Most of the recipes on The Crafty Middle Sister are desserts but you will find some main dishes as well as side dishes and appetizers including some of my favorite Weight Watchers recipes.

One of my biggest passions is gardening.  I love planting, weeding and caring for my flowerbeds.  You’ll get to see some of my gardening ideas and I’ll also share tips and tricks I use in my flowerbeds.  You may even see some of my backyard bird pics.  I’m a huge bird nerd!

I’ve lived in my home for 25 years so there’s always some kind of DIY project I want to do or a minor renovation  my hubby and I try to tackle.  We’re certainly not pros but we’ve renovated almost every room in our house without busting our budget.  The whole idea is to try to save money.  I love finding bargains especially when it comes to anything for our home and that includes decorating it.  Finding ways to save while also finding nice farmhouse chic decor is my thing.

Crafting is another passion!  I used to make and sell crafts but had to put that hobby on hold due to a remodel/reappointment of my craft room.  I still do some crafting and can’t wait to find another place to unpack all my supplies.

Faves are posted once a month.

Faves are products that I just love and want to tell people about.  Every first Friday of each month I’ll post a new list of my favorite products.  All of the opinions expressed about the items are mine alone and the products vary greatly.  Check out the lists under Faves.

10 Fun Facts:

1. I’m a true Libra.
2. I LOVE animals.
3. I’m a huge scary/suspense/thriller movie lover.
4. My favorite colors are blue, yellow and pink.
5. Things I collect: beavers, Roseville pottery, watering cans, Santa mugs and perfume.
6. I live 5 minutes from my childhood home (a farmhouse which was bulldozed).
7. I secretly wish I was a photographer, interior decorator and/or web designer!
8. Past jobs were in retail – sports store, cosmetics / perfume and clothing.
9. I sold Avon, Cookie Lee Jewelry, Scentsy and Thirty-One.
10. My favorite food is Shnitz n Knepp.  (Yes there is a recipe for it!)