About Katie Clemons

Katie Clemons is a storycatcher and journal crafter. She helps people celebrate their stories with her award-winning writing prompt journals at Gadanke. She also blogs at Making This Home about simple, handmade living from a vintage airplane hangar in Montana.

by Katie Clemons on January 23, 2013 • 30 Comments Inspiration

Are you being brave?

female pilot

Written by contributor Katie Clemons of Making This Home and Gadanke.

In all our lives, there are moments of incredible bravery and beauty. My definition of true grit isn’t the same as yours or anybody else’s because of our different experiences, opportunities, and desires. Our unique stories are part of the beauty of being brave. And the bravery you’ve exhibited in life is a wonderful, brilliant thing.

I need to you to pause a second. Stop reading, and just think about one of the bravest moments in your life. Call to mind the story and how you felt.

Now let’s celebrate it. Right here.

Our world has seen and experienced some intense hardship. We’ve felt some of it in our homes, in our work, and within our families. And it stinks.

Reaching out, attempting to do our best, and venturing to overcome obstacles so we can live in all our beautiful potential is hard work. It takes intense determination, but just as you have done it before with insane bravery, you can keep doing it. Remember…
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by Katie Clemons on November 14, 2012 • 28 Comments Live With Purpose You

Christmas cards: ideas for sending them and saving them

Written by DIY contributor Katie Clemons of Making This Home.

In one week, the holiday chaos begins. Christmas markets are being set up in Germany. Women are playing a little Christmas music when they think no one is around.

We’re pinning holiday ideas onto Pinterest. And I’m getting pretty excited about my mailbox, just like Tsh mentioned on Monday. It’s Christmas card season!

Svetlana Alliluveya (aka Lana Peters) described our tradition perfectly when she said:

“One good thing about not seeing you is that I can write you letters.”

I’ve got some ideas for sending Christmas cards that I want to share with you. I also have some tips for what to do with all those holiday cards when January rolls into town.

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by Katie Clemons on August 8, 2012 • 182 Comments Friendship + Community You

On having kids later in life (or not at all)

Written by DIY contributor Katie Clemons of Making This Home.

People like to remind me of the great irony that I am a contributor at this blog called Simple Mom. “But Katie,” they will say. “You don’t actually have any kids.”

I know that I don’t have a clue about parenting. I’ll never lie about that.

I usually try to just blend in with subtle notes. If I’m writing about the soulful benefits of taking walks, I throw in with a stroller. When I write about documenting your daily life in December, I mention doing it with your kids.

It’s just that sometimes, it’s easier to avoid the inevitable question:

“When are YOU going to have kids?”

I’m turning 30 this month, celebrating seven years of marriage, and living without kids. Do I want to have kids? My story and my reasons aren’t the topic of this post.
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by Katie Clemons on June 18, 2012 • 44 Comments Shopping Well Spending Wisely Your Family

4 ways (and reasons) to make wedding cards and gifts more heart-filled

Never do the contents of my mailbox look so beautiful as during wedding season.

Brides around the world are packaging up beautiful little invitations with sisters, friends, and occasional future grooms. We’re oohing and awwing at their creations, updating our calendars, and instantly wondering:

“What kind of gift should I give?”

This season, I challenge you to think about wedding gifts differently.

Shortly after Martin and I were married, we moved abroad. All the beautiful wedding gifts we received were boxed up and stashed away in Montana. That was five years ago.

Now we’re back in the US, building a little home in the back of an airplane hangar. I keep thinking: What types of things are we going to need? What will we eat off of? Drink from? Sleep on?

With each wedding invitation we receive in the mail, I get flashbacks to all those not-so-practical wedding gifts we have sitting in boxes. And yes, many of those gifts were things we put on our registry. Back then, with the little department store gift scanner, we thought, “These are the things adults are supposed to have.”

As I dig into the time capsule Martin and I buried five years ago, here are four things I wish I knew about wedding gifts (both as a bride and a gift giver):
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by Katie Clemons on May 16, 2012 • 57 Comments Self-Care You

Walking as a retreat for the busy mom

Written by DIY contributor Katie Clemons of Making This Home.

There is a well-known walkers’ route in my hometown. As the weather gets warmer, dozens and dozens of women flock to these sidewalks. They have sweatshirts tied around their waists, and they exaggerate the movement of each arm swinging into the air. Left arm—whoosh. Right arm—whoosh. As a kid, you spot all your teachers, your dental hygienists, and your friends’ moms walking as the sun slips away.

As a kid, I knew: walking equaled boring, slow exercise. I didn’t know the power it held.

Walking isn’t just an exercise for the body; it’s a retreat for the soul.

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker.”

I became a walker in 2008. I wish I had some beautiful story about the epiphany of walking, but I don’t.

I was living in Berlin, Germany. It cost 2,60€ to ride the S-Bahn to my German lessons and back. My husband’s bike lock had just been cut (we had flimsy locks, which were adequate for the German village were we’d lived previously), and I was too afraid to leave my bike unattended at school. So I stubbornly announced, “I’m walking home tomorrow.”

I downloaded an audiobook on my iPod, and I started walking home after class. I’d pick up some groceries on the way home to justify the extended journey. Even the quietest streets of a city are loud. Cars are racing down the cobblestone. Bikers are ringing their little bells. Kids are laughing and shouting. My story was impossible to hear, so I yanked off my earbuds. I started listening to everything else.
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