<think>Okay, let's try to figure out how many clips Natalia sold altogether in April and May. Hmm, the problem says she sold clips to 48 of her friends in April. Then in May, she sold half as many clips. We need to find the total for both months.

First, let me make sure I understand the problem correctly. Natalia's sales in April are given as 48 clips, right? Because she sold to 48 friends. But wait, does that mean each friend bought one clip? The problem doesn't specify the number per friend, so maybe we should assume that she sold one clip per friend. So, in April, it's 48 clips. But actually, maybe the problem is stating she sold clips to 48 friends, but didn't mention how many each friend bought. Wait, that might complicate things. But the problem could be phrased such that "sold clips to 48 of her friends" might just mean she sold 48 clips in total, one to each friend. Since the problem is designed for a math problem, probably straightforward, so probably April's total is 48 clips.

Then in May, she sold half as many clips. Half as many as April? That's probably the interpretation here. So if April was 48, May would be half of that, which is 24. So altogether, 48 plus 24 equals 72? Let me check that step-by-step.

So step 1: April sales = 48 clips.

Step 2: May sales = half of April's sales = 48 divided by 2 = 24.

Step 3: Total sales = April + May = 48 + 24 = 72.

But wait, let me make sure I didn't overlook anything. The problem says "half as many clips in May" compared to April. So yes, May is half of April's amount. So adding those gives the total.

Alternatively, could there be a misunderstanding where "half as many clips in May" refers to half the number of friends? If she sold to half as many friends, and each friend bought the same number, that would also be half. But since the original problem says "clips to 48 of her friends", maybe each transaction is one clip per friend. If that's the case, then selling half as many clips would either mean half the number of clips (so 24) or half the number of friends (also 24, if each friend gets one clip). Either way, it's the same result here. So in any case, May would be 24. So total of 72. That seems straightforward.

Wait, but maybe another interpretation? Like, if May's clip sales are half of April's clip sales, regardless of the number of friends. The problem statement might have said "sold half as many clips", not "sold to half as many friends". So since April was 48 clips, May is 24 clips. The problem says "sold half as many clips in May", so that directly translates to 24. Therefore, the total is 72. Okay, I think that's solid.

To verify, 48 in April, half in May is 24, so total is 72. Alternatively, plugging the numbers: 48 + (48 / 2) = 48 +24=72. Yep, looks correct. So the answer should be 72.
</think>

Natalia sold **48 clips** in April.  
In May, she sold half as many as April: $\frac{48}{2} = 24$ clips.  
**Total clips sold** = April sales + May sales = $48 + 24 = 72$.

**Verification:**  
- April: 48 (confirmed)  
- May: 48 ÷ 2 = 24 (correct).  
- Total: 48 + 24 = 72 (accurate).  

**Answer:** \boxed{72}