Kirsty Girl

How I Got The Perfect Entertainment Unit For Free

2018-01-19T17:06:00.000+11:00

This post has been on my to do list for way too long but I'm finally getting around to it with my new 2018 blogging goals. We are in the process of doing a huge amount of work to the house at the moment so my mind is abuzz with reno projects. We're currently painting the entire interior of the house (in white of course), this is all while we're going to be completely redoing the bathroom and laundry and while we rip up the carpet and DIY the wood floors. I'll have a lot to share on this blog this year obviously but I'm starting off with this little project I did a while back and all it cost me was $0.00.

How I Got The Perfect Entertainment Unit For Free

I don't like to buy anything for the home unless I'm in love with it. I only want to find the perfect things to fit, so when it came to moving in and not having an entertainment unit to put the television on, I wanted to wait. That meant, having the tv on an old handmade coffee table that wasn't even remotely in my style. We just had it lying around so we put it to use until I could find the perfect unit.

It took forever to find. A couple of years in fact. I would look at all the online second hand shops and go to garage sales and used furniture stores, and new but nothing worked for me. We have an odd space for the tv. As the home was build in 1954 the living room wasn't setup for the focal point to be a television. This means huge windows right around and a fireplace (currently taken up with an electric heater) on the feature wall. That leaves zero wall space for a tv. Instead we have a poky little corner. Of course our tv is bigger so it juts out and doesn't fit into the corner space. This meant the tv unit needed to be really small but big enough for the base of the television. And I wanted a little storage space as well.

Our local council has a throw out day every year where you can put all of the junk you don't want onto the street and they'll come and take it away. Man have we thrown out some stuff! But we've also picked up a lot of cool things too. Though we always throw out way more stuff than we take in. This is how I found our new entertainment unit. It was one that someone else didn't want anymore. It was pretty badly roughed up, gross and in need of a deep clean.

After cleaning the unit really well I sanded it back with a small hand sander. It was lacquered so it was tough but easy enough without having to strip it back thankfully.

When we moved in there was left over white paint in the shed (all white - it was meant to be) so I didn't have to buy anything in order to diy it all. Not a thing. Pretty good when you've been looking for an entertainment unit for a couple of years and then you find one for free. Much better than buying one you're not happy with straight up just because you need something. I'm a very impatient person but apparently not when it comes to my house. I know what I want so I'm going to wait to get it. You'll notice this theme in just about all of my posts from here on out because we've lived in this house for over 5 years now and it's needed work from day 1 which we could have done but I want it how I want it and sometimes that means being patient.

The painting took a lot longer than I'd imagined being that this unit is so small but it sucked up a lot of paint. I think it was about 5 full coats later until I was happy with how white it was.

Duke was my little helper, watching to make sure I didn't miss any spots.

Once the final coat of paint was finally dry I finished it by waxing it. The finish has come up so nicely but I did put a little too much wax on the top. It was my first time waxing furniture though so live and learn. I've used this little pot of wax on so much now. I absolutely love this stuff.

I've since used this same wax on the white painted cupboards in the bedroom and the baseboards and it holds up so well. The mistake of putting too much on the top can't happen with cupboards or baseboards. The problem with the top of the unit was putting too much on and then putting something heavy (tv) on top so it has dented the top finish of the wax a little. It's really not a bother though and you can't see it at all with the tv on top. Next time I do more furniture with this wax I'll know.

I'm keeping it real with these pictures as you can see with the mess here. Toilet in the back and other project next to it (I'll share that one soon too - it's one of my favourite projects ever and it turned out so beautiful). This years theme on the blog is to be real. As above, I'm not a professional, I'm learning this diy thing as I go and I'm going to make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. That's ok though. I hope you'll stick around and learn with me, or rather from my mistakes.

Isn't it cute? I love the way it turned out. It's light and little. It has the storage I wanted in that draw and it matches my house and especially my dining table (which is also in the living room - living/dining space) in french provincial white as well.

And here it is. I have just taken this shot now. I didn't clean up (obviously) for the shot so you can see how it looks in the space every day, not just when it's looking it's best, or for a blog photo shoot. I'm pretty sick of done up, perfected photos, aren't you? Anyway I just love it. It makes the space look so much cleaner.

I also love how there's enough space underneath for the open record player. You can see a few of our records strewn about - keeping it real folks!

What do you think? Is this your style? Would you be happy to have an entertainment unit for free or one so small?

New Year, New Blog

2017-12-14T14:17:00.001+11:00

This is my first time blogging here since January. With that little revelation, 2018 is going to be better. Much better.

I have taken a step back from blogging for quite some time and while I'm not ready to come back to it with everything I've got I am going to be doing what I set out to originally for this blog.

This blog was always supposed to be about updating my home through DIY renovations. Somewhere along the way the dream got lost and morphed into something else. Since I haven't felt inspired to update the blog in the longest time, I'm going back to the beginning and starting over.

What does that mean?

What you'll see:

More posts
DIY posts
Home posts

What you won't see:

Lifestyle posts
Blogging posts (with the exception of this one - as I tell you what to expect)
Social Media posts
Heavy presence on social media (I will be updating Instagram but that's it)
Marketing
Advertising (Kirsty Girl will become an ad-free zone)

No display ads
No sponsored posts
No guest posts
No affiliate marketing

Follow me as I update my home and this blog in 2018.

Top Tips for Growing Vegetables in Tasmania

2017-01-11T13:26:00.000+11:00

Tassie is a pretty great climate to work in as a gardener however I can't call myself a gardener yet, I'm more like a gardeneer. This is the first year in our home that our veggie patch is thriving and you know what it was missing the first few years? Our constant love and attention. Yep that's all it takes folks. That's my number one tip. Give your veggie patch your constant attention, don't look away for one second, be attentive and you'll have a thriving vegetable garden in no time. Sounds pretty easy, right? No? No!

That's why you're going to need my:

Top Tips for Growing Vegetables in Tasmania

Ok so there are a few things you can do in order to have an overflowing veggie patch if you can't give it your undivided attention because you've made other plans.

What Vegetables am I Growing?

First things first, before you read on, you might want to know what vegetables I'm growing this year.

Zucchini
Cucumber
Kale
Spinach
Beetroot
Beans
Corn

I suggest closely following the Australian seasonal food guide to know when and what to plant in Tasmania.

Test Your Soil

The number one thing you need to do if you live in Tassie, or anywhere in fact is to test your soil before planting. As we live by the bay, a lot of the soil in our area isn't good enough for planting veggies in so we had our soil tested to make sure it was ok to use. Thankfully it is. We live just enough up the hill to be able to plant veggies in our own soil, without having to use raised garden beds. That being said, we do also use raised garden beds because they're super convenient, are pretty cheap if you go for wood sleepers and it's easier to mix up your own soil. But if you're going to plant directly in the ground, make sure you test it first!

Keep Pests Away

Now, as a vegan, I'm really not cool with harming anyone so I have a few tips up my sleeve in order to get by without harming a fly.

Fence off your veggie patch - this is essential if you have pets or wild animals that like to eat your plants (possums love our strawberries)
Use copper tape to line the outside of your veggie boxes and planters so slugs and snails get a little zap and won't move past it (yes this works)
I get a few white cabbage moths in my garden everyday but so far, not enough to bother about, if they increase in number because they've eaten so much delicious, nutritious food from my garden though I will make some faux moths out of plastic and put them in the garden (the moths think the garden is overpopulated and will go elsewhere)

Use Compost for Your Veggie Patch

Composting is not only good for your garden but it's also great for the environment. I do have a few tips though when it comes to composting.

Seal the bottom of your compost well (just the very bottom, you'll still need plenty of ventilation) - rats and other critters love to live in your compost bin
Follow these guidelines for creating great compost
Don't let your dog anywhere near your compost bin - when Spot was a puppy he ate all the compost, came inside and threw up all over the carpet (the stain is still there)
If you're going to use an inside compost container in the kitchen to collect your scraps make sure it seals up tight or you will get ants

Remove Weeds from Your Veggie Patch

After a few attempts at creating a lovely garden, we gave up for a just a little while and when we wanted to get back to it, we had an awful lot of work to do. The weeds were taller than me and covered every single little bit of the entire veggie patch. To get back the yard, the whipper snippering took days to do. One foot in any direction was exhausting. Not only is it difficult to reclaim a yard lost to weeds in order to start your veggie patch, weeds can also strangle your veggies.

Unfortunately I don't have many tips to getting rid of weeds in your garden other than:

Keep on top of the weed situation in your garden, always
Make sure you remove the weeds by the root, don't even bother removing them if you're not doing this, they'll just be back the next day
Before planting in a garden bed, use plenty of newspaper, cardboard, mesh, etc. to make sure the weeds don't get through the bottom

Water Your Vegetables

Well duh right? Yes. But you probably don't realise just how much water your veggie patch really needs. Let me tell you, it's one heck of a lot. I haven't measured how much water we use everyday on the garden but it's a pretty astronomical amount. Much more than we ever have before. Just one day of forgetting to water your patch and that could be it. They're goners.

My top tip for watering? Set an alarm on your phone so you remember to water every day when it's not too bright and hot. In Tassie, 5pm or later. And absolutely drown them. Ok, so I am probably talking this one up because it's summer in Australia at the moment and while we've had a fair bit of rain in Tassie, it's a scorcher!

Top Tips for Growing Fruit in Tasmania

Ok, so mostly I know about growing vegetables in Tasmania, but we do on occasion also grow fruit. We are currently working on:

Lemons (no produce yet)
Olives (no produce yet)
Cherries (heaps of produce but the birds eat all of it)
Greengages (going so well the branches are so heavy with fruit they're hanging low)
Tomatoes (gangbusters)
Strawberries (awaiting our first crop)

So what are my tips for growing fruit in Tasmania? Funnily enough, they're the same for growing vegetables! Who whudda thunk it?

My top tip for fruit though, is pest control. Keep those delicious fruits out of reach of creepy crawlies and wildlife. And of course, keep them out of reach of your pets too. Many fruits are very bad and sometimes even fatal to your fur friends so make sure they don't have access.

What are your top gardening and produce tips?

Why Twitter Sucks for Bloggers

2016-03-03T16:06:00.001+11:00

If you've been following along, you will have already read my post on why social media sucks for bloggers and content producers and read my tips on how to make Instagram fun again and less sucky. But since you're here now, you're probably a Twitter lover like me. Yes, I love Twitter despite the title of this post.

Why Twitter Sucks for Bloggers and Content Producers

If you're like me then Twitter can be a huge time suck, whether you're actually using it productively or you're reading pointless dribble. But let's face it, is anyone really on Twitter anymore just to read other people's tweets or even talk? Hardly. The majority of people on Twitter now are business owners simply playing the social media game and posting crap about their product or they're some kind of content producer, a marketer or blogger, posting about their latest blog. Does anyone get much reach from Twitter anymore? I'm not talking about just retweets and hearts that the slightly more clever Tweeters use so that they're not just spouting on about their own stuff, I'm talking about real engagement.

When was the last time you had a real conversion on Twitter?
When was the last time you made a great connection there, that you wouldn't have otherwise?
When was the last time you scrolled through your feed with a majority of tweets that actually interested you?

When Twitter first started, this was what it was like. I remember it well. Birds were singing, it was a time of romance and joy. Not quite. But it was a heck of a lot better than it is now. Now it's a yawn. So what can we do about it?

Kids are using #SocialMedia the RIGHT way. Theyre using it to communicate. @TedRubin https://t.co/8l8BOnqAkC
— Juntae DeLane (@JuntaeDeLane) February 15, 2016

How to make Twitter fun again for bloggers

Follow because you like their tweets

I make it a point to only follow Twitter accounts that you actually thoroughly enjoy and get a lot out of. You're probably not going to love everything a tweeter has to say but if you like the majority then that's good enough and frankly it's getting harder and harder to find accounts like that in my opinion. If you use Twitter partially for business or work then you may need to follow some accounts that you don't love but need to in order to connect with that Tweeter. I think that's fine so long as you have a good balance between the stuff you like and the accounts you have to follow otherwise it's simply not going to be fun. If you really need to follow a lot of accounts for work, then consider having a separate work account to do so. That way, your professional Twitter friends will probably follow back and enjoy your tweets more in return.

Create lists

On the other hand, if you need to follow people that you'd prefer not to hear from on the daily and in your personal feed, consider creating separate lists of those your following. I don't use lists personally. Not yet anyway because I have a pretty specific niche (unlike my blog) for Twitter. If you follow me over there you've probably noticed I don't often post about my DIY projects, instead keeping those to IG, Facebook and Pinterest. Instead I mostly only talk about social media, blogging and content marketing over there. If you stick to a particular niche on Twitter then it's pretty safe to go without lists unless of course you want to follow different subjects without often posting on them yourself and adding it to your main feed. Use lists wisely though. I know a lot of people use lists to simply try and get followers when they're listed. Not exactly bad form but it does bring me to my next point...

Don't follow for a follow

Not only will this method clog up your feed and fast, it's usually quite obvious to those you're targeting so the savvy and best tweeters likely won't follow back anyway. One of the worst Twitter offences is being someone that follows, unfollows, follows and unfollows again and again. It's annoying. Tweeters DO notice and they will be annoyed, I promise you that. And of course it means you're obsessed with numbers!

Don't obsess over numbers

Social media is NOT a numbers game. At least not the way most people play it. Everyone cares if they're liked and everyone cares how many followers they have to a point. The problem is not getting obsessed or carried away with it. After all, they are simply vanity metrics. You can't honestly tell how much influence a tweeter has only by looking at their follower count. It's all about engagement numbers rather than followers. How many of your Twitter followers are you actually engaging with?

Engage with your followers

Not just with your followers, engage with anyone you want. That's what Twitter is all about. Starting a conversation. If you're regularly talking to your followers then you're using Twitter correctly and to the benefit of your blog or business. If you're just posting aimlessly into the void, you're doing it wrong. You need to engage with your followers by talking to them. Not just yelling at your followers to click link after link.

It's FAR more effective to use Twitter is as a one-to-one medium for growing relationships, not as an ad billboard. pic.twitter.com/t0eVga81jF
— Jonathan Gunson (@JonathanGunson) February 7, 2016

Don't just post your own crap

If you're regularly sharing outside content to Twitter (let's face it that's basically all tweeters do now), then at the very least you need to share quality content that's not your own as well. You should go for a mix of at least 80% of links that aren't your own. 20% at most can be to your own content. Twitter shouldn't be used as a loudspeaker for your blog or business but as a tool to engage with your fans.

My top 10 tips for making Twitter not suck

Follow because you actually want to
Do not follow for a follow
Don't obsess over your follower number
Obsess over your engagement rate (if you need to play a numbers game)
Talk, don't just post into the void
Don't just post your own crap
Post other people's crap too (make it high quality crap ha)
Keep a ratio of at least 80% links to others content, 20% your own
Keep your following list clean with accounts you love
If it's getting too messy create lists or have a separate account for professional use

What do you think? Have I missed any reasons why Twitter sucks or any great tips to make Twitter fun again? And of course, if you're interested in blogging, social media, content marketing etc. be sure to follow me over there!

How To Make Instagram Fun Again For Bloggers

2016-02-19T11:40:00.001+11:00

If you've been following along in this series, you will have already read my post on Why Social Media Sucks For Bloggers and Content Producers. It's simply not fun for those of us with an actual purpose besides connecting with our friends. Social media has become a chore and I want that chore no more! In this series I'll be talking about how to make different social media platforms fun again and I'm starting with Instagram because I think it's the easiest.

How to make Instagram fun again

Instagram has always been one of the funnest social media platforms. If you follow the right accounts then it's just pretty pictures all the time, so it's visually appealing and because you are shown everything you've actually subscribed to, it makes marketing your blog a lot more simple. There are of course a few pitfalls with Instagram, like any social network but in comparison I think it's actually one of the best.

Here's how to make Instagram fun again if you're a blogger or content producer

First decide whether you need to see everything you follow. Because Instagram doesn't have a smart feed, it's not going to show you your best friends photos first in line. That means you need to decide how important it is if you miss something. If you're going to get stressed out over potentially missing an important post, then you'll need to only follow a handful of accounts, so be seriously picky. There's a lot of good stuff out there. If, like me, you can handle the feeling of missing out on a good post, then you'll handle having a larger number of accounts you're following. But keep it within reason. You still need to actually remember these people and these accounts, if it has gotten to the point that you do not know who you're following then it's time to cut back. Which brings me to my next point........

Be picky

If you're anything like me you might want to follow back just about everyone that follows you, but once you start to get a large or even slightly moderate following, you'll start to realise you're following far too many accounts, you're not even sure who these people are anymore and you're seeing a whole heap of crap you couldn't care less about. My rule is that you should feel compelled to comment on at least 25% of an Instagrammer's posts in order to keep following them. If you don't, simply unfollow and move on. This will make your Instagramming faster and boost your engagement.

Ignore your follower number

Harder said than done, but this is really imperative to keeping things fun on social media. Any social media. Sure it's awesome to feel popular and have a high number of followers, if you are then that's awesome. However focusing on your follower count means wanting to boost your follower count which isn't good because sometimes we go about it in the wrong way...

Don't purposefully get new followers

That title may be a little misleading because of course the more followers the better, we are bloggers after all but what I mean is don't purposefully get new followers the wrong way. What's the wrong way you ask? Following others to get a follow back, commenting on photos to get a follow back and liking photos to get a follow back are all ways you can get new followers the wrong way. Of course if you're not feeling overwhelmed by social media yet then these can all be good methods to boost your following, however if you're feeling stressed out or you simply don't have enough time to devote to social media, then there are better ways to spend your precious time. So follow who you want to follow. Don't follow for a follow.

It's all about engagement

Not only should you be ignoring follows due to time constraints and not getting overwhelmed with so many accounts, your follower count is purely a vanity metric. In terms of engagement your follower count means nothing and brands are finally starting to understand this, so while you may be thinking "but I need a large following to work with brands" that's not necessarily true. Brands care about your loyal followers and your engagement rate, not your numbers of fake followers. If they are only considering your follower number when deciding whether to work with you or not, you probably don't want to be working with them anyway because they don't know their stuff. If you're engaging and being real with the people you follow on Instagram rather than being fake to get likes and vanity metrics, then sure your follower number is likely going to be a lot less but you'll have a much higher engagement rate, more loyal followers that actually click over to your blog when you post, which let's face it, is the entire point in the first place right?

Have separate accounts

If you're posting content that's solely for your blog, or if you're interacting with your non-bloggy friends a lot on Instagram, then you'll want to consider having separate accounts, to follow your friends, post food pics, whatever it is. Thankfully Instagram is making this easier for us. It used to be a real pain having two separate IG accounts, I have two for my different blogs and Instagram has finally introduced the account switching feature which is going to make doing this so much easier. I've been waiting for this for ages!

Post only when you have something to share

Something good to share that is! Of course, it doesn't have to be the best photo in the world but it does need to be authentic and fit in with your blog and personal brand. If you're not a parenting blogger, then don't post pictures of your kids all the time just to beef out your feed (see "have separate accounts" above). Make sure all your photos are high quality stuff you actually want to share with your followers. Don't simply post a pic just because you feel like you need to post something everyday.

Top 10 ways to make Instagram fun again for bloggers and content producers while boosting engagement

Follow for real (only follow accounts you like and engage with a lot)
Be real. Don't follow in hopes of getting a follow back.
Ignore the numbers, numbers don't mean anything anymore, engagement is the real value.
Post only when you have something to share (don't feel like you have to come up with something everyday)
Follow a smaller number of accounts (please make it less than 500, you'll never remember all these people so what's the point?)
Use multiple accounts if you want to post personal stuff and blog stuff (if they don't naturally overlap)
Share your own content! Be real, don't share stuff that's not yours. Instagram is all about sharing snaps on the go. It's only fun when you use the network how it was intended to be used. Stop making everything a marketing platform, people can see straight through it anyway.
Use hashtags but don't click on them. It's cool if you get other followers by using hashtags yourself, but unless you enjoy looking at really bad and distasteful nudes, just don't go there. Trust me.
Periodically purge your following list. If you're not loving an account, unfollow, if you're not engaging on a regular basis, unfollow, if you're not enjoying being on Instagram anymore, it's time to spring clean that list!
Forget it. Go on when you feel like it and only when you feel like it. Is social media really worth the time and effort if you're not loving it anyway? If you're bored of it, put that time into something else productive, like actually creating content for your blog, rather than creating another social media post that gets lost in the noise. Take a break and come back to it, you'll enjoy it more after a holiday.

Are there any rules I've missed? How do you keep Instagram fun? Let me know in the comments and please follow me on Instagram, I'd love to follow you too but of course, only if we love each other's snaps!

Why social media sucks for bloggers and content producers

2016-02-10T15:12:00.001+11:00

Social media can seriously suck if you're a blogger or content producer. Why? Because it's not fun anymore.

Why social media sucks

When you're a blogger or content producer of any kind, social media can really suck. It's work and it's seriously unfun. It's supposed to be fun right? I think it was at one point, before it became a chore. I assume it's fun for the rest of humanity that don't spend their time creating content and curating on social media. Was it ever fun? I'm going to say yes, otherwise why would everyone use it so much?

10 reasons social media sucks for bloggers and content producers

It's work now, even when you love your job, there are still things that are just a chore and for bloggers, social media is definitely one of them
We don't follow who we actually want to follow, instead we follow:

Other bloggers we need to network with
Companies we need to network with
Pages we can share content from to improve our engagement rate and boost visibility

Our feeds are so clogged with work crap we don't see our friends updates
Our feeds are so clogged with work crap we don't see new cat videos
We don't just choose what platform our friends are on
We choose every single platform even though we know we should be just optimising one
We flit between networks trying to build our following on all platforms
We don't usually post personal posts or share content we have a real passion for, like the latest Bernie meme because we're scared we'll lose followers, actually scratch that, if you're a Trump supporter I'm more than happy to lose you, in fact I will make it a request, Hillary's stay put
While we want to like our blogger pals posts to help them out and boost their visibility, we don't want to alienate our friends by filling their feeds with our blogging stuff
We feel so much pressure to stay relevant on every platform that we either post all the time (when we could be doing something more productive) or instead we know we can't possibly keep up so post practically never, promise ourselves we'll try harder next month, never do and feel super guilty about it

How to make social media NOT suck if you're a blogger

I'm completely sick of how much social media is sucking right now. I want to get my engagement back all the while getting my mojo back as a blogger, boosting my visibility and making social media fun again!

So in the coming weeks, let's say months so that I can stick to my goals, I'll be writing a series of posts on how to make your different social media platforms fun again, whether you're a blogger, content producer, writer, social media marketer, whatever.

I hope you'll tag along and learn how to make your social media fun again too, while increasing your engagement rate. Before we begin though, these will not be posts about how to get more followers on social media. That might happen but it will take a lot longer than the methods you're used to, that I'm used to. The posts will not be about followers and vanity metrics but about making social media be fun again, as if it was never a chore.

Get back to the basics and enjoy social media again with me!

Here's my first post of the series:
How to Make Instagram Fun Again for Bloggers

Merry Christmas 2015

2015-12-09T19:36:00.000+11:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my online friends!

I had so many planned posts coming your way this holiday season but with so much work to do before the big day I'm afraid all my big plans for this little ol' blog have fallen through. But the good news is photos have been taken, projects have been completed and others are on their way to being completed so I will have a full Santa sack of new DIY projects and posts coming your way in the New Year.

So for now, I wish all a very happy holiday!

How to Organise Your Bookshelf When You're a Decorator and Bibliophile

2015-10-01T16:16:00.000+10:00

After ordering far too many new books recently and swapping the bedrooms in the house around, it was time to organise and arrange my books. There were a couple of problems with this.

Bibliophile & Decorator Problems:

1. I have too many books to fit on the shelf

2. I actually want it to look pretty

Question:

So how do you organise a bookshelf when you're a decorator and a bibliophile?

Answer:

Organise by colour!

By grouping my books together I was forced to rethink the common confines of a regular bookcase. Like most bookshelves, mine had some smaller shelves and some larger ones. Normally you would put the books in by size, however by doing it by colour you have to rethink the entire process and sort the books into piles first and arrange on the shelves however best they'll fit.

See how my shelves are now colour coordinated?

Of course it would have been a splendid idea to have before and after shots so you could see just how messy my shelves were before this process... but seriously, no one wants to see that! It was horrible and looked completely overrun. ~~Plus I'm a bad blogger and didn't think this thing through.~~

Grouping my books by colour and sorting them on the shelves this way ^^ freed up so much extra bookshelf space that I was able to add approximately 25 more books on this particular bookshelf.

Yes bibliophiles, you read that right!

25 Extra Books!

That means that you have my permission to go out and buy as many new books as you like! You won't have to feel guilty about piling up books in odd spaces all over the house either. How awesome is that!

10 Places I have been known to put books when I didn't have enough shelf space:

On the kitchen counter
Under the bed
Piled up on the floor
Under the computer
On top of stereo speakers
On top of chairs
Piled up high on the dining room table (leaving no where to eat)
In cupboards
Randomly strewn about the house
And of course next to the bed to make it look like I was going to read them... when I wasn't.

Do you have a favourite way of styling your books on the shelves, or a special trick or tip for freeing up that ever so precious bookshelf space?

Let me know!

9 Reasons You Might be a Marketer

2015-05-26T21:18:00.000+10:00

Everyone's a Marketer. I'm a Marketer and you're a Marketer. At the start of the year I wrote a post on the top 25 Social Media Marketing Books to Read in 2015, among the list was Ann Handley's Everybody Writes. I interviewed Ann on How to Create Ridiculously Good Content, but the topic of the book got me thinking about what else we all do, namely marketing. As a Digital Marketer and Writer myself, I don't believe there's any job that has more direct competition, especially since a lot of that competition is happy to work for free!

Thankfully though, not everyone does it really well but there's still a lot of us that do. I've been writing on this little blog for well over 5 years now and in that time, I've only been a professional marketer and writer for 2. I've come to the realisation that I was a digital marketer and writer all along, I just didn't always get paid for it and that's the real kicker. If you're really good at what you do, whether you're trying to make money from it, or just doing it because you love it, there's always going to be someone out there willing to pay you for being good at what you do.

I plan on going into a lot more detail on this on the blog later if you'd like to follow along and subscribe to my new newsletter. But for now I'll leave you with a few tips to figure out if you fit the bill.

You Might be a Marketer if...

You're a blogger
You have multiple social media accounts on which you post (not just follow)
You're trying to make an income or 'passive' income online
You tell the world or you local community/friends/family about products/services you love
You have an online shop or you sell online and post about it
You share product snaps or pictures of your food on Instagram
You upload funny videos of your pets to Youtube
You share tips, hacks and ideas on social media
You try your hardest to make your posts stand out with pretty graphics, cool fonts and catchy titles

So, are you a Marketer? If you are make sure to list your new found skill on LinkedIn and add me over there to celebrate!

Did you decide whether you're a Marketer and/or a Writer? Let me know in the comments and if you think I've missed anything from my list!

Top 10 Ways to Make Money at Home Through Online Surveys

2015-05-03T16:12:00.000+10:00

It's been a long time since I've had to supplement my income through participating in online surveys thankfully but if you're in a position where you have some free time and want to earn a little something then online survey's are a great way to make a quick buck and earn rewards in either cash or gift card form.

Here are my top 10 sites that will allow you to earn by participating in online marketing surveys and research. The sites you like most will be different depending on what you're looking to get out of it, whether you're after Coles, Woolworths or other grocery store gift cards to help pay for food week to week or gift cards to treat yourself at your favourite clothes shops or of course a little extra cash to help pay the bills. On many of the sites you can also choose to donate your points to charities. I also know many people that use the gift cards they earn at Christmas time to give as presents. Clever!

Most of these survey sites also enter you into competitions. Some sites you can put your points into more tickets into sweepstakes or you'll be entered automatically without giving up any points.. each site is different in that respect but I have won my choice of an iPhone, iPad or cash prize before without giving up any points. Lucky me!

NOTE: Some of the links are to the Australian versions of these sites however most of them have US, UK and European etc. sister sites so be sure to still check the link if you're interested and click over to change your international settings.

Valued Opinions
Each survey you complete will earn you points. Surveys are usually around the 20 minute mark and earn you $3.00AU. Once you've reached the $20 mark you can take out your cash in the form of a gift card, simply choose the card you want.
Cash Out: No
Gift Cards (Australian): Supercheap Auto, iSubscribe, Hoyts, Rebel, Dymocks, Woolworths, Bunnings, Coles, Sanity, iTunes, JB Hi-Fi, Wow HD, eFragrance, Myer, the Iconic, Deals Direct and XBox Live.
Charities: Oxfam, Children's Tumour Foundation of Australia

Global Test Market
This site while still a good way to earn a little something seems to have less earning potential from my experience.
Cash Out: Yes (Paypal)
Gift Cards (US): Kohls, Amazon, Macy's and more
Charities: UNICEF

What Do You Think
Again, slightly less earning potential here as many of the surveys are very quick. The more time consuming the more points you normally accumulate.
Cash Out: Yes (bank account)
Gift Cards (AU): Myer, iTunes, Bunnings, Coles Group, Kmart, Target, JB Hi-Fi, Woolworths Group, Event Cinema
Charities: No

Toluna
Toluna has to be my favourite as I won $715 from them a couple of years back. Thank you Toluna!
Cash Out: Yes (Prepaid Visa, Eftpos, Paypal)
Gift Cards (AU): Oo.com.au, iSubscribe, Wow HD, iTunes, Mitre10, Hoyts, Flight Centre, Wish, Coles, David Jones, Toys R Us
Charities: No

My Opinions
This is a good option for longer surveys but they come around a little less frequently. There are also games to play to earn points.
Cash Out: Yes (bank account, Paypal)
Gift Cards (AU): Woolworths, JB Hi-Fi, iTunes, Myer, David Jones, Flight Centre, Red Balloon, Event Cinema, Priceline, MenuLog, Playstation, Kogan, XBox, Dominos, Deals Direct
Charities: No

MyView
Another good site for longer surveys, plus the average 20 minute kind.
Cash Out: No
Gift Cards (AU): Woolworths, Myer, iTunes, Event Cinema, JB Hi-Fi, Vodafone, Wish, David Jones, Dominos, Flight Centre, Playstation, Optus, Kogan, Amaysim, Chemist Warehouse, Red Balloon, MenuLog, Deals Direct, XBox, Sanity, Ticket Master, Petrol, Big W, eFragrance, Crackawines
Charities: Amnesty International, Australian Red Cross, Guide Dogs, Habitat for Humanity, Lifeline, The Orangutan Project, Australian Cancer Research Foundation, Animal Welfare League NSW

Rewards Central
This is another good one, I quite like it because Rewards Central and My Opinions accounts can be joined which helps you cash out faster.
Cash Out: Yes (bank account or Flexi e gift card)
Gift Cards (AU): Event Cinemas
Charities: Guide Dogs, Australian Red Cross, Amnesty International, The Fred Hollows Foundation

OpinionWorld
This is another good one for average survey lengths.
Cash Out: Yes (Paypal)
Gift Cards (AU): Amazon, Bunnings, Myer, JB Hi-Fi, iTunes, Kmart, Target
Charities: No

Mint Surveys
Another good survey site for the average 20 minute length survey.
Cash Out: No
Gift Cards (AU): Coles Group Myer
Charities: No

Survey Choice
Great for average to longer length surveys
Cash Out: Yes (bank account)
Gift Cards (AU): iTunes, Bunnings, Coles Group, Kmart, Target, GiftPay, JB Hi-Fi, Woolworths, Event Cinema
Charities: Australian Red Cross, Guide Dogs, World Animal Protection, Starlight Children's Foundation

I hope you'll find this survey sites as useful as I did. I even think they helped to send me down the internet marketing path as well as earn me a little extra.

Have I missed any good ones? Let me know in the comments!

10 Things to Take on a Kombi Holiday

2015-02-25T12:21:00.001+11:00

A few years ago now Andi bought us a completely awesome Kombi bus which we occasionally use as a daily driver (we have a Volvo and motorcycle too) but mostly it's our getaway van. Not a Bonnie & Clyde style getaway van of course but a "let's leave the world behind" kind of holiday van. Oh I should also probably tell you that she isn't just called Kombi or van or anything, her name is Wanda, because you can wander around in her.

If you're a Kombi lover like us or are thinking about getting a camper of some sort then this list should help you decide what to take on your trip. There will be a whole bunch of generic 'what to take on your holiday' type articles out there and while this list will cover some of the basics, when you're planning a driving holiday in the middle of the Australian bush you need to cover more than just the basics.

What to Take on a Kombi Holiday

Food
Obviously, but you need to think about what you can prepare on a small table and preferably 1 or 2 burners. You'll want carbs of course, especially if you're hiking anywhere and lots of veggies. One of my favourite meals when camping is a basic fry up of veggies (heaps of mushrooms) and pasta. Another easy one is veggie sausages (yes veggie, yes go vegan).

First Aid Kit
Another obvious choice. Before Andi and I loaded up Wanda for the first time I went out and bought a whole bunch of stuff to put in our own first aid kit. I'm a worrier and for me those little first aid kits you can buy yourself just wouldn't cut it. Instead I bought a childrens lunchbox (one of those zip up ones) and then bought a hundred different types of bandages and band-aids, aloe vera, sunscreen, pain killers etc. You'll have a fairly good idea of what you want in yours depending on where you're travelling. Tip: You need 2 full bandages to properly wrap up a snake bite!

Water
We always keep a huge block container of water in Wanda and an extra couple of 2 litre juice bottles full of water too.

Mechanical Spares and Repair Manual
I'm not the driver so Andi has made some suggestions too.

Cash Money
A card just isn't as useful when you're travelling, be sure to have cash on hand as a lot of places outside the city won't have eftpos and if you get stuck you can always pay someone to help you.

Outdoor Table Setting
This will give you a place to eat but also prepare the food. We have a table inside Wanda and one that fits under the seats that we can slide out to use outside when we cook and eat too.

Extra Blankets
You'll most likely be camping in Summer and sure Australian Summers are hot but the nights can be cold. The first night I slept in Wanda, we were at Mt Field National Park in Tasmania, the days were scorching and being in the Forest the nights were unbearably cold! I was up most of the night shivering!

Easy Books
Depending on how long you're travelling you'll need some good books to read, but what do I mean by easy books? I mean you'll need something to read that's easy. If you're anything like me, then when you're out someplace new and you're not sticking to your usual daily routine, your mind is so not going to be able to concentrate well so leave the Tolstoy at home and take an easy reader. For some reason almost every time I have gone camping I've been reading a Kate Morton so I was actually able to read.

Games
A deck of cards is a must but you'll want a few others as well. We have travel Scrabble, Uno, travel Chess etc.

Also don't forget:

The tunes
Torches (don't just rely on your phone, the battery is bound to go dead)
Something to keep the bugs away
Spare fuel for the stove
Good kitchenware
Toilet paper
Sunscreen
Flat battery starter

The Art of Social Media - Interview with Guy Kawasaki

2015-02-17T12:08:00.001+11:00

I've just finished up an interview on The Art of Social Media with legendary former Chief Evangelist for Apple, Guy Kawasaki. We talk all things social media, content creation and marketing.

I hope you'll go and have a read. Be sure to tell me what you learnt!

-Kirsty

Subscribe to My Email Newsletter

2015-02-14T17:03:00.000+11:00

Hi lovelies! Just a quick one from me today letting you all know about my new email newsletter. I know we all get way too many emails these days but I do hope you'll sign up and follow along. I'll be sharing my DIY & craft projects with you + social media & blogging tips which I will be delving further into on the blog as well. The emails will be short snippets and they won't be sent out often. Only after I have posted a few times on the blog and knowing me that could mean you get one once a month or once a year!

Yep I'm a bad blogger but I will be a lovely newsletter sender-outer-er so please sign up. The sign up form is just to your right there >>>

Hope you're all having a beautiful Valentine's Day and sharing it with those you love!

-Kirsty

Happy New Year 2015, Resolutions and Puppy Love

2015-01-01T20:10:00.001+11:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you've all been able to celebrate and make wonderful plans for 2015! I have quite a lot of new years resolutions... I'm not sure whether that's a good thing because it means I have hopes and dreams or whether it's a bad thing because I'm not already doing everything I want. Either way though, I do and one of them is getting this whole blogging thing organised.

As you all probably know by now I have 2 blogs. This one, obviously, and Vegan Tasmania. Both of which are in dire need of more content, more social media engagement, more everything! So I plan on writing a plan for both of my websites and getting everything done while I also hold down my job as a professional writer, digital marketer and blogger. Sounds doable right? Yes. I'm so glad you agree because I was getting worried there.

But as for right now, I'd like to take a look back at 2014. I will share my favourite posts with you from 2014 a little later but really 2014 was all about 1 thing, and 1 thing only... or being I should say. And with that I'll leave you with practically the entirety of the past year, my exuberant, mischievous and all consuming puppy, Spot, and wish you all a very Happy New Year!

How to Get 50 New REAL Pinterest Followers Every Day

2014-11-03T13:35:00.001+11:00

Before I begin I'd just like to let you all know that this is NOT a sponsored post or an ad. It's just a simple method that I have found to boost your Pinterest following really easily!

For a couple of weeks now I have developed a new approach to Pinterest all in an effort to social media network more effectively in less time and using less effort. If you're a blogger, trying hard to get a good following on all the different social media platforms you'll completely sympathise with just how much time and effort goes in to cultivating all the social media platforms and how FAR too much of our time is spent juggling all the SM channels rather than actually blogging!

Okay, so I actually have a bunch of awesome ways to develop a great and highly active Pinterest following which I plan on sharing with you in the future so make sure to follow along with this blog whichever way best suits you. But this post is all about 1 simple yet highly effective way to boost engagement and grow your following by hundreds in just a couple of weeks. Since I've started this method I have been gaining over 50 new followers per day and that number is growing daily as well.

So what's the secret? It's actually really easy. Since Pinterest has come out as saying that they are happy with scheduled posts and won't penalise you for it, I have been using Board Booster to schedule all of my pins. They can also grab new pins for you to really make it easy for you but after a week of using that I found that it just wasn't 100%. I need to be sure of the content that's going out to my followers. I need to know it's good and not spam and be sure it's what I love and what Kirsty Girl followers will love too. UPDATE: They have updated this feature and you can now send out only approved by you pins. Awesome!

What it essentially does is pin from your own secret boards to your public boards over a time you specify (which is great for me being an Aussie and all my lovely American readers who may not see my pins otherwise). You can also set it to post as many pins as you like within that timeframe and they all go out automatically.

There are many other programs out there that essentially do the same thing but this is the one I'm using (for now). At the moment it's FREE but it will be a paid service in future based on how many services you use (i.e. how many pins are sent out).

I won't bother going in to the details of how to set it up unless you ask in the comments because it's very easy and I'm sure most of you will understand it. Simply set up a secret board, I have about 13 secret boards, all named after the public board they'll post too with 'secret' at the end, then I just link the boards up and wallah!

Each week I pin around 35 pins to each secret board to go public during the week (that's 5 pins for each board per day). One of the most important things is to pin images straight from the source rather than simply repinning. This makes a huge difference. Of course you'll want to repin a little as well but my ratio for each board now is around 75% pinned from source and 25% repins.

I started off small with around 300 followers, it was a week of slow growth at first but the new followers I was getting every day was slowly rising and has now hit 50 a day and it's showing no signs of slowing down. Of course there are other methods I've been using that have helped as well but for the most part this method has given me by far the biggest boost I've ever seen. I have literally doubled my Pinterest followers in under 2 weeks and the best part is they're REAL followers. Pinners who have seen my stuff (because Pinterest loves active members and shows them off) are following my boards because they want to. No fake or spammy followers to be seen!

So what have we learned:

Pinterest is ultimately a search engine, just like Google. They love active members who pin relevant content often.
Schedule your pins for maximum growth and reach new Pinners.
Have a 75 - 25 ratio. 75% of your pins should come straight from the source with 25% repins.
Pin throughout the entire day to reach different followers.

And there you have it. One very simple yet highly effective way of getting 50 new REAL Pinterest followers every day!

This post is part of the "Blogger Online Panel" hosted by Jill @ Blog Chicka Blog. Read Jill's BoardBooster post and find other blogger panelists posts here: Feeling Overwhelmed with Pinterest? Set up with BoardBooster...and forget about it!

5 Reasons American Bloggers Should Visit Australia

2014-10-09T13:01:00.000+11:00

Okay, so you know I love all my American blogger friends right? Well I do! But... this time of year makes you all go a little crazy! You all just can't stop posting about Fall, pumpkin spice lattes, Halloween and even Christmas! Yes... I said it... you all... NOT ya'll! In my opinion getting away from the word ya'll is reason enough to visit Australia but here are my top 5 reasons American Bloggers should visit Australia:

1. Pumpkins

Seriously... we do have pumpkins here too! I just had pumpkin soup for breakfast and it's Spring here! WTH? It's a world gone topsy turvy! I have 2 pumpkins in the kitchen ready to go. I eat them but I don't decorate them or with them... I know I'm totally weird! Which brings me to my next point:

2. Real Coffee
Man oh man have I been inundated with instagram pics of your Starbucks coffees lately. What is your obsession with pumpkin lattes? You do get that there's no actual pumpkin in there right? Anyway on to my main point, Starbucks had to close 61 of it's 87 shops here because in Australia their coffee isn't considered good enough. Actually, it's not even considered coffee... more like coffee flavoured water. If you're interested you can get the full story of why Starbucks just doesn't cut it in Australia.

3. Vintage Shopping
In Australia, especially Tasmania we have less of the big corporate chain stores and more of the little guys! Except on Sundays of course! There are heaps of cute little shops to find vintage wares, antiques, collectibles and little trinkets everywhere, in the city centres and in the 'burbs. I have a number of favourites that I frequent and recently found a new amazingly priced antiques and second hand store where I purchased the most gorgeous vintage dresser that I'm now working on so stay tuned! BTW if you'd like to hit me up with your stripping techniques please shoot me an email! That's wood stripping by the way, just to clarify!

4. Halloween
Halloween has finally made it's way to Australia and now we have it too! Okay so it's not exactly the big night that it is in the states but for the first time ever I'm going to have to stock up on lollies for the neighbour kids this year. Last year I got lucky and just happened to have some bags of sweets lying around to hand out when they knocked so this year I'm going to be prepared!

5. Christmas
I know it's not your wonderful white Christmas that you all know and love but this is what Christmas in Australia looks like and it's beachy bliss baby so start saving and enjoy the high USD/AUD exchange rate right now.

6 Ways Tech is Changing Our Health for the Better

2014-10-01T12:37:00.001+10:00

As a blogger technology is my friend, I've always been loyal to a fault with friends and a glass half full kind of person so when the entire rest of the world continues to use technology to within an inch of its life yet spout on about how it's responsible for all the evils of this world, including all our ever increasing health issues, I'm here to say SHUT UP! I'm standing up for our good pal Tech and asking the media to please stop the tech bashing.

So, to help everyone remember just how awesome tech is and how tech can help us, I have 6 ways tech is changing out health for the better. Why 6? Because 6 is my favourite number and I'm getting sick of Top 5 and Top 10 posts. Bring on the number 6!

1. King of the Mountain
Strava is my mans go-to app. He records all his bike rides on there, road and mountain biking. Our bungalow is now also referred to as the bike shop because we have so many bikes in there. Strava lets him keep track of his times and distances and you can even compare your rides to other users. On Monday Andi got King of the Mountain, meaning he holds the top ride for that particular mountain track. OH YEAH!

2. Blogilates
I'm a bit of a Cassey Ho fan, a lot actually. She's so bubbly that I should be really erked by her but Cassey and all her fans are so sweet. They're completely loyal to Cassey and empower each other in so many ways. You can find her pop pilates videos on youtube or on blogilates.com (btw how awesome is that name!?). I actually have a folder full of her workout printables.

GIRL POWER

3. Garmin
I don't use any Garmin products personally but my Dad swears by them. Similar to Strava, Garmin sells navigational products for sports and fitness. He uses his like a watch which then monitors his walking tracks, heart rate, speed etc. Such an easy way to really see how much your fitness is improving. Similar to fitbits that I know a lot of you use.

4. iPods
Music, duh! If I'm exercising, taking a walk or whatever I either need my dog or my iPod with me to make the experience more enjoyable. I'm able to forget I'm actually exercising if I have music with me, if not I'll get tired in about a quarter of the time and stop. I'm sure you guys are all the same too! Music makes exercising more bearable.

5. MagicSeaweed
Another one my guy uses is magicseaweed.com, this app is the best for surf forecasts and surf reports. There are also webcams that you can view of your local beaches to see for yourself just how big those waves are!

6. Recipes
Books are awesome but the net is my number 1 place to look for healthy recipes and to research recipe development. I have my favourite vegan cookbooks but you can't search so easily for simple vegan recipes based on the ingredients in your cupboard like you can on the internet.

There you have it! 6 ways tech is actually bettering our health! Now everyone can quit with the life was better back when bull... 'cause no, it wasn't!

Who is this person?

2014-09-24T20:22:00.001+10:00

I was tagged a little while ago by my awesome online buddy Nadya on instagram to share 20 unknown things about me. I figured I'd be a good blogger for once and make a post about it. It's going to be really hard to come up with things but hopefully it won't be too boring and it will bring all of us bloggy pals that little bit closer!

1. Sonia's latest post at Life, Love and Hiccups got me thinking about my favourite reads. My all time favourite book is the Thorn Birds, the real issue with that is I don't really know why it is. All my other favourite books make sense and match certain likes and areas of my personality. I normally hate books that are set in the same place and time as me. The time is slightly off, I wasn't exactly born in the 30's or anything but the norm for me is 17 or 1800's so it's way off but I am from New South Wales originally. The characters personality traits aren't a bit like mine, I should actually hate them. But I don't.

2. Speaking of liking things ironically, I have a lot of music that goes completely against my tastes and better judgement. I grew up as a *ahem* punk rocker. I refused to like grunge music because Johnny Rotten hated it, so therefore so did I. While the majority of my playlists are still Rancid, the Clash, Bad Religion etc. plus a whole lot of "old" rock, Steppenwolf, the Rolling Stones and the like I have also turned into a country music bumpkin. I love Dolly Parton, Corb Lund and Trampled by Turtles.

3. Continuing on with a theme now, I also ironically fell in love with a guy that was the most Kurt Cobain-y grunge looking dude ever. I couldn't stand it so I was hooked of course.

4. Shall we stop here? I clearly don't know what I like or who I am.

5. Speaking of big boobs AKA Dolly Parton, I also love Pamela Anderson... yeah... weird. I used to love her when I was really little watching Home Improvement, then Baywatch as a teen because it was so ridiculous. I saw a peta ad she did about KFC's chickens and that was my first step to becoming vegan. I've been vegan for almost 5 years now and I turned vegetarian when I was 17.

6. Back to music now, I play the guitar and write my own songs. Yeah, I'm a little bit country.

7. I have also played the piano, flute, piccolo and mandolin.

8. I can be a bit of a sci-fi geek. You already know my love of witches but I love other fantasy too, books, movies and tv. At the moment I'm rewatching all the X-Files for the umteenth time.

9. I have absolutely no patience which is why I always start a painting then let it sit for so long because I always choose to forget just how much time it takes. The same goes for writing books. This is why I like music, I usually write a song in about 5 minutes. Bim Bam Boom. Done. Then I just play it until it's right.

10. My grocery bills are always huge because I won't compromise the environment for my bank balance.

11. I can't stand aerosol deodorants, don't do it I beg you. They stink.

12. I cried when Tom Hanks lost Wilson.

13. The latest Toy Story movie also moved me cause I'm weird like that.

14. I used to be good at sports, especially soccer.

15. I'm not now.

16. I am a couch potato through and through.

17. As a kid I loved Sunday's, by Sunday I felt like it was ok to chill because Saturday I spent playing soccer. At 12 o'clock there was always an Elvis movie on, so I'd lie on the couch and watch old Elvis movies.

18. You won't believe it but when I first moved to Tasmania I hated it.

19. Then I saw the beaches.

20. I was an accounting student but now that my writing career has really taken off I've stopped.

Now I'm going to nominate Sonia at Life, Love and Hiccups, Kathe from Kathe With An E and Jillian from Hi It's Jilly, gals I'd love to know more about!

Witch House Inspiration

2014-08-11T14:10:00.001+10:00

Since I was a wee child, I've loved everything Witchy! Houses included. My top 5 Witch Houses are:

The Practical Magic House
The Charmed Manor
The Witches of East End House
Roxie's Eastwick House
The Good Witch's Grey House

While I already have a few witchy home features like my purrfect black cat, my creaky black gate that perfectly matches Grey House's, my dragonfly led lamp that looks like it could have been stolen from the Charmed set and herbs and dried lavender throughout there's still a lot of work to do before I have that perfect witch's home. The first step of course is getting the old wooden floor. Come this time next year, I will have pine boards throughout and I cannot wait!

My Witchy Black Creaky Gate

My Witchy Black Cat

My Witchy Table Lamp

My Witchy Hanging Kitchen Plants

And on that note, here are the best witchy kitchens for your ogling pleasure:

The Witches of East End kitchen

The Charmed, Halliwell Manor kitchen

the kitchen from Practical Magic

Roxie's kitchen in Eastwick

Playing in the Garden with Spot

2014-07-29T14:07:00.002+10:00

It's been far too long since I shared my last photos of Spotty on here with you all. If you missed my last post then you may not be aware that I recently homed and fell in love with this little Kelpie x Smithfield puppy. You also might not be aware that even though his name is Spot, he recently lost the spot that he was named after. It's currently just two tiny little white hairs on the back of his neck!

Warning to anyone with a slow internet speed, this is a super cute photo heavy post.

LOVE!

It's All About the Wrapping at Inky Co.

2014-05-26T15:35:00.001+10:00

I am a wrapping fanatic as I'm certain a lot of you are too! I'm always buying little bits of ribbon, string and twine and recycling things to create beautiful wrapping. Well this time, after many many moons of feeling awful about buying cheap wrapping paper which is of course completely un-environmentally-friendly, I decided that it was about time to buy some that wouldn't make me feel so guilty and here's what I found:

Inky Co.

Just so we're all on the same page here this is not (not even a little bit) a sponsored post. I just love this product and after wrapping some lovely presents, I knew I had to share it with you gals!

All this gorgeous wrapping was designed and made in Melbourne, Australia from recycled materials and responsible dyes. So absolutely NO guilty feelings there. Of course my guy Andi couldn't believe I'd bought it and when I said it was made in Melbourne he said "from hipsters tears" which is probably quite accurate.. Sorry Melbournites... couldn't resist!

It's also fantastic to wrap with, by far the best paper I've ever used. It's so thick that you can wrap really weird shapes easily and they'll even look great. Bet you can't tell which one of these gifts was actually circle shape!!!

I've decided as well as sharing my own lovely vintage treasures with you all from time to time, I'll also be sharing some things to help you all too! First this lovely wrapping find and soon lots more! I think I'll be including my favourite copyright free image sources next week so stay tuned, including some I'm certain you won't have heard of!

Vintage Stacked Tea Cups and Saucers

2014-05-16T11:55:00.000+10:00

It's been so long since I shared some vintage finds with you all... these gorgeous stacked vintage teacups and saucers come courtesy of my thrifty brother and sister in law. They're always trawling the antique shops for my presents... Gotta love that! The glass rose is also from my brother, he got each of his girls a different colour. One for me, one for each of my sisters, our Mummy, his wife and his super cute little baby girl. How sweet is that!?

The frame is from my sisters... I've yet to put one of my own photos inside simply because I'm so lazy. But hey, the silhouette bust looks lovely anyway right? These can you believe, were all Christmas presents... it has taken me that long! I'm a dreadful blogger really but I'm working on it!

Have a lovely weekend! If you're thrifting, come back and tell me what you scored!

5 Things I've Learnt in My Puppy's First Week

2014-04-29T11:42:00.001+10:00

Hello Lovelies! I have some exciting news to share with you all! Judging by the title of this post and the photo above, I expect you have already deduced what it is!

Yep! I've got a beautiful little puppy called, Spot. He is a Kelpie x Smithfield (a Tasmanian Sheepdog) and It's been a hectic week I tell you! He is just lovely and I love him so! However, he's also intense, so intensely intense that there are things I really wish I had known before we picked him up at 6 weeks old. We've gotten some things right and some things not so right.

Here's what I've learnt so far:

5. You Can NOT EVER Have Enough Carpet Cleaner and Paper Towel
Nope, never ever, never is there ever enough! Seriously, just take home everything the shop has in stock.

4. Wear Thick Clothes, ABSOLUTELY NO New Knitted Jumpers
I learnt this the hard way! My brand new cable knit jumper is ruined. It also helps to wear jeans and boots for your protection.

3. Always ALWAYS have a Toy Nearby
6 week old pups bite, bite, bite, bite, bite and bite some more. Never switch rooms without having a toy on hand for distraction when he starts to bite you... because he will. (Please note, I'm talking playful chews here but they can still hurt and you don't want them forming bad habits, our rule is no biting humans, period.)

2. A Child's Play Pen is an Absolute Necessity
I forced poor Andi to go late night shopping to get one of these after an absolutely horrendous day with Spotty, he needs his space for quiet time and I need mine.

1. Oh the Serenity!
The best advice I could ever give to anyone with a new pup is to be calm, as calm as possible! Puppies pick up on your mood so, so, so well, better than I could have possibly imagined. When you're frustrated with them they will act naughtier! The more calm you are the more calm they are!

A Happy Easter Vignette

2014-04-11T13:20:00.003+10:00

I have just spent my entire day trying to log onto the internet... finally the lovely woman from HP figured it out for me! I think I may have to do a post on that soon, in case any one else is having similar issues. I have a million post ideas coming your way too including a bunch of new finds and treasures, photos and even much needed desk/office makeover!

For now though I just wanted to wish all my lovely followers a very Happy Easter! I made this cute little Easter themed vignette which reminded me how much I love photography. Today is a very dreary and wet Autumn day with no place for nests, eggs and bunnies but oh well!

The nest is actually a real birds nest that we found in our garden last year. It's perfect and has sat on a shelf inside ever since. I hadn't even thought of using it for this post but walking past it, I eyed it and thought "perfect!" The golden egg is actually ceramic (no real eggs for my vegan ways of course!), the bunny is a beautiful white ceramic container and the backdrop is actually a candlelit lantern.

My roses haven't been in bloom for a long time now but I've yet to share this image and upon looking through my photos this morning, I couldn't resist adding it to this Easter themed post. Isn't she beautiful? I snapped up this shot just before a big storm blew through and ruined all of my rose bushes. I think they're doing ok now though, although the need a lot, a lot of cutting back before the warmer weather comes back... though that reminds me, winter hasn't even started yet and I'm already sick of the cold and wet weather. Oh dear! It's going to be a while!

Anyway Happy Easter everyone!

The Bay

2014-03-18T14:44:00.001+11:00

Is there any point writing anything with this post? Screw SEO today! These are just some pretty pictures of the Bay with my brand new camera phone. Enjoy. Oh and be sure to follow along on Instagram, this is the kind of stuff you’ll see! My username if you’d like to find me on your device is of course kirstygirl.