i've moved!

Its official. The blog has moved.

For new posts and to stay in touch please visit www.junk4joy.com.au.

Subscribe and never miss a post again. Take that any way you want - as a promise or a threat.

See you there!

z

moving to wordpress and other catastrophes

I decided to bite the bullet. This will be the last post I do on Blogger. I'm not going to delete the blog, just begin putting new posts on my Wordpress site.

It has to happen sometime... I may as well jump in.

I haven't finished tweaking my WP site but I figure I'll learn as I go. And you'll forgive me if things stuff up... right?

Up till now I only blogged for fun. Now, while I'm still blogging for fun, I'm also trying to get more exposure for some of the things I do - like the doll repaints I'm selling in my Etsy shop. Its a whole big world out there and I'm really lost in it. There is just so much out there and I don't know where to start or where to go!

I've been on ebay the longest, I think that was the first thing I did when I got online: buy stuff on ebay! I love ebay!

Then I built a website for my art, then for my poodles, then morphed that into a hub leading to all my web pages and 'stuff'...

I'm on Facebook of course. I resisted for ages and then one day my cousin Zefi asked me to join cause she was tired of people contacting her thinking she was me. I use it all the time now, both to keep in touch with friends, to share stuff, buy stuff and keep in touch with the local community and hobby groups I belong to.

I'm on Pinterest. That was easy... I love the way it acts as a kind of library for ideas as well as a source for research. A great place to find inspiration.

I opened a CafePress shop and sold quite a few of my poodle design Tshirts. I don't do much with the shop any more, but I still sell stuff through there which is nice.

Then I opened an Etsy shop which I did nothing with for years...

I joined Instagram last week. It seemed the right thing to do. I'm still trying to figure it out..

I started trying to setting up my Google+ page or whatever that's called. I'm no where close to figuring out how that works or what its for... sharing pics like Instagram? Sharing posts like a blog?

If none of those links work... well, welcome to my world. And to think I'm not completely ignorant when it comes to computers. Sheesh...

I'm not on Twitter. Yet. Or SnapChat. Or whatever newfangled app is out there now.

I'm so confused. I mean, how on earth do you keep track of (or tame!) all these pages????

I can barely keep up with what I have and I always thought I had a pretty big online presence.

Seriously.

I'd love some advice from other bloggers on how you keep track of, stay on top of and organise all those different pages, apps and profiles online! I realise that its part of 'the job' of being a blogger and seller, but I find that I start doing a bit of online work and three hours later I'm still here, still going...

Anyway... I'm going to jump right in, with both feet. I'm not even going to hold my nose. Oh, ok, I'll probably hold my nose... I guess not deleting my Blogger blog (ie this one!) is a way of holding on to some kind of security while I plunge into the great unknown...

From now on my new blog address will be; https://junk4joy.com.au/

My next posts will be shared from there.

Please by patient when blips happen, as they're bound to do. I'm not sure how to make sure it all runs smoothly. I think anyone who used to follow my blog will have to 're-follow' the WP blog. I'm not entirely happy with the layout and widgets of the new blog yet so there may be (most likely will be) changes made to the live blog. Just grin and bear it.

z

a quick magnet board

What would you do with this ruined whiteboard? It was disgusting. The paint was flaking off, it was stained. It looked like it barely survived the plague.

But the frame was so rustic and sweet. The back was ok but green. And it was metal, hence magnetic.

Well, if you're me, which I am, you spray it white and use it as a magnet board in the office.

I always thought I needed an idea board in the office. So now I have one. I'm using my vintage earring magnets to pin up images for inspiration. 

Excuse the messy office. Well, I did crop out most of the mess to save your eyeballs.

On the shelf to the left you can see my remade dolls covered in plastic while they wait for their forever homes. Top right is my memory box of Billybear, with his paws cast in plaster. My darling little man. And below that is an icon in a silver filigree frame given to me by my aunt in Greece.

Its my office. Its full of stuff that I like and which means something to me.

Right now its buried under about 50 projects I have on the go...

z

old window window chalkboard #2

Time just flies when you're having fun busy. Don't know how it is with everyone else, but working from home sure doesn't mean I have more free time. If anything, it means I have more to do than ever.

I mean, there's the grooming, which is work and must come first. Then there's caring for the house jobs, garden and animals. Often the house and garden don't get their share of care. And then there's crafting and DIY-ing and just plain making stuff. Sometimes that gets pushed aside as well in favour of work or rest.

Still, I'm managing to do a bit here and there between the bigger jobs like clean the chook shed and tending to sick horses. Here is one such small project... the second of the old king billy pine window frames made into chalkboards.

This gorgeous window frame was given a shelf at the bottom - new pine aged with steel wool and vinegar. 

It got a chalk holder as well, this time a sliding door pull I found at a tip shop, sitting down into the shelf.

This frame had much less paint on it so I left it more natural, giving it a couple of coats of polyurethane to seal and protect it and to bring out the grain of the wood.

I really am seriously considering keeping all my chalkboards and covering a wall with them. I think it'd be fantastic. If I had a big wall in the living room or kitchen... which I don't. Too many doors and windows... the price you pay when your house isn't big enough for the stuff you make.

... Maybe I can remove a door or two... we don't need all our doors, surely...

z

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