New Year, New Blog

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.

Why Twitter Sucks for Bloggers

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.

How To Make Instagram Fun Again For Bloggers

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

Why social media sucks for bloggers and content producers

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? 

9 Reasons You Might be a Marketer

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!

Top 10 Ways to Make Money at Home Through Online Surveys

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!

The Art of Social Media - Interview with Guy Kawasaki

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

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

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.

How to Get 50 New REAL Pinterest Followers Every Day

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.

5 Reasons American Bloggers Should Visit Australia

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:

6 Ways Tech is Changing Our Health for the Better

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!

Goodbye Google Friend Connect {An Important Post All Bloggers Should Read!}

By now you’ve probably heard that Google Friend Connect and Google Reader will disappear on 1st July. In my own opinion this sucks! Like me, you may have most of your followers on this service and they’ll be cut off from your blog and it will no longer show up in their feed. Look at this beautiful list of friends. If this is the only way they’ve followed along with my blog, which I know most of them have, then they may be lost forever.
I realise Google is doing this to promote Google+ and get everything over there but a lot of us haven’t yet made the switch and it can hardly be considered an acceptable alternative because they do totally different things. Google+ is just another social network, yes a great one at that but it isn’t a blog reader.
Now I have to convince you all to follow me some other way. The new way I am following all of you is through BlogLovin’. I moved over there a while ago and am absolutely loving it. BUT most of you are yet to join me. Notice the difference in numbers? I have 30 followers to date on BlogLovin’ while I have 683 on Google. That is one hell of a difference!!! What is a girl to do?

Because I don’t want to lose you all, please follow me on BlogLovin’ or on any social networks so you’ll at least be notified when I have a new post for you to read. Of course I think a blog reader is definitely the way to go. If you’re a blogger yourself you’ll be happy to know that unlike Google, BlogLovin’ readers actually increase your page views. This was a huge downfall when it came to Google Friend Connect, as reading blogs in that feed did not give bloggers more page views.

Oh yeah! If you’re thinking of making the switch to BlogLovin’ note that you can import your blog lists making the move super simple and easy! Yay!!!

Today I made this gorgeous Follow Kirsty Girl mapped image to list below each post to encourage my readers to follow along. Especially those wonderfully loyal GFC followers. So come on guys get following!

504 Main, A Delightsome Life, A Diamond in the Stuff, Alderberry Hill, A Night Owl, A Stroll Thru Life, Be Different, Act Normal, Cheerios & Lattes, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Claire Justine oxox, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Cozy Little House, Crafts a La Mode, Create with Joy, Cupcake ‘n’ Bake, DIY by Design, DIY Dreamer, Domesblissity, Ducks ‘n a Row, Elizabeth & Co, Feeding Big, Green Willow Pond, Happy Go Lucky, Hickory Trail, Home Maker on a Dime, Ivy & Elephants, Katherines Corner, Kathe with an E, Lil Luna, Live Laugh Rowe, Liz Marie, Lolly Jane, Mop it Up, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Milk & Cuddles, Mostly Homemade Mom, No Minimalist Here, Our Delightful Home, Petals to Picots, Pursuit of Functional Home, Salt Tree, Say G’Day Saturday, Savvy Southern Style, Serenity Now, Shabby Creek Cottage, Share Your Cup, Sincerely, Paula, Six Sisters Stuff, Someday Crafts, Southern Lovely, Sugar & Dots, The Best Blog Recipes, The Trendy Treehouse, This Gal Cooks, Too Much Time, Weekly Creative, We Like to Learn as We Go, While he was Napping

Focus Photos {and Instagram}

I am so happy with this photo that I decided not to do any touch ups or editing at all, a part of photography that I usually really love and enjoy but sometimes you get a special shot that just doesn’t need it. And for me this is one of them.
My lovely man, Andi, gave me a bit of a lesson in photography the other day. I have been using his camera lately, not one I am used to so I got a bit of a crash course. I needed some help getting the photos right for my new shop, Keepings, in order to get the tiny details to show in the jewellery and charms.
All of these shots are using high sensitivity settings and a manual focus. Which I love, it means you can get really close to the subject and still get the focus where you want it. With automatic you can never get close enough.

For this last shot, I couldn’t even have gotten this without having the sv settings and manual focus. I even tried just to see how good a shot I could get of the spider web using any of the automatic settings. Absolutely nothing, the web didn’t even show up once.

Have you played around with your camera settings recently?
While I have had an Instagram account for ages now, I never really used it. Well I am joining the ranks and posting there now! Please follow along with me, my username of course is kirstygirl, you can find me here at http://instagram.com/kirstygirl I FOLLOW BACK! <3
504 Main, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Cozy Little House, Crafts a La Mode, DIY by Design, DIY Dreamer, Green Willow Pond, Live Laugh Rowe, Lolly Jane, No Minimalist Here, Say G’Day Saturday, Savvy Southern Style, Serenity Now, Shabby Creek Cottage, Share Your Cup, Weekly Creative, Fishtail Cottage, Ginger Snap Crafts, Katie’s Nesting Spot, Sunday Showcase Party, Tatertots & Jello

{How To} Make Money Using Pinterest

 EDIT: THE INFO IN THIS POST IS NO LONGER ACCURATE. VIRALITI HAS SHUT DOWN AND THEY HAVE NOT PAID OUT MY PINS.

This is in no way a paid for or sponsored post. I’m just letting my readers in on a new way to make money using Pinterest. How awesome is that!? Viraliti is a new site that provides you with ads (OF YOUR CHOICE) to pin. And just like Google AdWords it’s paid per click. Each ad has it’s own price attached, which you can see and unlike Google AdWords, you choose which ads you pin. Personally, I only pin those that I actually like, that are relevant to my posts and pin boards and that I think my followers will enjoy. That is probably the most important aspect of Viraliti, the fact that you only pin the ads you want.




At the moment, just like how Pinterest started, Viraliti is invite only. But I AM INVITING YOU! If you’d like to join, click here. It’s easy easy to get started and fun! Start now.

Home at the Bay

If you’re a friend and follower here you’ve probably noticed that over the past year or so I’ve been posting less and less. I started this blog as a place to post my own inspirations, projects, photographs and all things homely. While I got busier I took less photos, posted less and stopped reading a lot of other blogs that I used to follow regularly.

This month I have moved into my new home and feel inspired to post about it. How could you not when you live at the Bay and this is right down the road? So here are a few photos of the Bay and my new dining space.

Welcome to my new home and a new chapter in my blog. I look forward to posting more and sharing new finds with you.

Top 5 Reasons to Follow me on Pinterest + Kirsty & Friends Linky Party

Everyone else posts blogs about their finds on Pinterest so I’m going to as well! Here are the top 5 reasons you should be following me on Pinterest:

1. I Pin Super Cute Stuff

2. I Pin Super Funny Stuff

3. I Pin Pretty Places and Super Spaces

4. I Pin Super Ideas

5. I Pin Love!

It’s Party Time! Please grab my button and add your favourite post of the week!

<a href="http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kirsty Girl" src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc69/kirstygirl7/kirstygirlbutton.jpg" /></a>

Vegan Tasmania + Kirsty & Friends Linky Party

While we’re going through links today, I’d like to share with you one of my own. I have very recently created a new website, www.VeganTasmania.com specifically catered to vegans living in Tasmania, but anyone can get something out of the site.

I’m still working hard on the site, and am currently writing up a list of vegan and un-vegan-friendly alcohols and brands for reference. So far there are the usual; about me page, blog, events, forum, list of animal-derived ingredients, restaurant guide etc. etc.
I know most of you here are not vegan but a regular part of the blog will be my own recipes. At the moment I have an unbelievably delicious Chocolate Cheesecake recipe up that you must go and check out here.

And (hopefully, if all goes well) by the end of the day there should be a new chocolate brownie recipe up too!

Hope you’ll check it out!

www.VeganTasmania.com

Ok on to the party! Hope you’ll join in this week by adding the link of your best or most recent post of the week! Whatever you like! Just make sure to be a good blogger and link back to me either with a worded link or by adding my button! which you can copy here:

<a href="http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kirsty Girl" src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc69/kirstygirl7/kirstygirlbutton.jpg" /></a>

Awards + Kirsty & Friends Linky Party

This week I was lucky enough to be given two very sweet blogger awards. While I have received the Versatile Blogger award in the past (naughty me, I didn’t put it on the sidebar so no one was to know! Oops) Essential Momma Baby still deserves a shout out for awarding it to me! Thank you! Also if you’re a Mummy blogger you should head over there because she’s linking you all up!


This Sunshine Award came from the beautiful Beachcomber who I have mentioned before, here. Now I’m supposed to answer a set of questions but I’m a party pooper and I’m not going to because they’re a little too girly for me! (yeah they must be pretty girly right?)
Now I’m passing on this lovely Sunshine Award to a blogger that has inspired me:
Tahirih of My Almost Daily Painting Blog Definitely doing a feature post about this girl in the coming days/weeks. I HAVE to share with you her gorgeous paintings. I’m completely amazed!
Ok, now it’s party time! I hope you’ll link up your post and make sure to link back to me and grab my button! You could be featured!

<a href="http://kirstygirl7.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Kirsty Girl" src="http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc69/kirstygirl7/kirstygirlbutton.jpg" /></a>

Kreativ and Versatile Awards

I’ve been rather slow with this post as I’ve gotten so stuck into the excitement of showing you all my Holga Photos. P.S. I’ve totally saved the best for last, so stay tuned. You should all check out my last post too and leave me some love because it’s looking pretty lonely in comparison to the other Holga posts. Poor thing! Check it here/Holga Harbor.











On to today’s post! I am a lucky little blogger because I’ve just received 3 blogging awards! 1 Kreativ Blogger award from the lovely Suz from Random Thoughts by Suzanne and two Versatile Blogger awards from Shareena at Sherry Merry Go Round and my wonderful Mumsy over at Stamping Still.


So here’s 10 things about me before I hand on the awards!

1.  I’m teaching myself how to play mandolin.

2.  I already play the guitar.. (unwell, but I play).

3.  At the moment I’m working on recording a few of my songs, hopefully one day I will like them enough to show you.
4.  I used to know a little flute and piccolo, one day I’d like to pick it up again.

5.  I used to play the piano but got tired of learning classical, I wanted the Punk! I plan to get a pretty piano one day and play what I want!

6.  I clearly have a one track mind, since this is all about music. (I don’t really believe that).

7.  I just taught my little sissy, Chicken, that full stops go on the outside of brackets. She was wowed.

8.  I’m annoyed at myself for not taking an awesome Black & White of my pretty cousin, Erin, while she was here on holiday.

9.  Andi, makes fun of me for calling swimmers Cozies (there’s some good ol’ Australian slang for you). They’re called bathers in Tassie, blargh!

10.  At the moment I’m reading Crime and Punishment. It’s a light read for me. I’m loving it.


This next list is going to be a bit tricky, since I’m giving out two separate awards. So I’m just going to pass them on to a couple of bloggers I think really deserve them!




1st definitely to my awesome Mummy because she’s totally Kreativ with a K!








The Versatile Blogger Award will go to Jill from Junky Vagabond because she deserves some more traffic for sure!

And there you have it! I hope you all had a lovely Easter by the way! :D