How I Got The Perfect Entertainment Unit For Free

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.

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.

Merry Christmas 2015

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

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!

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!

Witch House Inspiration

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

1. The Practical Magic House
2. The Charmed Manor
3. The Witches of East End House
4. Roxie's Eastwick House
5. The Good Witch's Grey House

Vintage Stacked Tea Cups and Saucers

 

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!?

A Happy Easter Vignette

 

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!

The Bay

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.

Indoor Garden

As some of you are aware, Andi and I have been experimenting with indoor gardening (as well as outdoor gardening). Check out this post about our hanging indoor kitchen planters. So far we’ve been having a lot of luck especially with succulents. Andi planted some in a Keen’s Curry tin. We also have a chilli plant, some lavender, rosemary, thyme and mint in the kitchen.

How to Make Clay Tag Christmas Ornaments and Decorations

These little white heart clay tag ornaments are really simple and easy to make and you definitely don’t need to go searching tutorial after tutorial to get it right.

Christmas Decorating {Christmas Tree and Stockings}

Depending on what kind of blog reader you are, you’ll either think I’m super fast or really slow with my Christmas decorating. Well here you have MY first ever Christmas tree in my new home. I have been very excited about getting the tree and made Andi rather unhappy with me by choosing the largest, most expensive tree I could find but I just HAD to!
I’m not a big fan of plastic ornaments so I decorated with burlap ribbon, red and white ribbon and made big red bows out of red satin. I also made little white clay heart tags, there’s a house and a cat to come too and of course a tutorial!

I have always loved the idea of hanging stockings and Andi decided some stockings would look great hanging from the lights either side of our antique green mirror and of course I went full steam ahead with the idea, searching for hours to find the perfect Christmas stockings. I got these beautiful socks from Etsy seller, Ben Loves Birdy. These are Pottery Barn red cable knit stockings that were personalised with our names. I love them!
Linking up with: 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, Charm of Home, French Country Cottage, House on the Way, Primp Junktion, Romantic Home, Diana Rambles, Dukes & Duchesses, Ginger Snap Crafts, Katie’s Nesting Spot, Life we Live 4, Redoux, Say Not Sweet, Sunday Showcase Party, Tatertots & Jello, Knick of Time

DIY White Painted Side Table

Andi received this little side table from someone at work for free… score! I had the perfect spot for it in mind. The colour definitely had to change though… to white of course!
I started off by sanding all the edges down to the raw wood so I could sand again after the paint job for that shabby look you know I love!

Duke decided he wanted to help too and I couldn’t stop laughing at him. Eventually he calmed down and decided to have a rest… he did work very hard.

After sanding down the sides and corners the painting began. When we bought the house there were about 10 cans of white paint in the shed… it was fate I tell you! So this whole project didn’t cost me a cent! Woohoo!
I think I ended up applying about 5 coats of paint to get rid of the mahogany colour. If it was plain wood I would have just whitewashed it and it would have been much quicker!

Afterwards I lightly sanded over the edges again for the shabby look which unfortunately you can’t see in the photos, I had to edit these shots a lot as you can see because we have been having some crazy wild weather in Aus lately and there’s no light for good photos!
The perfect spot for my dragonfly lamp and yellowstone bear!

Oh look, you can see a tiny shabby mark there in the corner of the leg!
^{Linking up with: 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, Charm of Home, French Country Cottage, House on the Way, Primp Junktion, Romantic Home, Diana Rambles, Dukes & Duchesses, Ginger Snap Crafts, Katie’s Nesting Spot, Life we Live 4, Redoux, Say Not Sweet, Sunday Showcase Party, Tatertots & Jello, PoPP, Lilyfield Life, Time Washed.}

UnCommon Goods $50 Giveaway!

Woohoo! Welcome to my very first giveaway courtesy of UnCommon Goods! I have made little collages of my favourite picks from their home decor, garden and dining & entertaining categories because it was way too hard to only make one! They have soo many beautiful things to choose from.

If you’re a follower of this blog you’ll know that I chose these beautiful puppies! Oil and Vinegar Wiener Dogs. They’re so cool! You can view that post here.

Entering the giveaway is super easy! All you have to do is comment on this post! Entries are open to everyone no matter where you are in the world! Yay! Just make sure your comment is connected to your email address so that I can contact you! (If you have recently connected your blogger account to Google+ you’re probably now a no-reply blogger) if you’re not sure whether you’ve left your email just email me telling me you’ve entered the giveaway: kirstygirl7@gmail.com

Entering is super easy. You need to leave a comment and click on this little button here letting me know! Once you’ve done that you can put in additional entries for a better chance of winning! Woo hoo! So get liking and sharing!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Linking up with: The Best Blog Recipe’s, French Country Cottage, The Charm of Home, Someday Crafts

UnCommon Goods Wiener Dog Oil and Vinegar Bottles

A little while ago I was contacted by Rocky from UnCommon Goods who asked me to do a review of one of their products. I got to choose anything I liked and boy was that insanely hard! I think I literally spent about 5 hours or more browsing through the online store. They have so many amazing things! You know when you see really innovative and inspiring products on Pinterest? This shop is full of that kind of stuff.
While browsing the site I got so many great present ideas. I’m the kind of person that likes one of a kind and unique gifts to give people, something special you know! This is definitely a shop I will be heading back to over and over!

Ok enough of how awesome the store is, I think you get it now right? It’s AWESOME! After ages and ages of trying to find the perfect thing, I finally found these puppies! Aren’t they rad!? I love them.

They look totally cool on my shelf, on my table and they actually work really well too! Plus now I can buy my oil in bulk and save a heap! Win Win! Obviously we put some oil in the oil puppy and instead of vinegar Andi and I actually chose to put soy sauce in the other because we figured he’d get used a lot more that way. They’re working out great!

I was thinking of showing you how awesome the shop is by including some more of their products in this post but I can’t bring myself to go back there just yet… not until I have some more money anyway because I will get stuck looking and wanting! But you should definitely stop over there because GUESS WHAT!? I will be hosting an UnCommon Goods Giveaway very shortly and you could win a voucher for their shop!!! So keep watching this space! P.S. The giveaway is open to everyone! Whether you’re in the U.S., U.K., Australia, wherever! You could win!

Tea Chest

Well Winter has officially hit and so with it flu season. Hooray!
The other morning I found this gorgeous bamboo tea chest at my door! Lucky me! Aren’t Nanna’s the best!? Inside there “were” heaps of lovely teas from T2, all different kinds! They all somehow disappeared over only a couple of days. Whoops!

I grabbed a couple of snaps next to my new white vintage scales and favourite mug!

Linking up with: 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, Charm of Home, French Country Cottage, House on the Way, Primp Junktion, Romantic Home, Knick of Time, Time Washed

Weddings

Awesome weekend! I watched my big bro get married and I was lucky enough to be a groomsmen! I didn’t take this shot, I was a bad blogger and stole it but I did have fun editing it and adding little bokeh hearts! I do love bokeh even if it’s fake!
Speaking of weddings, I snapped up a couple more photos of our friends wedding flowers after our area had a scheduled burn last week. It’s always fun taking photos with really weird light. Check these out.


Linking up with: 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

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

Treasures

I hit up the local “Trash and Treasure” a couple of weeks ago and I was lucky enough to find myself many treasures! There were a couple I missed out on because I wasn’t quick enough but all in all I definitely came out a winner! I found this cute little jug for only $3! We also found a nice glass coffee plunger for a steal.

My favourite are my new vintage sewing scissors for $8. I love them. They’re beautiful and they actually work too. I also picked up this cute little thimble for my Nanna because she collects them and I thought this one was a bit special. But maybe it’s just because I love ducks so much. Speaking of which we also picked up this one for only $5! Yeah!


This beautiful nest was found in our garden after a very blustery day. Don’t worry, there were no eggs!
Today I’m linking up with: Sunday Showcase Party, Knick of Time, Cozy Little House, Lolly Jane, Coastal Charm, Ginger Snap Crafts, the DIY Dreamer, Savvy Southern Style & Green Willow Pond.