I'm still here (and exciting news to share)

Um, hello [insert shy wave]! Oui, c'est moi. I am still here, feeling rather sheepish for leaving you here with nary a calling card to explain my absence. Please accept my humblest apologies. Life on Planet Baby continues to be particularly trying and I have had to expend my energy wisely. Regrettably, that hasn't included blogging. Mr PB and the pixies have needed me and that's where my priorities always lie.  I know I've been largely absent here this year owing to Mr PB still looking for a full-time job (since Christmas Eve, can you believe it?). The resulting stress and challenges have been debilitating and exhausting. But I really cherish this space and want to commit to it properly. So I have a plan - want me to share?

The thing is that notwithstanding everything going on offline which has prevented me blogging, the truth is that I've been feeling a real disconnect from my blog name. When I started blogging in July 2010, Life on Planet Baby perfectly described where I was at with a preschooler, toddler and infant. Yes, they were my babies, in the truest sense. Fast forward to now with Joshua and India at school full-time and Sammy starting three days a week Kinder next year and my babies are growing up. 

Here they are the other day, very proud of their new booster seats

I've always cherished the concept of 'Planet Baby' but now 'Planet Joy' is much more my spiritual home. 'Baby' pigeonholes me to a phase in my life I'm naturally moving away from as the pixies grow up. It also means incessant approaches from baby-related companies wanting me to endorse their products. They just don't 'get' me.

But you all do, especially those who have been aboard this Planet for a while, watching my creative spark ignite and light the warm fire which now delights me through Planet Joy. You 'get' how my crafting inspires, and sustains, me. You 'get' the hope it brings to my life.

So I guess it won't surprise you that mentally, I've hopped planets. From Planet Baby to Planet Joy.

And I'm fervently hoping you'll take the leap and join me. 

I've bought the domain name for www.planetjoy.com.au (www.planetjoy.com was unavailable) and want to move this blog there. I toyed with the idea of calling it 'Life on Planet Joy' and bought the domain name and everything as I thought it would make the transition easier for you. But then I realised it made more business sense to drop the 'Life on' part. Many people who know me through Planet Joy have no idea I blog here. Keeping it simple is the way to go, I think. 

I'm hoping I can just export this blog to the new one and leave a custom redirection from Planet Baby to Planet Joy so you won't have to do anything. That's the plan. But it may be more complicated. I'll let you know when I find out.

And so, how are feeling about this? Wondering what direction my blog will take?

Well I've been thinking about that. I plan to write as I normally do - no change of 'voice' required. So you'll still know it's me at the tiller of this fine ship.

I'll post more about what I'm making for Planet Joy and what's inspiring me. But I won't just turn it into endless promotions for Planet Joy, though. I want it to feel balanced between both my life with our young family and my art. I also want it to be more Tasmanian focussed so you can see more about this magical place we call home.

I am so excited about these plans. I eagerly await the day when I can feel that this space truly represents where I'm at in life right now. I don't want it to feel like a stuck record any longer. It's time to pick the stylus up and start a new tune.

So (big gulp), what do you think about these changes? Excited, annoyed, indifferent? I really look forward to hearing your thoughts, of whatever kind. Truly. I'm all ears!

Step into the light

Bonsoir you gorgeous Planetarians, all 568 of you. I'm feeling rather ho-hum at the moment. I've had a really difficult week. There have been dashed hopes, unexpected news, mistakes and worrying concerns. I am weary from being brave. But onwards I must. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more" and all that!

Source

So it was perfect timing to receive this email from The Brave Girls Club yesterday. Are any of you fans of their Daily Truth emails? I am as I mentioned here and here. 

One step at a time, hey? I think that's just the gentle nudge in the right direction I've been seeking. For me, finding where the beauty is means less time spent online and more time creating and connecting with my dear ones. Sounds the ticket, don't you think?

Anyone else feel the same? Where do you find your peace, beauty and good stuff? Do share - I'm all ears.

Oh and I plan to start up the Post of the Month Club again on Monday - I'd love to have you all aboard again. Stay tuned...

Time for a catch-up

Evening Lovelies! Brrr, it's a chilly night in Old Hobart Town. It's meant to get down to 1°! Lots of blankets will be needed on our bed as our electric blanket has died. Hmm, it's been a fortnight since my last post. Life *offline* is still presenting considerable challenges at the moment. I'm still grappling with finding the energy and time to write here, let alone in what form. There's so much I would gladly share with you and bounce ideas about but just can't. Walking the privacy tightrope is a challenge.

So instead, and to fill you in on some snippets of life on Planet Baby lately, here are some snaps.

I've been having fun creating pretties for Planet Joy. I am particularly taken with these laurel wreath-like flourishes. Simple but effective, don't you think?

In big news, I've applied for a couple of legal jobs. Yes, it's a huge thing for me after nearly 6 years since I last practised. Will let you know more if the news is good. Cross your fingers for me!

I enjoyed freshening up this moodboard in my *room of my own*. Blue is the theme - quelle surprise! The sweet paper bunny with movable limbs was given to me by my dear friend Sarah as well as the little gift tag and the gorgeous delphinium postcard she photographed. The little ceramic 'j'adore' tag was made by the lovely Ness.

Here's a peek at some of my Liberty stash! So much potential there.

And to finish, here is a short video of the sublime Spectra light installation by Ryoji Ikeda we saw here last night on the Winter Solstice. There are 49 searchlights beaming 15 km into the sky to create a transcendental experience. It's a stunning feature of the brilliant Dark Mofo, the Museum of Old and New Art's inaugural winter festival. 

I was beyond moved. I really felt the lights were connecting us to the celestial.

Here's a link to an ABC news video about it which captures the excitement we Hobartians are feeling about Spectra as well as the amazing soundwall at its base.

And here are Sammy and Mr PB next to one of the lights. They were toasty warm there!

Right, time to haul out those blankets. Night!

Taking Planet Joy on the road

Well hello, you gorgeous Planetarians (*insert shy wave*). I was so intrigued by your responses to my last post about social media distraction. It looks like I'm in fine company on the issue! Since then, I was flat chat preparing for Planet Joy's outing to the Flourish Handmade Market on 2 June 2013. Here are some snaps from the day so you can see what you missed out on!

I took this right at the beginning. I was so relieved my new wirework 'Planet Joy' looked the part at the front. 

I have my wonderful friend, Sarah of Molly's Maison, to thank for the assistance with styling my Liberty bust. It was a thrill to have it displayed like this.

Miss India was my adorable and supportive little helper for the first two of the four hours. She was amazingly patient and so loyal - quietly indignant when people didn't buy my "pretty things"! She kept a watchful eye on my pieces, arranging them so they were 'just so', without my prompting. 

I had an array of my wire words on offer with many in plain and non-Liberty patterns as well.

Most letters of the alphabet were catered for.

My coathangers, as expertly splayed by Miss India.

My new range of double-sided Liberty butterflies flitted about this birdcage.

This butterfly was a bookmark in the Blurb book I recently made for Planet Joy.

Here's the view from my side of the table. Thanks to kind Sam's suggestion, I displayed these butterflies on some wire.

And to finish here are my hearts and angels.

So, what was it all like? Unfortunately, traffic was slow with many visitors either elderly or mums juggling small babies. Everyone around me had a poor day. And, like others, I didn't even cover my stall fee.

Yes, you read that right. Hard to comprehend, don't you think?

I was so disappointed. And weary. 

By the time I did this at home, I was seriously reconsidering what I was doing with Planet Joy. I had worked so hard to improve my display and variety of products on offer. I started to doubt myself.

But, willing myself to believe in myself, the next day I had a little sale of my pretties on Instagram.

The result? It went berserk! In 6 hours, I made 40 times what I'd earned at the market. Truly!

I can't express how much of a confidence booster that was. I was so flattered and grateful that so many people believed in me. It made me feel that I do have something original to offer which people appreciate.

So, thanks to those splendid folks, I've spent the past few days completing those orders.

And the upshot of all this? Whilst I will attend more markets, I'll focus more on online sales. That means finally restocking Planet Joy with all the pretties I've already made and devoting regular time to the Planet Joy Facebook page.

I've been daunted by running that FB page, not knowing what balance of posts to write there. I don't want to  appear as a hard-sell but I still need to encourage people to actually buy! Do any of you have any tips about what you look for in such a FB page? Do you look for sales and special bargains? More about the maker? I'd really welcome your thoughts. 

I would also love to offer you Planetarians specials - I'm thinking of using Etsy discount codes. Your thoughts?

Living in the age of mass distraction

Bonsoir, you gorgeous Planetarians! The evenings are getting a little chillier in Old Hobart Town now. I have my winter boots on and the heater turned up. A mug of hot chocolate is keeping me company as Mr PB works his night job and the pixies slumber. Tonight I want to chat about a topic which has been irking me for some time. I suspect some of you have been feeling likewise. Maybe we can compare notes! What's bothering me is our age of distraction. Strike a chord? 

Technology can be tremendously empowering and useful. And we're seduced by its charms so readily. Imagine life without Google! Tricky, isn't it? The pixies certainly can't.

We have so many stimuli firing up our brains throughout the day - too many, I find.

In amongst the hurly-burly of our everyday lives, we can constantly monitor our emails, browse Facebook news feeds, fall down Blogland's rabbitholes, fire off tweets, instagram our way through our days, spend hours mooching away on Pinterest - you know what it's like!

The drawbacks of social media

But technology has its drawbacks.

Source

That picture makes me giggle. A little uncomfortably, to be sure. They left off Pinterest and Instagram, though!

It's true, though. I find my attention diverted every which way.

And I don't like it.

It leaves me exhausted, overwhelmed and lonely.

That's a crazy paradox in this more-connected-than-ever age, don't you think?

I've heard it described as the peril of 'over-engaging'. That really hits a nerve for me.

So what am I doing about it?

Blogging

I've cut back the blogs I follow to 173. I'm still culling.

That only takes me so far. How, and how often, I check for new blog posts are the biggies.

Now that Google Reader will cease operating on 1 July 2013, I've started using Feedly. It's a brilliant reader. I adore it. This excellent New York Times article explains how it works.

I find Feedly allows me to scan posts and 'mark them as read' most efficiently. And the magazine option is a far more visually engaging style compared to Google Reader. It's a pleasure to use.

I browse through Feedly about once every couple of days. I've learnt to let go and resist the call of the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) - read this brilliant article here about this phenomenon.

And you know what? It feels fantastic. I'm back in control of my ship's tiller!

Facebook

In July 2012, I posted about reclaiming my social media identity back here and my plans for dealing with Facebook.

My thoughts have hardly changed. In fact, I feel the unease caused by social media even more intensely now I have a smartphone.

I changed my mind about having a 'Life on Planet Baby' fan page. I don't see the need. Running the 'Planet Joy' fan page is challenging enough as well as my personal page.

I now plan to:

• post a status update several times in the near future advising my friends that I am reorganising my FB use by having both personal and Planet Joy fan pages;

• invite those who want to remain my personal FB friends to *like* that status update and/or comment on it;

• advise that anyone who doesn't respond will be 'unfriended' (a terrible word!); and

• invite those who want to follow my Planet Joy fan page to *like* it.

I'll let you know how I go! Hmm, it feels a tad confronting but I know I have to do it.

I'm also weeding out all the pages I have liked and limiting the time I spend on Facebook.

Twitter

I am rarely there anymore. It doesn't excite me. There's a lot of negativity and unpleasantness. Not to mention the noise. I don't have the spare energy for wading through the chatter to find the bits I like.

Google +

I've deleted my account.

And not regretted it one little bit.

Instagram

As many of you know, I've been seduced by the Mistress-called-Instagram. I find it so enjoyable and satisfying. Expressing myself in photos is a pleasure.

But I have to keep an eye on myself. Resisting the urge to check my phone often is challenging. Especially when there's some fun banter going on! But I want, and need, to. I have more important things to focus on first. Instagram should only be a pleasurable habit, not an end in itself.

I might even have an Insta-cation soon, like Anna.

To finish, do look at this hilarious Instagram parody for a giggle. It makes me laugh out loud! And laughing at myself has to be a good thing, right?!

So, wish me luck as I implement these changes to my social media consumption. And do tell - do you get as distracted as me by social media? Or have you sussed out the right balance between living your life and documenting it? I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Feeling tired and tongue-tied

Source

Hello lovely Planetarians. I am really struggling here. This popping-my-head-back-over-the-parapet business to restart blogging is confounding me. For the first time ever, I don't know where to start. The challenges life has been throwing us lately have left me unsteady on my feet. And this bloggy caper, which always came so readily to me before, is no longer familiar territory.

I miss it.

And I miss you, too.

I don't mean that in a melodramatic, overly familiar way. I mean it most genuinely. I treasure the support you Planetarians gift to me, in so many ways and places. I have only been visiting your blogs fleetingly of late and am missing sharing your latest tales.

Most of all, I am missing being a good friend to so many of you who have been just that to me in recent times.

I wish I could offer all you more but right now, I need to conserve my energy to focus on our family's immediate needs.

I am really tired. Bone-achingly so. Long-time Planetarians will know just how challenging the last 7 years have been since we arrived on Planet Baby. The pace has been unrelenting. And the hurdles keep popping up. I loathe running and hurdling is even less my style. But those hurdles continue to appear, just as I'm gaining some momentum.

And so I raise my right leg yet again, trying not to trail my ankle, straining forth to mount yet another one.

At the moment, I feel like I have more problems than I could poke a stick at. I've struggled to work out how to articulate this to you. I don't wish to whinge or make out that my problems are any greater than anyone else's. Far from it. I guess it's just part of my 'keeping it real' motto.

But, and there's the rub, I also feel tongue-tied. There are so many things I'd like to share with you about how we're faring right now but so many of these tales are not my own to tell. So I can't.

Here's a snapshot of life on Planet Baby at the moment:

Mr PB

Mr PB's job hunt continues. He's still working his casual night job. It helps but he's been taking on extra shifts. He's tired.

Finances

Life is very challenging right now.

The pixies

It's school holiday time. The days are getting shorter and cooler. That means more time indoors for the pixies. The issue of the appropriate amount of screen time for them is vexing us no end. 

Planet Joy

Planet Joy is tootling along nicely. But I have so many more ideas and hopes for it. It has so much potential that I long to fulfil.

I'd love to find a business mentor to help me write a business plan and help me find the people who have the skills I lack in photography, styling, merchandising, social media and marketing. The whole small business caper, actually.

Hmm, no wonder I'm tired. Thankfully, I am thoroughly enjoying the challenges of Bikram yoga. I've been attending 4-5 times a week for the past 6 weeks, thanks to Romy's encouragement. It's starting to work wonders with both my body and mind. Will fill you in soon about it.

This post is a bit of a meander. But it's where my mind's at right now. I hope I've filled in the gaps a little without disclosing too much.

Finally, thankyou for all your kind words and actions in recent times, especially all the emails which I've been struggling to answer. I can't express how grateful I am for every effort you make to contact me. I am trying to catch up on the backlog.

So I am back blogging. Please just bear with me a little longer while I get my rhythm back!

And joy rushes in: the lowdown on Planet Joy

Ahem. Getting back into the bloggy saddle is proving harder than I anticipated! Life here is still a hard struggle at the moment so my energy reserves are finite. I can't blog like I used to. However, I want to resume regular life back here as I miss you all. So I'll keep up these shorter posts with that aim for the next little while, okay? Now, time to fill you all in on recent Planet Joy happenings! 

The past 5 months have flashed by. I've had some welcome successes, numerous efforts and a few disappointing fizzers. All part of the mix when setting up a craft business, I guess. I've learnt that you're always learning as you go. But all up, it's been a huge positive in our lives, especially during this tough time. Yes, joy has really rushed in - I'm so delighted I chose that name. I need more positivity in my life!

What I'm making

Fabric wrapped wire names and words 

The most popular pieces so far have been my hand-bent wire words and names which I wrap in fabric. Liberty of London Tana lawn is my favourite choice but I also have an ever-growing range of plain fabrics as well.

My top-seller is this yellow 'hello'. Keeping up with the demand is tricky!

Here are some of the names I've made - I love custom orders.

And here's a word.

This has proven popular as well.

Liberty wrapped wire phrases 

The possibilities I can create are endless.

Here's one I made for my *room of my own*, for example.

Liberty wrapped letters and words

A goodly number of you have ordered your initial. Love that. Here's Annie's.

And here are some words.

One for my fellow Francophiles.

And one for us all.

Let me know if you have any requests. I'll see what I can do!

Liberty wrapped decorations

I've also played around a little. Here are the results.

A brooch.

The French word for 'dream'.

Covered coathangers.

 And an ampersand. Blue and white to boot. Happy days!

Wreaths

I started off making beribboned wreaths which several of you snapped up.

Then I branched out to dupion silk - thanks for the suggestion, Sam!

I made one like this for gorgeous Romy.

This black one is so striking. And deliciously tactile.

The big ones use a metre of silk, if you can believe it. I've just found a fabulous source for it so stay tuned for some different colours!

My market experiences so far

I've attended three markets so far. The first was lamentable. It was in January, a notoriously (I since discovered) difficult time for craft markets as everyone has either maxed out their credit cards at Christmas and/or is on holidays. Here I am at the beginning of the day.

Fortunately, lovely Mel visited me with newborn Flynn which lifted my spirits, as did a surprise appearance from Anita who was holidaying with her family.

I then had a crazy weekend with back-to-back markets. Here's the first which was slightfully more successful. My fellow stallholders also had moderate days.

And the next day, I backed up here. This was a fizzer as well. It was a new market and only just finding its feet, publicity-wise. Most of the stallholders I talked to barely made the cost of their stall fees. I think the downturn in the economy is hitting hard down here in Tasmania - there's not much disposable income, it seems.

However, I am glad I had the chance to meet people, showcase my pieces and come up with ideas for improvements. There is a silver lining there!

Stockist offers

I am tickled pink that two fabulous local shops have asked me to make some pieces for them. I'll let you know once the ball is rolling!

Find Planet Joy on Facebook

Yes, I'm there! I'd love to see you over at Planet Joy's Facebook page. Many of you have already kindly 'liked' the page which I really appreciate. I've made new friends and connections there as well - just my thing. 

I am still learning the ropes about how to run a FB fan page, though. It's so different to having a personal account. After getting comfortable here over the past few years, I'm finding it challenging to have to start from scratch and assume no one knows anything about me. Building a community there will take time, I know. I just have to be patient and keep posting there regularly, something I haven't done lately.

Do share if you have any tips about how to run a craft business fan page on Facebook - I'm sure we all can learn something!

See Planet Joy on Instagram 

You can also see my work over here as well as other snippets from Planet Baby. I'd love to see you on Instagram - please say hello if you haven't already.

Oops! This was meant to be a short post. Hmm, old habits die hard. Time to post this and scoot to bed. Night!