for inviting me to join the DIY Blogland Tour!
I met Lori at the first Haven Conference for bloggers. She has been
an inspiration for me ever since then. She lets me call her to ask
her opinion about blogging. I think she is gorgeous inside and out.
Lori likes to put a little bit of everything on her blog...DIYing,
recipes, thrifting, organization and so much more!
Recently she added a feature on her blog called
"(My) Fashion After Forty" where she shares stylish but
age-appropriate outfits and also inspiration thoughts.
Her most viewed blog post is one that she did on how to
cleverly organize drawers with items you probably have on hand.
My personal favorite project that Lori has done is wall art
with my soul". She used power tools to make it! I'm impressed.
OK. Now onto the required questions for bloggers on the
DIY Blogland Tour...
1. What are you working on right now?
Right now I am working on decorating my house and
front yard/porch going from Summer into Fall.
Although usually I am like the last blogger alive
getting a seasonal post done, I had an early deadline
for some Fall decorating because a local magazine
was coming to my house in August to take some photos
of me for a September issue. I wasn't sure where in the
house they would want the photos so I got some
bare bones Fall decorating done.
I couldn't find ANY real mums, pumpkins, etc. for the photo
shoot so I used all faux Fall stuff from my attic to decorate the
house for the shoot. If you want to see the result of that exercise
The local magazine came out! I feel like "Miss September"!
It is a magazine for the "over 50" folks of which I am!
My husband nominated me to be in the magazine totally
without my knowledge. He told the editor about my blog,
the editor thought it would be a good story and then my
husband had to talk me into doing the feature.
My husband didn't even want me to start a blog in
the beginning. His first wife left him for someone she
met on the internet so he was reluctant for me to have
an internet presence. He agreed if I would have an "alias".
Are any of you old enough to remember the
TV show "Gunsmoke"?
There was a character on the show named "Miss Kitty".
I thought that alias name would go well with the name
I had selected for my blog "Miss Kopy Kat".
Of course the magazine wanted to use my real name
for the September article so now I can "come out of
the closet' and say that my real name is "Gayle".
Actually I still AM in the closet 'cause that is where my
computer is! We turned a bedroom into an office/guest room
and my computer where I write the blog is in that room.
An example of what I am doing now is out by the mailbox.
Here is a photo of the mailbox area with planting bed at
Labor Day:
Kinda scraggly with overgrown Green Envy zinnas (which
were way too tall and not all that green). Even though I had
added some red coleus and orange blanket flowers to
replace flowers that had died back from the Spring/Summer,
they were not helping much in this hot sunny area.
Some zinnas with lots of buds, mums and a pot of gerbera
daisies were added to the bed to start a Fall "vibe" to the bed.
Pumpkins arrived in my local grocery store this weekend too so
I was able to add a few to the planting beds in the front yard to
start the faux pumpkin patches for this year.
Hopefully the orange zinnas will get over the shock
of being planted and start letting all those buds
start blooming to add Fall color.
On the front porch I have started adding Fall colored coleus
in the urns to "fall-i-fy" them. There is only so much room
in the urns for planting and I don't want to rip out the things
that are still growing so I gradually add faux Autumn-colored
stems to the mix.
flowers on it up for a couple more weeks. It makes dragging out
the real hose everyday to water the plants in the front yard a little
more fun to look over and see it. Alabama stays hot even now.
In October I will put Halloween items out on the porch.
In November Halloween will come down and I will
probably pile up pumpkins around the urns
(with even more Fall faux stems by then) like I did last year.
2. How does my work differ from others?
I started my blog as a way to share ideas on how to make
inexpensive but classy-looking things for home decorating,
parties and even weddings so most of my posts are tutorials.
I look back on my early posts and they have 5-6 pictures in
them. It has kind of evolved that now most of my posts have
LOTS (maybe too many?) of pictures to show detailed steps.
It seems that I post more pictures than other bloggers have
and that may be a bad thing (it makes the post quite long)
but that is what I have the urge to do right now.
I don't expect readers to stop and stare at each picture when
scrolling down the post the first time but if they want to
use the post to make something in the tutorial later, they
will have lots of "go by" pictures to refer to.
3. Why do I write/create what I do?
Oops! I answered part of this question in question 2...I like
to share what I know how to do and also my attempts at
learning how to do new things. Maybe others out there would
like to know how to do them too and can use my experiments
with crafting, etc. to achieve a high end look on a budget.
I'm not gonna lie...it is also gratifying to me to be able to
share things that I have made with a larger "audience".
On my front door this wreath maybe would have been seen
by 100 folks or so who drive by my house.
was posted two years ago over 600,000 folks have looked at it.
Some of my posts are not tutorials but vignettes or mantle
arrangements to seasonally decorate the house. If we have
company maybe 25 or so folks would see the arrangements.
Putting them on a blog shares the work with more people.
It's a "win-win"...I get to share my efforts with others and they
in turn might get some ideas that they can use in their homes.
4. How does your writing/creative process work?
When I see something in a magazine, in a store or online that
I really like but can't afford, I try to figure out a Do-It-Yourself
way to achieve a similar look.
(But I'm talking about something within my skill level...
like I don't try to build my own furniture, etc.)
Between Hobby Lobby, Jo Anne's, Michaels, Hancock Fabric,
Home Depot or Lowe's, I can usually find the supplies that I
need to make the object. Sometimes I buy the stuff to make
something and then never get around to it....I have more ideas
and intentions than I have time for!
I take lots of pictures of the item as it is being made then
even more pictures of the object in the setting that it is going
to be used in. Then I have oodles of pictures to decide which
ones to edit and use in the post. I would say that I write text
to go along with the pictures more than the other way around.
It takes me hours to do a blog post...wish I was quicker...
maybe I could get more posts done! I still work full-time
as a nurse at a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and have most
of the responsibility of taking care of my elderly parents so
blogging has to take a back seat to those priorities.
Sometimes I get discouraged about not having more time
for my blog and doing creative things. I saw a quote about
happiness in life by Mandy Hale. I have taken the liberty
to adapt it to happiness in blogging:
Now I want to introduce you to a blogging friend of mine,
beautiful job decorating her home with great "finds" that
she shares with her readers and shows us how to incorporate
newly acquired things in with things we already have.
She has also posted wonderful projects that involve chalk
paint. We must have the same taste 'cause we have done
a couple of chalk paint projects that look almost identical!
My pieces are in my master bedroom; Martina's are in her
daughter's bedroom. Now we are both ready to paint another
piece of furniture to go in these rooms...wonder if we will
pick the same color again?
Thanks for stopping by Miss Kopy Kat blog on the tour!
I'm sharing this post over at
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