How I Organised Our Wedding Photos

I can't believe Mr P and I are just about to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary and can I just say married life is awesome I could not be happier being a wifey!

So today on the blog I thought I'd share what I've done with our wedding photos.

Our wedding photographer was a friend of ours who photographed the wedding as a gift to us which was amazing. He printed out some photos which I've stuck into our wedding album that I had custom made for us and the rest are on a USB stick for me to print out.

I've turned our wedding album into our book of love - Mr P cringes everytime I ask friends and family if they want to look at our book of love .... I think it's funny and I feel like Isla Fisher from Wedding Crashes you know the scene when she pulls out the wedding album when she just starts to date Vince Vaughan and everyone cringes! Yep that's what I do!!

The album holds the engagement photos, engagement invitations and messages in a bottle. Plus from the wedding it has the invitations and stationary, a copy of poems read and our vows, polaroids from the photo booth and printed photos from the wedding.

I just love having this one book with all our memories captured from our engagement and wedding.

As for framing photos this is the only enlarged photo I have printed from the wedding which I have put into a copper frame.

I really must pick out some more favourite photos and frame them!

With the digital photos on the USB I created a wedding album for my parents which I made online with Snapfish which they print and post out. I added mostly photos of our family and us getting ready together the morning of the wedding and special shots which I thought my parents would like.

I have started to do another Snapfish album for Mr P and I with most of the wedding photos but it's just finding the time to play around with the album online.

For gifts for my Matron Of Honor and Bridesmaid I used Snapfish again to print a copy of a photo onto a wooden block and added some text. They come with a little stand holder but they also sit on their own as they're a block shape.

I like this as an alternative to printing a photo and finding a frame for it and they work out pretty reasonably priced at $20 each delivered.

I also did one of these as gifts for my Nanna and Mr P's parents (or should I say my Parents-In-Law!)

I am going to order some more of these photo blocks for Mr P and I and they also make great gifts.

I printed out a special photo onto a canvas and added the 'our wedding day' text.

Snapfish always have deals on their website and I got this canvas for 70% off!

I had some heart shaped ornaments printed on Snapfish as well which I thought would make nice Christmas gifts. The first lot I ordered the text was cut off and so I asked them to reprint them which they did (at no cost) and they came out perfect the next time.

It's taken well over a year but I've finally managed to organise all our wedding photos.

Now be honest .... How long did it take you to print or frame your wedding photos?!

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Jarrah Jungle Blog - 7 Year Milestone

I hit publish on my first blog post 7 years ago on the 24th of May 2010 

and have written over 1000 blog posts since then !

I know I'm a little early but I wanted to write about my blog's 7 year milestone before our new addition arrives as our little girl is due in May and who knows it could be any day now so I thought I'd better hit publish on this post now before my hands are full as a first time Mum! 

If you're reading this THANK YOU for coming on this blogging journey with me all these years and for sharing in my adventures (and misadventures) of turning Mr P and I's first house into a home we love.

What changes we've seen in our home over the last 7 years - we've completely gutted, renovated and restyled our home inside and out, built a garage extension, added a front courtyard and built a backyard deck and patio. There's not a wall we haven't painted or door we haven't replaced we've transformed every inch of our home with love and care to turn it into our own abode. 

The property goal for us from the beginning was to renovate and retain the front house and to subdivide our block in two and I'm thrilled to say we have finished the last stage of this and are awaiting the subdivision to be signed off as complete which should come through any day now.

We can then put the back block on the market for sale or we will wait for Perth's property market to pick up a bit - it will depend on what advice we get from Real Estate agents once we're read to take this next step.

We'll continue to live in our renovated Jarrah Jungle home on the front block until we feel it's time to move into a bigger family home (which may be sooner than we thought with a baby on the way!). But we really want to enjoy all our blood, sweat and tears and the home we have created for now.

On a personal note you've been there when Mr P and I become fur-parents to our rescue dog Lexi, the excitement of our engagement and then our DIY wedding and now our journey into parenthood as we will soon be welcoming our little baby girl into our home.

I promise I won't bore you with too much Mum life stuff but I will continue to write about how our home and style evolves as we turn our couples retreat into a family friendly home.

Thanks again to you my amazing readers for all your support over the years and coming on this home loving journey with me xxx

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1000th Blog Post Milestone

This marks the 1000th yes that's one thousand blog posts that I have written, edited and published on my beloved Jarrah Jungle blog over the last 6 years.

I've got to say I'm proud of my achievement of being consistent and writing for so long.

I spend a lot of time on my blog keeping it up to date and it's been a big dedication and commitment over the years - even more so now with social media channels attached to my blog it could almost be a full time (unpaid!) job to keep my blog and social media following up to date.

Learning how to build a website and maintain it is also a continuing learning curve and I intend to keep building on and improving the look of my blog this year.

My blog is my creative outlet and place to share stories and write whatever I feel like.

Although it's mostly home related of course as that is why I started to blog in the first place to document our home renovations. I can't believe 6 years on we are still renovating - it has been so long we are starting to renovate the renovations and now we are turning it into a family friendly home there will be many more home loving blog posts to come.

I also love to write about my travel adventures, share my latest book reviews and tasty recipes.

With big changes afoot in my work life as I transition from full time career woman to stay at home Mum I'm hoping that being able to blog during the day instead of late at night after work will be a positive thing.

I really want to focus on the business side of my blog more and see what I can do better and improve on this year. I am planning to upgrade my old ancient laptop to a newer fancier model as well which will help too as this old laptop can't even keep up with my fast typing speed and drives me nuts!

Thanks for reading 999 blog posts and if you've made it all the way down here thanks for reading 1000! I really appreciate your comments, likes, shares and support of my blog all these years so thank you so much!!

Please let me know what you would like to see more of on the blog this year - What blog posts do you like to read? More recipes? More creative projects? Product reviews? Something else!

I'd love to hear from you let me know in a comment below or drop me an email at jarrahjungle@hotmail.com

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My One Word 2017 - Grow

Hi everyone! Happiest of New Years to you!!

At the start of each year, instead of writing a list of new year resolutions I won't stick to, I think about just one word to live by for the next 12 months that will act as my new year resolution - a word to focus on and strive towards.

The idea of having one word came from beautiful blogger Maxabella Loves and you can share your own One Word For 2017 over on Maxabella Loves.

My previous words over the years have been

2012 Decision

2013 Embrace

2014 Motivate

2015 Love

2016 Change

Going back to my 2016 word change I was a newlywed and being married was an exciting milestone in my life and I wanted to think about change in a positive way because let's face it change can be scary and daunting as it's the fear of the unknown. I really feel that I lived by that word last year and challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone and make and embrace changes in my life and more importantly within myself.

The biggest change for me on a personal note was deciding if I wanted to be a Mum and start a family with my amazing husband Mr P. It took many years to come to this decision as it will bring so many changes to my body, freedom, wants and needs, a career I've focused on for 20 years, and to the relationship between Mr P and I as we make room for a little bundle of nappies and smiles. Becoming parents was not a decision we made lightly but we decided we were finally ready and I'm excited to say I have a bun in the oven with our little one due in May! 

Now if that's not living by my 2016 word change I don't know what is!

Without further ado my one word for 2017 is GROW

Just like a seed being planted or a flower about to bloom I am focused on the word grow this year.

On the inside I want to bloom and grow into my new role as a Mum. I can barely change a nappy and have so much to learn about what being Mum is all about. So much personal growth is in front of me and it's a little ok a lot daunting but I know I can do it.

On the outside I'm halfway through my pregnancy and my baby bump is growing bigger by the day. I'm learning to embrace the changes my body is going through and not let doubt and worry get the better of me. Afterall millions of women go through this every year and if they can do it so can I.

Mr P and I's home is going to grow and fill with love as we start our little family. This also means making room for our new addition to the household and turning our beloved Jarrah Jungle into a family home is at the very top of our to do list.

So much growing to do on the inside and outside this year and grow is such a perfect word for me to embrace.

I felt quite emotional typing this blog post today and I don't normally get so personal, what can I say, it must by the pregnancy hormones!

If you had to pick just one word to live by this year .... what would it be?

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Springing Into The Last House Projects

I can't believe that it is now Spring (or Fall on the other side of the world) and this also means there are just 4 months left of 2016 ....

Seriously where has the year gone?!

I have been reflecting on how the year is going so far and it has been the most relaxing and restful year for Mr P and I with no engagement party or wedding to plan this year! We have also been doing less home renovations as we are coming to the end of our home improvement projects which is a great feeling to be able to enjoy the changes we've made to our home over the years. It is our 7th year in the Jarrah Jungle home this month!

I have also been thinking about my word for 2016 which was CHANGE and I feel that I've been embracing the word as much as I can!

As the countdown to the end of the year is looming I do have a few home goals I'd love to finish in 2016. The last big renovating projects are the exterior gardens - namely, the courtyard at the front of the house and the deck at the back of the house.

The courtyard is pretty much done I'd say it's about 60% complete

We are just waiting for a run of sunny days (which we hope to have soon now that Spring is here!) so that we can seal the pavers and then we can add the outdoor furniture, build a bench seat, build a privacy screen for the rubbish bins, install the shade sail, add some pots and plants and finish planting out the vegetable and herb garden.

I can't wait to have the courtyard garden finished so I can sit outside in the sunshine with a book and enjoy this outdoor space!

The deck project in the backyard is at the final design stage

We have a long way to go but I'm hopeful to have the work underway and commenced before Christmas even if it's not finished by then.

We have designed the deck which is always the hardest part working out what you want to do with the space. Next we found a Draftsman to draw up a professional design for us and it is now with a Structural Engineer to draw a plan which we can submit to our Local Council for approval.

The deck design includes retaining walls, a new fence, a patio and a lawn area for our furbaby Lexi. It would be amazing to have this built in the next few months so we can enjoy Summer parties and BBQs in our new and improved outdoor entertaining space!

We do have some small projects to finish but I'm not sure if 

we'll get them all done this year ....

• Plaster and re-paint the ceiling in the living room and master bedroom (as we have raised sagging ceilings in these rooms)
• Hang and paint a new door in the hallway
• Find and hang a new exterior door in the laundry
• Wallpaper the back of the door leading into the garage

A much smaller to do list now that we are in our 7th year of renovating!

There may only be 4 months left of 2016 but I'm going to make them count and it's time to come out of the Winter hibernation and into the Spring sunshine!

How is your to do list for the year going so far ?

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Jarrah Jungle - 6th Year Blog-versary

My beloved Jarrah Jungle blog, my creative outlet and diary of our home renovations, is turning a big 6 years old today!

HAPPY BLOG-VERSARY TO THE JARRAH JUNGLE BLOG!

Thank you all so very much, YES YOU my awesome readers, for supporting my blog, stopping by and leaving a comment, sharing or liking Jarrah Jungle on social media, it makes it all worthwhile to connect with the blogging community and readers from all across the world.

Boy oh boy what changes I've seen over the last 6 years within the blogging community. 

There are so many well known blogs that have stopped updating their blogs (like Young House Love my inspiration for starting this blog!). Certainly bloggers aren't blogging every day like they use to - it was hard to keep up I read blogs more than books back then! I write 2-3 blog posts a week and while I love the easiness of social media and I share on there daily - you just can't beat having a landing page and a blog to call your own.

I work full time as an office administrator in a legal office (my real day job) and blog after hours in my spare time. I'm not going to lie it's a lot of work having a blog and it's working for free too which is why you rely so much on the connection from readers so you don't feel like you're doing it all for nothing. 

For anyone new who may not know how the Jarrah Jungle blog 
came about here is a little about it .....

I started the Jarrah Jungle blog in 2010 about 8 months after I moved into a do-er-up house with my then boyfriend and now husband Mr P. 

As we started tackling our first renovation my passion for interior design really came alive and I wanted somewhere to diarise the before and afters on the house, to share where I found bargains and good buys and indulge in my love for turning our house into a home.

The blog name Jarrah Jungle is a namesake to the jarrah wood throughout the house - the floorboards, shelving in cupboards, even the roof beams are solid jarrah. The backyard was a bit of a jungle too so the name fit perfectly!

I love to write about our DIY projects and renovations we are tackling. When the paint brushes are put away I also write regular book reviews and share recipes and other happenings around the Jarrah Jungle home.

I think like minded home lovers identify with my blog because they can follow a renovation by real people getting our hands dirty - there's no Lifestyle Channel TV crew helping us, just Mr P and I, our sense of humour, hard work and passion for turning our house into a home!

Thanks again for reading and being around for these 6 years .... you guys are awesome!

I wonder what the 7 year itch will bring!

To see the blog-versaries throughout the years you can check out these blog posts:

5th Year

4th Year

3rd Year

2nd Year

1st Year 

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Jarrah Jungle - 5 Year Blog-versary

My blog turns 5 this week!

HAPPY BLOG-VERSARY JARRAH JUNGLE!!!!!

I want to start the blogversary celebrations by saying a big THANK YOU to all you guys,
my awesome readers for your support and encouragement over these years 
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH xxx

I can't believe I've been writing about my home renovations on Jarrah Jungle for 5 years now and I still have so much more to write about!

We hope to finish the renovations and projects on the house this year with September 2015 marking 6 years in the Jarrah Jungle home.

I have a dozen projects half done that I am determined to get finished so I can share them with you in the coming months and finally get those ugly befores and pretty afters up on the blog and update my House Tour!

As you know we plan to put our back block on the market to sell once we have finished with the subdivision process, possibly at the end of this year or early next year.

With the Jarrah Jungle backyard being divided in two, I want to document the subdivision process and how the retain and build turns out for us so I'll continue to blog about it here, if you're interested then stay tuned for more updates!

This year has and will be the most exciting of all with so many of our dreams and plans for the future turning into a reality and I feel that the hard work and sacrifices we've made over the years are now coming to fruition.

As for the future of the Jarrah Jungle blog .... it's not going anywhere!

My weekly book reviews are still going strong, I love getting books to review from Netgalley before they are published (if you have a blog you can do the same check out my blog post on how to be a book reviewer here).

My Book Club is going into it's 4th year and we have become such great friends it was the best decision I made joining a book club, if you've ever wanted to start your own book club check out my blog post here.

I have craft and creative projects on the go with the engagement and wedding and I'm currently working on some DIY projects which I'll share here on the blog soon.

Speaking of weddings ..... we're having a 10 month engagement which has been really exciting but it also means I've got less than 4 months left to plan the wedding and honeymoon!

If I've learnt anything from wedding planning so far it's how to manage my time, be super organised with spreadsheets and learn to juggle, all while sticking to a budget!

Thanks again to all my readers near and far for coming on this home loving journey with me and sticking around for a whopping 5 years now!

I have made some wonderful online bloggy buddies and have enjoyed seeing your blogs change and grow over the years it's an amazing community to be a part of  xx

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The Granny Flat - Cleared And Ready For Removal

Now that we have approval to subdivide our block our next project is to remove our Granny Flat.

But firstly, we needed to clear and empty it of all that we store inside it, which is a lot because it's like a small 1 bedroom house!

I'm really going to miss our Granny Flat which has saved us throughout our renovations acting as a storage shed, party overflow with beer fridge and music, and the laundry and bathroom helped us when we were renovating ours.

That's the Granny Flat on the left and our house is in front

A better view of the Granny Flat, don't mind Lexi the backyard destroyer's sandpit!

The big question is where to put everything? 

The answer ..... in our garage!

We found some heavy duty shelving units in Bunnings that fit perfectly so we could squeeze in as much storage space as possible.

We assembled two of these bad boys side by side and then over the Easter break we went to work unpacking everything from the Granny Flat and moving it into the Garage.

You couldn't get a more perfect fit if they were custom made!

All the shelves are adjustable too so can be altered to fit whatever goes on them

Everything neat and tidy and easy to get at too

So ..... we like to paint ..... a lot!

Now no screams please, the befores aren't too pretty, in the Granny Flat's living area there was a foxtel port and an air conditioner oh lala fancy!

This was my room where I stored the overflow for the kitchen, camping gear, Christmas decorations, furniture, you name it, it was here!

The kitchen overflow, even with a renovated kitchen I need more space!

My kitchen overflow now fits neatly on this small shelving unit in the garage

Both the bedroom area and kitchenette was Mr P's domain for all his stuff. This shelving rack was a great spot for all the cans, tubes, bottles and bits and pieces. In the cupboard we kept all our gardening supplies and in the drawers spare cables and fittings.

It was really handy to have the sink there as well for washing out paint brushes and dirty working hands.

Kitchenette used for storage - before

Can't say I would cook a meal here but it's empty and ready for something!

Whatever didn't fit in the garage storage is being sold on Gumtree, given to friends, or thrown away. A skip bin has been ordered for a further purge later this month.

I have artworks that I love but they just don't fit on the walls in the house, in my next house I want to have an entire wall with artworks of different shapes and sizes like an art gallery. These are now taking up precious space in my study/craft room until I can find a new home for them!

Art that needs to find a home!

Lexi is never far from the action supervising and getting under our feet!

Now that the Granny Flat is completely empty we will organise for it to be removed with a big truck and crane. The person taking it isn't charging us as they are getting the Granny Flat for free, that's what you call payment in kind!

Now for a final goodbye and tour of the now empty Granny Flat ....

The bathroom

The bedroom with ensuite

The kitchenette

The living area

Back to the start, here's the front door, thanks for the tour!

So now that the Granny Flat is empty our next project is to dismantle the Patio which is attached to the Granny Flat.

Once the Patio is pulled down then we can have the Granny Flat taken away and someone may give it a new lease of life and turn it into their studio or teenagers retreat!

We are making progress slowly but surely and it does feel good to have a clean up and clear out too!

When was the last time you had a good clear out?

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