Welcome to Party Junk 294 – an upcycled link party
Every Friday, 7 PM through Sunday 11 PM Pacific
Hello weekend junk fanatics!
I admit, I did not post much this week. I meant to… but with school not yet in session, we were busy drinking in the last few days of freedom. We are going to miss our late night movies and mid morning sleep ins… who else is breaking all the rules this summer?
This week’s question – the future of this link party… your thoughts.
I’ve been loving featuring spotlights hard on FB over the weekend, which appear to drive lots of interest to your and my site. YES!
But I’d love your opinion.
Link parties throughout the web generally follow the same format. Features, then link up. I’m a little anxious to spin this one with a fresh twist, but I can’t think of how yet. I want to add value to your reading AND value to those linking up in a unique way.
A good success needs to give value to the reader AND bloggers, so I want to ensure this one is currently doing that, or could do better, so…
As a reader, how can showcasing the best of the best of others help you? Do you like the current format? Don’t care for the friday link parties at all? What do you tune in for?
As a blogger, is there something special I can do that would kick things up a notch? Or love it the way it is?
Basically put, what do you love most / least about the Friday link parties? Feel free to add your honest insight in comments below, as a reader AND blogger perspective. Thanks!
On with the junk!
Although I didn’t do much this week, I did start the week off with a new project of a signed up handmade branch ladder…
and the kickoff of a new stencil collection!
Back to you and your wonderful upcyclec projects, you are making it hard to select which of you to feature! My jaw drops every weekend. But here’s a few favs from last week’s party…
Vintage window seedpacket art, by Sadie Seasongoods
It’s my belief that this works SO WELL because they are two outdoor elements teamed up.
Add hooks along the bottom, and you have funcional art for keys or even hanging your garden tools. So pretty!
Repurposed rocking chair game table, by Prodigal Pieces
Who wouldn’t be more inclined to play games on this cutie?! Study the shape of the legs… they are horse perfect.
Spoon jewelry pendant by Thrifty Rebel Vintage
Costume jewelry takes on a whole new level when attached to bent spoons. Charming!
Pallet wood coffee tables by Grit Antiques
This one had me at coffee. With metal, pallet wood, and my own amazing (if I do say so myself….) coffee stencil, this one is a layered beauty!
Game Board Coffee Table Upcycle by Saturdays Vintage Finds
Team up an actual game with a base, and you have an instant game table… literally! Doesn’t this add a fun punch of colour?
Barn wood jewelry hanger, by Making it In the Woods
Don’t throw out those quirky wood pieces that are seemingly good for nothing. Look what this one became!
I can also visualize a few more layered underneath. Gorgeous!
Reclaimed wood chicken coop coffee table by Scavenger Chic
Look closely… the top is a TRAY! How genius and gorgeous is this coffee table idea? I’m encouraged to dust my own off from storage after seeing this beauty..
Which are you inspired to try?
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Link up your newest and coolest upcycles below… can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to!
To upload button…
(not mandatory) Right click a button above, save to desktop, upload into your blog post like a photo, apply a no-follow attribute, and attach this post’s url as a link to the picture.
~ Party Junk blah blah linkup rules ~
1. Upcycled, DIY home projects only please. Items for sale must be in tutorial form on your blog.
2. Linkups must be your own work, not another’s.
3. Only projects new to Party Junk please. The themed linkup is an exception.
4. By linking up here, you’re cool with me featuring you on my blog, Pinterest, Twitter, FJI Facebook and I Love That Junk or it’s own new LINK WIDGET with no additional permission required and add your link to like minded themed linkups.
Don’t really know how to answer the question Donna. I know what you mean about shaking things up so the party doesn’t get stale….but don’t have any ideas for you. I enjoy linking up when I have an upcycled project….usually weekly, and I also enjoy the features. There are several featured projects tonight that I have to click and read more about. Lots of inspiration. Have a great weekend!
Thank you for all you do, Donna. As a reader and blogger, I love getting to see the creative genius out there and appreciate the traffic too. Not really sure what to offer in the way of suggestions. Love what you do for us!
I always love linking up at your party, Donna! It’s always a nice surprise to see you feature projects on FB, and the traffic from being featured is always fabulous. I love that your party has a specific niche, because I always find so many inspiring ideas that are close to what I love to do. Thanks so much for keeping it going for us!
Thanks so much Donna for featuring my spoon pendants here and on Facebook. I really appreciated the recent FB traffic especially because I just moved to WP and am still feeling my way around. I’ve always loved this party, even when I haven’t had anything to link up. There’s always so much great stuff to be inspired by.
You sure know how to pick ’em, Donna. Love all your featured projects! It’s always fun to see a roundup of fabulous junky and repurposed projects every Friday night. As a blogger, reader, and co-host of a link party, I really like your specific junk/vintage/upcycle only requirements. Thanks so much for all the sharing you do!!
Donna you do such a great job and I look forward to this link up every week, the projects you pick every week are awesome, I am always inspired. If you are looking to spice things up a little bit maybe you could start doing a challenge/theme for the week. So all the links for a certain week would be projects featuring chalk paint or thrift store finds. It could be a fun way to get the creative juices flowing.
Hi Donna, I don’t have any suggestions to change the party. I love and appreciate it like it is and always visit, even when I don’t have a post to link up.
Have a great weekend!
Julia
Hello Donna,
I am in agreement with the other talented and smart commenters that said your party is fantastic as is…. You have a great niche and your party drives a ton of traffic to my blog (who doesn’t love that?). I like the suggestion of challenges…maybe once a month, throw a theme out there and either have an on-going link up that month for the challenge or it is announced the first week of the month and then linked up the last week…. You could make it general: chalk paints, furniture, garden art… or get more specific and try to create some new trends: vintage toys, vintage hats, car parts, etc. You could keep your features like you have them and /or add a tour of one of those featured blogs as another post another day of the week. “This week we will take a closer look at….” and then share other posts that caught your eye from that person’s blog. Your blog does drive a lot of traffic so that could be a huge boost to starting bloggers that would really appreciate the help. I am also wondering if there is a way to share pictures from readers who are not bloggers and still give them credit for their creativity? You will think of something that rocks the boat enough to send some pretty fabulous ripples through the internet… You are like that… Best Wishes, Brooke from Artistic Endeavors 101
Wow… loved your suggestions, Brooke, thanks for being so thoughtful!
I use to do weekly themed linkups as well as the regular, but it was a LOT of work to round up and made each party a little too big.
I do love the idea of the once a month challenge though with lots of notice… like it very much!
Thanks! Thinking it through…
Thank you for the feature, Donna! And I agree with the other ladies- I don’t have any brilliant ideas on how to spice up the link party. Yours is one of the most important parties for me each and every week, and you’ll probably never know how grateful I am for the attention you’ve given my projects. All I can do is thank you (profusely!) and come back every Friday night. 🙂
Have a great weekend to you and all of the other talented gals here- may your weather be mild and your days be full of treasures!
Sarah (Sadie Seasongoods)
Donna, Thank you for hosting another great link party!!
I feel blessed this morning to be featured…honestly can’t believe it! Thank-you!
I wish I had some brilliant ideas, but this is my first link party…I’m a newbie. I see what the other gals are saying and it would be something moving forward that I would love to take part in. The traffic is appreciated, meeting & sharing with gals from all over is wonderful.
As a reader I enjoy seeing several inspiring projects in one post and find it a great way to pin.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, thanks again
Jane – Grit Antiques
First of all, thank you for hosting each week! I love looking through all the projects people have done. I don’t usually post something in it but I get lots of inspiration from everyone else. I’d hate to see the party go away. So please keep it around! Thanks!
I love your party and I soooo appreciate when you feature one of my projects. When I was starting out just a year ago I looked to you and your website for inspiration, encouragement and traffic. I’m hoping that in 5 years (or was it 7) my website can be half as self sufficient as yours. I understand the need for change but I love you just the way you are.
I love your weekly link parties. It gives me an opportunity to see what others have done and I love to see what strikes your fancy. You have such great style and a fantastic eye for design. You make “JUNK” look amazing. You keep doing what you are doing and we will come running to see it every week!! Please don’t stop this wonderful weekly treat.
Thank you!!!
I’m a non-blogging reader. My thoughts on the link party: I never look at the link party submissions. Frankly, many of them are only ho-hum. I do look at the ones you feature and occasionally I will click over to the creator’s blog. I would not miss the link party if it were gone. You are the queen of junk (despite how it sounds, that’s a compliment); no one can decorate/up-cycle/re-purpose like you, as you demonstrated by improving a few of today’s features in your comments. Yours is the only blog of this genre that I read.
Donna, Donna, Donna….
Love your blog! Love what you can do with JUNK! I live vicariously through your creativity. I also (no matter what others may feel) truly enjoyed your Hawaii time! Have been there & LOVE revisiting it through your eyes. Also, LOVED your visit to Niagara Falls. I live 40 miles away in New York State & loved seeing & reading your impressions of it, as well as your stay in Toronto! Yay!
My only thought about your link parties….& I know you have said how difficult it is to choose….but for me…. there are TOO many links. Many interest me & I start going through them & then it just seems overwhelming & I stop. It just seems like inspiration overload. But that’s me.
Keep up your good ideas & projects. You are great!!
Hi Janice!
The party use to be MUCH larger. That’s one of the reason I put it to just repurposed. It’s a better correlation to my own brand, plus the linkups are manageable… in comparison. 🙂
The nice thing about all the links is, one can gauge what they wish to visit through the thumbnail pictures.
Thanks for your insight! I would just hate to offer a cut off number which would exclude participants.
Your party is one of my favorites, as so many others have already expressed. The amount of features is just right in my humble opinion. Having been over-the-moon happy to have been featured once, I can attest to the humongous amount of traffic the feature generated both to my blog and Facebook. For me the party is perfect with the exception of one tiny thing. I sometimes miss the party because of the start time. And I hate that! I’m usually busy with weekend plans by the time it starts and forget to check in till much later causing me to skip it all together. Maybe a late afternoon start could be more accommodating? I don’t know. But what I do know is that I get a ton of inspiration from you and all the party attendees and that’s enough reason to keep me coming back. Thanks for listening! ~Ann
I never reply to posts I read!!! But I love your blog site just the way it is!!!!! you are by far my favorite!!! I dabble in everything you seem to be interested in…. And I have looked at all the other bloggers you follow!!!! What an awesome bunch!!! I look forward to your posts and link up party’s!!! Do t change anything!!! I’m not a fan of Facebook….keep these emails coming!!! I’m very choosey who I let into my email!!!! And I picked you!!! And your friends!!!
Keep up the awesomeness!!!
Casey
Scottsdale AZ
ps… It’s still summer here!! 110 today!!
Oh you guys… in case you are reading this, thank-you for your suggestions and comments!
You’ve lit a little fire… so things will stay the same, BUT with some fun additions. Tune in next weekend for a ‘challenge’…. for bloggers and non bloggers! 🙂
Here’s my input….
Friday nights are no good to link up. Pick Mon.-Thur. Just some thought.
You would get more exposure if you opened it up to crafts and recipes…
Your features could be 3 upcycles and 2-3 crafts or recipes.
Just some thoughts
Phyllis
Hi Phyllis!
I actually use to do various themes with the link up a ways back, but recently changed it to just repurposed. The change was about staying true to my brand, as that’s why readers tune in to Funky Junk.
The linkup is designed to run all weekend because that’s when I don’t blog.
None of this is for the exposure… it’s just pure enjoyment for those tuning in. 🙂
Thanks for your suggestions! I will think about them more.
I’m jumping in here late (due to time zone differences and week-ends being busy for me), but I wanted to add that your warm and engaging personality set you and your party apart from almost all others. It’s a special gift, and you have it! As others have said, both your party in general and your facebook page specifically are extremely powerful traffic-drivers (is that even a word?!), especially for us “little” bloggers. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I really liked all of Brooke’s (#8) suggestions. I do think that typical parties tend to be a bit boring and therefore love the idea of changing things up. I’ve given it some thought since someday I’d like to host a party myself. So far the only twist I’ve come up with is offering some form of awards. But I’m going to keep thinking…
Hi Donna – I don’t have any links this week, but I did want to take the time to comment and share how much this party means to me. I love this party. It’s my favorite hands down because it’s completely focused on the funky junk. Up until recently, I was more of a reader than participant and I love to see what everyone is doing.
But I did want to share… you and these other fabulously talented ladies have helped to give me the courage to start my own collection. I’m using the funky junk concept to upcycle the old and forgotten as a parallel to my breast cancer journey of finding beauty in the broken. And then I’m selling the items at 100% of the profits to help fund my breast cancer advocacy and awareness efforts.
While I’m certainly on the JV team compared to all of you, watching you all every week has given me the courage and creativity to step out of my comfort zone. You have helped to inspire me to inspire others.
Hugs, Holly
I love the Upcycled Link Party. Please don’t get rid of it! I don’t mind changes – although I think it’s great the way it is.
I love your link party, it is my favourite one. I love the fact that is niche. I love the traffic that it drives to my blog when I have something to post on it. But even when I don’t have something to post I love coming to look at all the upcycling/junk ideas on it. I love your features. Please don’t change it too much and please keep it niche because I think that really works.