Oh Joy!

my new studio {work in progress}... 6 May 2013

We've been working away on setting up the new Oh Joy studio space, so I wanted to share some inspiration and a little sneak peek with you guys! My friend Emily Henderson (or "EmHen," as we like to call her around here), is helping us design the studio. Emily has the uncanny ability to be able to imagine spaces and where things should go in a way I could never do. Plus, her sense of design is simply off the chain. She takes what I like and kicks it up a notch, for sure.

Here's a look at the "before" space and some of our inspiration. When she asked me what I envisioned, I told her I wanted it to be really white and bright, with accents of bright colors. Since there are some brick walls, I also wanted to enhance the warmth with woods, gray (my favorite non-colorful color), and, of course, a little pop of gold here and there.

We're also doing some really fun DIY's including one to the floor that involve about 12 rolls of painters tape. Here's a little peek from Instagram (where I'll be sharing even more peeks as we progress).

You can also follow along with more of my studio inspiration over on our board on Pinterest, where I'm sharing even more studio inspiration, and see if you can imagine how it's all going to turn out. Stay tuned for some "after" photos within the next few months! I can't wait to have it all come together and be the place where my team and I can work, design, and create some exciting new things...

P.S. I'll be the keynote speaker at Alt For Everyone (the online version of the awesome blogger conference) in a couple weeks! Click here to sign-up and for the full schedule.

look what i found in palm springs... 17 Apr 2013

Yesterday, my friend Kelly and I did a little vintage shopping in Palm Springs. While at Revivals, I found these cute little stools for my new studio. They're not really practical at all, but they're pretty darn cute and were only $15 each! We might recover them in a new fabric, but I also love the colors as they are. And, when I brought them back, a certain someone couldn't get enough of these pint-sized seats...

{Photos by Oh Joy. Rug from West Elm in my friend Kelly's house. Ruby's top from Crew Cuts, leggings from Target.}

a custom catalog... 19 Nov 2012

With tons of new apps and websites launching every day, it's easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to knowing what's out there. But every so often, there's a standout in my mind where I see the potential of something that could be huge. (For example, I was lucky to have a chance to use Pinterest at its very beginning, and it's now a website that I can't live without.

I recently had the chance to become an early user of a new site called Luvocracy that's all about social shopping. Basically, you follow your friends or other people whose taste you like or trust, and view items they recommend to you via a virtual catalog—but it's like a catalog of only things you'd like, because you've chosen whose recommendations you see. It has a structure similar to Pinterest in the way you can save items and recommend them to others, but on this platform, you also make a purchase right on the site.

blog, inc. live virtual chat! 15 Nov 2012

 

Thanks so much to everyone who tuned into today's live chat! The archived chat is right here to be viewed if you missed it. Thanks to everyone who tuned in, to Naomi for being my special guest, and to Chronicle Books for hosting!

P.S.
The winner of the one-on-one Rx session with me is:
Sarah of Honey and Limes.

And the winners of the signed copies of Blog, Inc. are:
Natalie of The Soho
Laura of Little Frills
Lindsay of Bea + Bramble
Hazel O'Shea of Hazel's Travel Blog
Allywan of Bio-Chem Dropout.

Send me an email if you're one of the winners to: hello(at)ohjoy.com. Congrats guys!

{blog, inc} a virtual chat + giveaway! 6 Nov 2012

As I prep for the last stop on my book tour and head to Austin on Thursday, I'm excited to share the news about a virtual chat we'll be having here on Oh Joy next week! This is especially for those of you who are in a city where I didn't get to go! I'll be joined by my friend and fellow blogger Naomi, from Rockstar Diaries (who I also profiled in my book), and we'll answer some of your biggest questions about blogging. I'll address some of the most common questions I've received at my Q&A sessions in past cities and talk to Naomi about her experience as a blogger as well. 

You can watch the live chat right here on Oh Joy or on Chronicle Books' blog on Thursday, November 15, at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST). In addition to questions I'll collect in the comments section of this post, we'll also be answering some of your questions via Twitter. So if you want to ask any live questions, simply tweet them to me @ohjoystudio with the hashtag #bloginc.

As a bonus, I'm offering a very special giveaway. One of my favorite parts of my business is my consulting service for small business owners, in which I give feedback and advice about their businesses and products, provide guidance on how to increase their customer base and followers, or offer tips on growing a blog. So next Thursday, I'll be giving away a free one-hour Oh Joy Rx session (to be conducted via phone) to give you feedback on your very own blog and share tips on how to improve it, grow it, or answer any other questions you may have. In addition, five lucky readers will get a signed copy of Blog, Inc. to keep for themselves or give as a gift to a loved one for the holidays.

To enter, simply leave a comment here with your blogging-related question. It can be about anything you're curious about and it can be a question for me, for Naomi, or for the both of us. I'll announce the winners at the end of the live chat next Thursday! (And if you won't be able to tune in live, I'll share a link where the chat can be viewed afterwards). Comments will close this Friday, November 9th at 9p.m. PST and the winners will be chosen at random. Chat soon!

P.S. Sorry, giveaway limited to readers in the U.S. only for this one!

{blog, inc. book tour} last stop: austin! 25 Oct 2012

My fifth and last stop for my Blog, Inc. book tour is in Austin, Texas on Thursday, November 8th! I've never been to Austin, so I'm really excited end the tour with a long weekend in what I hear is an awesome city. For those of you in Austin, you can RSVP to the book party right here.

Now, friends, give me the dish: what should we eat, where should we go, what should we do? I'll be there with Bob and Ruby for a long weekend. We've already got our hotel, but have nothing else planned. Any restaurants or bakeries or food stops I have to try? Any fun places to take Ruby that are especially unique to Austin? I'm all ears!

Oh, and for those of you who came to the LA event, the Smilebooth photos are up right here!

ps. You can read a recent interview about the book over at The Glitter Glide and an awesome recap of the Q&A from the New York book party at Dry as Toast. For those of you not in a city where I'm headed, we have a really fun live Q&A coming next month, so stay tuned!

happy friday + my blog, inc. book trailer 5 Oct 2012

You may have seen the debut of my new book trailer on Design*Sponge yesterday, but I'm excited to share the trailer for Blog, Inc. with you guys here too!

When brainstorming ideas for this trailer, I knew I wanted to do something fun, like my last one, but in a completely different medium—and I wondered how I could show a day in my life in a new way. So I worked with the amazing paper cut illustrator Chloé Fleury to create scenes that are inspired by my daily life and topics I love blogging about, with the hope that they'll spark a little inspiration for you guys, too. I hope you enjoy what we came up with! Have a great weekend, everyone!

ps. Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the book party in SF last night! I'll see you next Thursday, New York!

{Special thanks to Chloé Fleury for her amazing work and to Frances England for the music!} 

blog, inc. book tour in sf + your blogging questions 25 Sep 2012

Blog, Inc. is officially out and available on Amazon! As we approach October—the official publication month for my new book—I'm getting prepping for the 2nd stop of my book tour next week in San Francisco on Thursday, October 4th from 6:30-8:30pm, with a special Q&A from 7-7:30pm! For those of you in the Bay Area, you can RSVP right here and see all dates and cities right here.

Also, since we're have a Q&A at every book tour stop, for those of who not in a city where I'm headed, I thought it would be fun to answer some of your blogging questions here during the month of October. So, please ask away in the comments section of this post, and I'll answer some via video in upcoming posts next month!

sustainable suds... 27 Aug 2012

Last year, I created the branding and packaging for a line of soap called Hand in Hand. For every bar of soap purchased, another bar is donated to a child in need. We've been working on some brand new packaging to incorporate their new scents, and I'm thrilled to share some of my recent design work with you.

I art directed and designed the new packaging and worked with illustrator Emma Block to make our vision come to life with the help of her beautiful drawings. The soaps are available on Hand in Hand's website and will soon be at Anthropologie stores nationwide! — Joy

{photos by Hand in Hand}

my {blog, inc.} book tour... 20 Aug 2012

I'm excited to announce the cities and dates of my Blog, Inc. book tour this fall. It was really tough narrowing it down to a just handful of cities, but I'm happy to be able to make it to a couple more places that we didn't get to during my last book tour. Every event will include a Q&A portion of the evening, where I'll answer your blogging questions. For those of you in other cities—please don't feel left out—I'll have plenty of fun things to share with you in October including my book trailer, Q&A's, giveaways, and more...

To RSVP for any of the events above, please visit West Elm's Events Page on Facebook. I'll be sure to post reminders for the October and November book parties when it gets closer.

A note to Chicago...while the tour was intended to officially start in October, I had a last minute opportunity to go to Chicago in a couple weeks, so we're going to have a pre-launch party with you guys in Chicago on September 5th! While the book won't technically be out by this date, we'll be sure to have them for purchase that night at West Elm, so please RSVP by September 29th so we can make sure to have enough copies for everyone.

I can't wait to see what you guys think of the book, and I look forward to seeing some of you in Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Austin in the next couple months! — Joy