This blog got a major makeover!

It had been one of *those days*. You know the sort, where you just can't seem to catch a break, everyone and their dog is in a crabby mood, and all you want to do is silently, secretly slink off to a private desert island somewhere and let the waves carry your worries away.

Drastically lacking the needed Air Miles for such, I turned instead to a longstanding second retreat of mine - creating something new as a means of calming my nerves and mind alike. For me this usually falls into one of three headings: crafting, organizing/home decorating, or writing.

A couple of nights ago though, following that less-than-stellar day, I didn't opt for my usual writing haven - penning a post or two for my vintage fashion and lifestyle blog, Chronically Vintage - no, instead I figured it was high time I finally gave this blog a serious makeover!

Now, it should be stated for the record that I'm not a pro coder, nor a graphic designer, in the slightest. I have however been running, building and tinkering with various websites for over a decade now though, so I like to think I've picked up a bit of know-how in that time. :)

First to go? I was still using the (very!) old version of Blogger, so I updated and opted for a free Blogger template and background design that I thought had a Girl Guide-esque quality to it. I then set about tweaking and adding things here and there, completely revamping my sidebar, adding handy-dandy tabs to the top of the page, putting up a new photo of myself on the sidebar, sharing my social media links (granted most of them relate more to my vintage interests and daily life than Girl Guiding, but in some cases, such as Pinterest, they tie into my passion for GG/GS related happenings, too), and other things that helped to bring blog up-to-date from the 2007 version it had been operating in (and looking like) for seven years now.

I've still got a bit of work to do here and there (and plan to create a FAQ page as soon as time permits), but overall, considering I did all of this work on my own, I'm pretty happy with how things are looking. If anything really starts to nag at me, I can always ask my husband - a software engineer and computer programmer for IBM - for help, but the independent, headstrong Girl Guide in me likes to try and accomplish as much as I can on my own first! :)

This blog is at present the oldest site (that I founded) that I still have online and I really want it to continue to be my way to connect with fellow patch/crest/badge/pin/etc collectors across Canadian and around the world, so in addition to all the sprucing up I've been doing here this week, I also plan to post at least slightly more often than I have in the past couple of years.

If there's ever a GG/GS collecting (or otherwise) related topic that you'd like me to write about, please don't hesitate to let me know. I welcome your suggestions and may very well end up turning them into future posts here.

I'm really psyched about this new Girl Guides & Girl Scouts Patch Collecting Blog revamping and hope that it might just help bring some more patch trades my way (as goodness knows things have been mighty slow on that front for ages now!).

Join me in welcoming a new patch trading blog to the community

This post is long overdue, and I really must apologize to the person who asked me to write about their blog here last January for that. At the time we were incredibly busy in the midst of packing and preparing for a big cross country move, and I wasn't spending much time online, let alone writing post for this blog, so I wasn't able to accommodate her request at the time (but said that I would definitely aim to later on).

I always, always try to keep my word though, and thus am happy today to let all of you know about a new Girl Guide related blog on the block. Last January Stephanie Nash, a fellow patch trading and Guiding enthusiast started a blog of her own to document some of her swapping and Guiding related going-ons called Misty's Trading Post.

There are so few of us still actively seeking new (or returning) patch swapping partners online, let alone folks with blogs of their own devoted to the topic, so I really have been very eager to announce Stephanie's here for some time.

I hope you'll join me in extending a warm (slightly belated) welcome to Stephanie and her charming blog, and that you'll all take a moment to stop by, say hello, and perhaps zip an email her way if you're interested in trading.

I appreciate that you contacted me about your blog earlier this year, Stephanie, and really hope that things have been going great on the Guiding and patch trading fronts for you throughout 2012.
It's always a joy to hear from those with Guiding related blogs, and I welcome you to contact me anytime if you'd like me to consider blogging about your site here, too.

Happy start of November, everyone - here's to the hope that it will be a month filled with plenty of wonderful patch swaps for all of us!