Happy New Year and welcome to The Boondocks Blog! As the year—and a new decade—begins, we’d like to introduce ourselves: the new faces helping to carry this creative space forward.
Hello! Nice to Meet You
We’re Jane and Sonja, sisters who share a passion for DIY, crafting, upcycling and simple, nature-inspired home decor. For nearly five years we’ve been writing and creating at our own blog, Sustain My Craft Habit, where we publish tutorials, project ideas and practical tips for decorating and repurposing with creativity and thrift in mind.
Through blogging we connected with Mary, the founder and long-time voice behind The Boondocks Blog. We immediately felt a connection—our tastes, methods and goals overlap, especially when it comes to transforming everyday items into beautiful, useful pieces through repurposing and handmade techniques. When Mary decided to step back from her passion project, she graciously agreed to pass The Boondocks Blog to us so that her collection of projects, tutorials and ideas could remain available and continue to inspire.
A Little More About Us
To help you get to know us, here are a few personal and practical details about who we are and what informs our work:
- We live in neighboring towns just outside of Toronto, Canada, and draw creative inspiration from our local surroundings.
- Jane is the parent of four children, ages 5 to 13, and Sonja has a 10‑year‑old daughter—so many of our projects are family-friendly and adaptable for busy households.
- Both of us balance blogging with full-time careers: Sonja works as a designer and product developer in the apparel industry, while Jane is a director of research at a large teaching hospital.
- We launched Sustain My Craft Habit in March 2015 to share nature-inspired DIY, crafts and affordable home decor ideas anyone can try.
- Our mom, Branka, joined our creative team about a year ago; together we also run Sustain My Cooking Habit, where she shares recipes, gardening tips and homesteading ideas.
- When we’re not crafting, Jane enjoys winding down with Netflix and Sonja is a longtime fan of Survivor—small details that keep us grounded and inspired.
If you’d like more project ideas, please visit Sustain My Craft Habit to explore our library of tutorials and seasonal crafts. Below are some of our favorite posts—projects that showcase a range of techniques from painting and sewing to simple upcycling and finishing techniques:
What We’ll Share on The Boondocks Blog
Our aim is to preserve the spirit of The Boondocks Blog while adding fresh, approachable content. We plan to keep the existing tutorials and projects available as a reference and will periodically re-run some of Mary’s most-loved posts alongside new projects we create. Expect straightforward DIY tutorials, practical upcycling ideas, seasonal craft projects, and home decor inspiration that’s friendly to beginners and adaptable for families.
In addition to written tutorials and photo guides, we’ll curate inspiration on social platforms to help you discover ideas quickly. We’ll be pinning project roundups and styling ideas to the blog’s Pinterest boards for easy browsing—follow along there to catch new pins and collections.
We’re excited to get to know this community and to continue sharing practical, beautiful and budget-friendly DIY and upcycling projects. Tell us where you’re reading from and share a fun fact about yourself in the comments below—we love hearing from readers and learning what inspires you.
Happy crafting and upcycling, friends!