Designer Specials and Giveaways

Berries and Cream Blog Design, formerly called RS Designs, is celebrating their new name with a launch party. They are giving away many prizes as well as offering 25% off anything you order. However, the party ends February 28th. so you'd better hurry!



Doodlebug Designs is celebrating their one year birthday and giving everyone $10 off a custom design order. Also, a FREE custom design is being given away at Grasping for Objectivity. You should pop over there and enter, and hang around a while. Rachel, the owner, is hilarious!


The Village Peddler's special for free CUSTOM headers only lasts a few more days. Simply become a follower during February and she will design a header for you for FREE!



Subjective Beauty is giving away a custom blog design. To enter go to A Daily Dose of Toni (sporting a new design by Subjective Beauty) and follow the guidelines for the giveaway.

New Custom Header for Beautiful Blog Designs

While I love using free templates, I was getting tired of the pink and green bubbles. So, Summer of Designs by Summer whipped up this gorgeous header for me and I am simply thrilled with it!

It's amazing how much a beautiful header can enhance a blog!

Now, please excuse the mess around here, though, as I will be moving things for a little while as I tweak the template (changing out from the Made by Madeline to a plain three column template). Also, I will be experimenting with colors for the background, thanks to a great post by "Old Dame" Penniwig.

Wondering how you can tweak your template, too? Simply go to one of the sites I mentioned in the post before this, or that are listed in the left sidebar. You can do it!

Special Note: Just noticed the header overlaps some of the text when viewed in Internet Explorer (I have been using Firefox more lately). I am working on fixing this problem.

Blogging Help From The Experts

I was ready to showcase another designer, but decided first to talk about basic blogging.

Through my surfing to find blog template designers, I have seen many blogs with great blog templates, yet they are a mess with too many buttons, pictures and buttons that are all askew on the sidebars, posts that have no paragraph breaks and more. Those things can detract from your blog design and even turn away readers.

Do you want to have a blog that is attractive, flows well, draws readers in and keeps them there a while? I strongly urge you to visit the many excellent sources of blogging tips and tricks. Go to one or more and listen to what is being said. Read the design tips they offer, listen to the pet peeves that are listed, find out all the little things you can do to improve your blog before you ever install a gorgeous free template or contact designer for a custom blog design.

The authors at my favorite blog-aid sites were successful with their own blogs before starting a blog-tech blog.

Here are the one I frequently go to:

Modern Media Mom (also the designer at Fruition Designs).

Darn Good Blogging (also the author of Simple Mom).

Blogging Basics 101 (also the author of Bloggy Giveaways).

Blog Coach (also the author of Baby Cheapskate).

There is also a forum at Blog Coach where you can ask Angie, the owner, and other bloggers about anything related to blogging.

Hopefully as I grow in my confidence with blogging, I will feel qualified enough to give advice, but for now, I will simply point you to the experts!

Birthday Bash at Custom Blog Designs

Diana, the designer at Custom Blog Designs is celebrating the studio's first birthday and boy is she going all out! She is giving away a custom blog design, worth $45 to one winner. Go read her birthday celebration post and see how to enter.

But wait! There is more! She is also having a party on Saturday, February 21, from 10 AM-noon, CST. All participants get an extra entry into the blog giveaway, which will be drawn at 5pm CST.

Here is the party schedule:

10am- Makeover game posted- 2 winners, each get a custom digital brag book (using winner's photos).

10:30am-noon Chat window will be posted on her blog, chat will feature Q&A with Diana and some fun games with prizes.

11:15am- Blog quiz game posted- 1 winner gets choice of 4 headers that she has created that will be customized for them.

Now, here is a little showcasing for Custom Blog Designs. Diana is a talented designer who has done many creative things with headers and blogs. She started Custom Blog Designs one year ago and during that time she has redesigned over 60 blogs and provided other graphic services to many wonderful clients.

Also, during the past year she has also donated $299 of her profits to Starfish Foster Home for special need orphans in China. So, when you order a design from Diana, you know you are helping a very worth cause.

Below are just a few of the beautiful blogs or headers she has designed.




If you are in need of a new header or a whole new template design, head over to Custom Blog Designs and join in the party. If you already have the design of your dreams for your own blog, tell a friend-in-need about it.

Beautiful Premade Templates - Just $5!!

The last designer I showcased was Smitten Blog Designs and I was ready to showcase another designer this week until I discovered that today Smitten Blog Designs has just launched i.Smitten, a site dedicated to very affordable, beautiful premade blog templates.

Each blog templates at i.Smitten is just $5!

That price is perfect for the many mommy bloggers who are on a tight budget (who isn't these days). Since the price of the templates is next to nothing, if you choose to add on some extras like a signature or a button or two, you can still afford to do so.

Here are some of the gorgeous premade templates they have made:




To purchase a template, simply click "add to cart" under the template you want and pay via Paypal. Once you have paid, you are taken to your template, complete with instructions on how to install it.

I purchased "Just Happy" (for $5 of course) and within 5 minutes I had the template installed on a new blog I just started. Here is the result. It was amazingly simple!

I am very excited about i.Smitten and know of several friends I think would love these templates and the price.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all are having a lovely Valentine's Day. If you are looking for Valentine's buttons or backgrounds to add to your blog on this special the day, read this post. The above button was found at April Showers.

I have shared my best Valentine's Day memory over at Moving Forward, my personal blog. Come on over if you have time.

Making Your OWN Blog Template

So, you have been searching and searching for that perfect free blog template yet you can't find it. You cannot afford a premade or custom design either, so what should you do? Just keep the same old, boring Blogger template you chose when you created your blog? Nope! I have the solution for you!

Yesterday I found this wonderful site that helps you learn to create your own blog template, including buttons and other extras. The site is SJH Blog Design and the owner has done an amazing job of breaking down the steps you need to take in order to create a complete, well designed blog template.

You will need to download a digital scrapbook kit in order to create the backgrounds and header, but don't worry, there are many places that offer free kits. I will begin relocating those sites (I have seen them, just need to get back to them) so I can pass them on to you. In the mean time, Google "free digital scrapbook kits" and see what you can find.

SJH Blog Designs provides instructions for all the extras you may want when creating your own blog template. Here are the tutorials she made available:

• Three column layouts
• Scrolling middle layout
• Adding fonts
• Adding new Gadget sections to a template
• Adding an email link
• Making clickable buttons

How cool is this site? I love it! When my Usborne business slows down in the summer, I will create a test blog with the sole purpose of creating my own template and I will share the finished product with you.

If you use SJH Blog Designs to create your own template, please come back here and let me know your blog address so I can visit your site and even included it in this post for future readers.

Another site you can utilize to help you make adjustments to your current blog template or to one you create with SJH Blog Design, is Blogger University. The author of that blog has found how to tweak and fix many common template troubles.

Free Buttons and Graphics

Last night I found a really cool site, Penniwig's: Free Graphics Daily and I feel like to found a gold mine! She has so many cool, interesting and adorable graphics and buttons - all FREE! These are things you can add to your side bar or to a post. And, while I was there I discovered her other free graphics site, Skull Blossom.

Penniwig's has graphics, buttons, post dividers (and more) for winter and spring. Skull Blossom has those same things but for the fall. Both sites include graphics for the holidays celebrated during those seasons.

Here are a few that I thought were too cute and hope to use in the future for my own blogs.

Current Design Specials and Giveaways

Blog Makeovers by Tara is running a special until Sunday, February 15th. Sign up for a custom blog design and get $10 off your order!

******************************

Traci at Sweet Cheeky Designs gives back to the blogging community by giving away a custom design each month to a worthy or needy blogger. If you know someone who deserves a redesign, go to Sweet Cheeky's blog and leave a comment with your nominee.

Traci - your generousity and kindness is a great example to us all!

******************************

Jenn at The Village Peddler is giving away custom headers to EVERYONE who becomes a follower in February. If you feel your blog is a little plain and needs just a little something to spice it up, custom headers do just the trick! Head over there before the month ends.

** Do you know of any other designers running specials or giveaways and want them added to the list? Leave me a comment with the designers name and web address. Thanks!

New Blog Design for Moving Forward!

I am VERY excited to announce that Summer, from Designs by Summer, completed the custom design template for my personal blog Moving Forward and it is beautiful! It is simple yet feminine. I didn't want anything too busy or cluttered and she did just what I asked!

For those who are wondering what getting a custom design entails - you pick out the designer kit, which is basically the colors and extras you want used for your blog. Then, the designer starts to design a template to meet your tastes and desires (usually working from a questionaire you filled out). There is a lot of emails between the designer and you, tweaking it to be exactly what you want. The whole process did not take more than a week.

Now, to celebrate, I am having TWO giveaways at Moving Forward! I am giving away personalized note cards from The Note House and $25 in Usborne Books. Come join in!

Designer Showcase: Smitten Blog Designs

The designer being showcased today is Smitten Blog Designs. This studio is run by Oregon neighbors Kate and Heather and opened for business in August 2008. They design free, modern and original templates to liven up your blog. They have produced several templates that are sold for $10 or less (an incredible deal!) as well as adorable free templates.

They have a nice variety of premade templates for sale, but they are all "limited editions." Once a design has been purchased a certain number of times, Smitten Blog Designs retires it so that the templates aren't overused. So, if you see something you like, don't wait till later because it may not be there. And, to help their clients with the installation and other blog questions, they provide a wonderfully detailed tutorial.

Here are just a couple of their limited edition premade blog templates.



In addition to the premade templates, they have an extensive gallery of free templates. And, right now they have adorable Valentine's templates (which also work nicely for marriage/relationship blogs).



Now, if you don't see just what you want among their free and premade templates, Smitten Blog Designs can make you a custom design for your blog for just $30! That is an incredible value!

If you do use one of their free or premade blog templates, don't forget to add one of their beautiful buttons to your sidebar to show your appreciation for their work.

If you are already using one of their templates, please leave a comment so I can go visit and admire your beautiful blog.

Custom Header Giveaway - Winner

The winner of the custom header giveaway is Stacie from The Natural Way. She has another blog also, Simply Stacie, which already has a lovely header and adorable background. If you have time, check out both her blogs.

Good news, though, That Blog Place is also offering $5 of any header that is ordered! Simply choose the background you want the header designed for and put it in your shopping cart. When you check out enter the code FAB5.

Congratulations, Stacie!!! I can't wait to see what they do for you!

Blogging Help - Memes

If you are new to blogging you are probably saying "what the heck are memes?" Well, they are a theme to follow and then you leave your post's permalink (the exact address to that particular post, not your blog's home address) at the site that started the meme.

Click here for an example of a post a did for the Haiku meme I follow at my personal blog Moving Forward. I then left my post's permalink at A Mommy Story (the blogger who hosts the meme) so that others could click over to view my post. It gave me something to write about that day and helped get more traffic to my blog.

Here are some other memes you make like to follow:

Meal Planning Monday
Not Me Monday
Random Thoughts Tuesday
A B See Photo Meme
Works For Me Wednesday
Family Fun Foto Friday
Six Word Saturday
Living Simply Saturdays

There are many other memes out there you can follow. The Daily Meme is a site that is like a directory of memes so check it out if you don't see one here you would like. If you find one or more that are really interesting, please come back and leave a comment so I can update this list. Thanks!

Here are the memes I follow. To go the site where they are hosted, simply click on the pictures.

Designer Showcase: April Showers

The designer I am showcasing today is April Durham of April Showers. She is a very talented lady who kind of stumbled into blog design after several people liked the drawings she had done for her own blog.

After a little nudging from friends and clever marketing by her, the April Showers design studio was off and running! She works full time for a NBC affiliate and designs custom blog templates, headers and buttons in her spare time. Her blog and header designs are beautiful and unique, and are a great value!

Here are just a few examples from her gallery:





She also designs adorable buttons for your sidebar and even offers some for free. If you use a button from her, please leave a comment for her so she can pop over to see how great it looks on your blog. Here are a few of the FREE buttons you can find at April Showers:





I also wanted to add that she has a darn funny blog to follow. April is very insightful and witty and it has been very enjoyable to read her posts daily. So, even if you aren't in need of a new blog design, shoot over there and give her blog a read - but don't forget to leave a comment.