Beautiful Blog Series: Chez Larsson

Guest post by Marianne from Songbird

For this weeks Beautiful Blog feature we are guests at Chez Larsson, in Sweden. Benita is in her own words "a neat freak, an organizing enthusiast and someone who truly enjoys getting her hands dirty". On her beautiful blog she shares many organizing and decorating tricks and proves that she and her husband and son are real DIY professionals.

 

What I love about Chez Larsson:

• Uncluttered and easy to navigate design
• Lovely banner picture that communicates the content of the blog very well
• Easy to read posts with beautiful big photograps
• Helpful navigational bar with all the right links
• Cleverly positioned Search tool
• The blog design is a clear reflection of the Larsson's personal style 

At the Larsson's (that is what Chez Larsson means) you will see a family who loves DIY and crafts and who run the most organized and uncluttered house I have ever seen. Benita always makes me want to go clean up my house (and to get me to want to do that is a miracle). I love how their homemade blog design, is a true reflection of their lifestyle. Go check out their Beautiful Blog Design and have fun looking at all the amazing DIY projects they have done and benefit from all the fun and easy organizing tips. And tell them we sent you.

Benita, you have a beautiful blog and beautiful followers who love you! If you would like to share this feature with your readers, here is a button for a post or sidebar.





<a href="http://beautifulblogdesigns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z78/mikerin3/Amanda%20Padgett/FinalFeatureButtoncopy.png"/></a><br/>

Use Decorative Letters to Spice-Up Your Posts

very post deserves some "pop" doesn't it? Often times we use photos to help break up the monotony of just text. However, I came across an Jessica Hische, an extremely talented graphic designer.

Daily Drop Cap is a project she started in September of 2009 in which she illustrates a decorative letter every day (or at least every work day). The project will continue for approximately twelve alphabets and are available for non-commercial use as drop caps on your personal blog. Please visit dailydropcap.com to see the full project.

I jumped right on over to the Daily Drop Cap and found the letter I wanted to use for this post, followed her instructions and there you go. It was so easy!! The letters are beautiful and charming and would be a lovely accent to most any blog post.

ot all are swirly and feminine.





thers are modern or retro.





ou are certain to find one that suites you to a tee.





hese are free, but for personal use only.

Beautiful Blog Series: Aspire

Last week I asked for readers to share blogs they thought were beautiful and if they would like to write a guest post at BBD. Bekah was the only one who took me up on the offer, and she has done an wonderful job!

Guest post by Bekah from The Word Crafter

This week's Beautiful Blog feature is Aspire, a blog formed a little over a year ago by a thirteen-year-old girl named Hannah. It’s a place where she shares her musings on her faith, her daily routine, and her life.

What I (a follower since it was first started) love about Aspire:

• The background is simple, but elegant and a fun design.
• Engaging and personal posts that keep you coming back to read more.
• It’s easy to read—white background, organized sidebars.
• Aspire is very organized and efficient, with a navigational bar in the header, and archives and labels near the top of the sidebars.
• The site loads quickly.
• Tag line in the header so that you know immediately what the blog is about.
• Follower gadget is up on the top of the page, so it makes it very easy to sign up as a Follower.

Her posts have lots of variety, which keeps the blog interesting and fun. Hannah designed her own blog, being self-taught in html code and design. She also has designed my own blog, and made countless blog buttons for others.

From Amanda:

Congratulations, Hannah, on having such a beautiful blog and beautiful followers who love you! If you would like to share this feature with your readers, here is a button for a post or sidebar.

<a href="http://beautifulblogdesigns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z78/mikerin3/Amanda%20Padgett/FinalFeatureButtoncopy.png"/></a><br/>

Thank you, Bekah, for sharing Aspire with us. You are also a talented young blogger, and I am glad to have met you!

Please Note: To see more beautiful blogs, head over to Designs So Pretty, where a beautiful blog is featured almost every day!

Before and After Series Begins

This is a series that I have been talking about doing for at least six months but am just now getting my act together, and, as it turns out, it's not all that together. Not making sense, am I? Well, what I mean is that our first Before & After feature doesn't have an "Before" shot, just the "After." Oh well, moving forward.

The blog that I'm featuring today, Lady Luck's Abode, has just had a beautiful new redesign by 7M Designs, which she won here at BBD. I failed to ask the owner, Summer, to get a "before" screen print, thus we don't have one. But, imagine a blog that was no where near as fun and delightful as the design she sports now.

Here is what Summer thought of it:

"I absolutely love it!!  ... It's perfect. The header is amazing and I love the horseshoe in the work "luck".  I couldn't have asked for anything more. Its wicked. Nice touch with the quote on the bottom of header too!  Kim has made me so happy.  I really appreciate all the work she put into this and all the patience she showed me.  Wonderful !!" - Summer

During the fall I promised several ladies that I would feature their blogs on the Before & After series, but then didn't have the time to make it happen. I apologize to you and if you are one of those ladies, please re-email me your sites and I'll link to them in my next feature.


If you are soon to have a redesign, either by a blog designer or by yourself (there are a lot of talented do-it-yourself bloggers), and you'd like for me to share your before and after looks here at BBD please do the following:

1. Make a screen print of your current blog template
2. Make a screen print of your new design template
3. Email me and include both screen prints and your designer's site address

New Idea: Guest Bloggers for Beautiful Blog Series

I have a lot of fun surfing the web and finding beautiful blogs to feature and it's not something I tire of. However, I think it would be interesting and fun to give someone else have chance to find a beautiful blog for us to feature here at BBD.

So, if you feel up to the job, please leave me a comment in this post, or email me if you have questions before volunteering.

What will you need to look for? Here are things I look for when scoping out blogs to feature:

• Clean, well designed template
• Tidy, uncluttered sidebars
• Easy to read posts
• User friendly, easily navigated
• Loads quickly
• Blog must be active, not dormant (i.e. no blog posts in over two weeks)

If you feel up to it, I'd love for you to write the feature post, either in your own style or following my past Beautiful Blog Series posts. If you don't feel comfortable writing such a post, I can take care of that.


I would love to have several guest bloggers, because since everyone has different tastes, we would get to see a variety of beautiful blogs. 

Note: This week's Beautiful Blog post will be live soon.

Make Your Pictures Prettier - For FREE

At first glace this post may not seem to fit with the direction and purpose of Beautiful Blog Designs, but it does so bear with me.

Everyone knows, or should know, that adding pictures to your blog posts really helps gain the reader's attention and sometimes helps explain crafts, tutorials and more. Everyone on the planet knows about the Pioneer Woman, right? Her pictures are amazing, entertaining and educating. Her shots used for her recipes help take the mystery out of cooking. Or, what about A Soft Place to Land? She has wonderful craft ideas and always share several pictures so that her readers can see the craft, step by step.

Now, before adding those pictures to your posts, make sure they look as good as they can. Regardless if you use a point and shoot camera or a DSLR, editing your pictures can make a world of difference. A hugely popular program is Photoshop, but it comes with a huge price tag. A stripped-down version of it is Photoshop Elements, which is much more affordable.

Now, if you don't have a editing program, no worries. There are several free ones you can use online (do a Google search and you'll find many). One that come highly recommended is Picnik.com. And before you fuss about not having to learn how to use it, there is an excellent post at TidyMom about it today. She describes how she edits her photos, makes collages and adds words to pictures.

Do you use a free online editor? If so, I'd love to hear about it. Leave the program and the address and I'll add it to this post.

Here are some recommended by BBD readers:

• SueAnn from SueAnn's Journey uses Photoscape.com
• Elizabeth from Dog Blogging with Luna suggests Paint.net. I use that program also, but only for my print screens. I need to spend more time with it and see what it can do.
• Emmy from Emmy Mom- One Day at a Time shared that she uses Gimp, a free program that you download.

Thank you, SueAnn, Elizabeth and Emmy for taking a moment to share with us what works for you.

Beautiful Blog Series: Macey's Daily Parade

Today's Beautiful Blog is a step back into Blogger-land, but we'll get back to some beautiful Wordpress blogs soon.

Last week I stumbled across Macey's Daily Parade and just fell in love with the fun, playful yet beautiful design. It is a new look for this blog, run by Macey, and if she's like me when I get a new design, she is looking at it every chance she gets.

 

Isn't it just too sweet? Macey's Daily Parade is about the daily parade that is Macey's life - thus the cute and appropriate title! After reading a little bit on the blog, I feel like the design suits Macey to a tee. She's feminine, fun and elegant all at the same time. 

Okay, what I love about this design:

• Calm, soothing colors yet fun and engaging
• Perfect mix of different design elements to match the blogger
• Unique and effective navigation bar (in the balloons)
• Lots of white which is easy on the reader's eyes
• Clean, uncluttered sidebars

Macey's design was created by the very talented Jackie at Memories by Design (this is Jackie's second design to be featured).

Congratulations, Macey, on having such a beautiful blog! I know you're enjoying your new design and hope you "wear" it for a long while - it's perfect for you! If you would like to share this feature with  your readers either in a post or on your sidebar, here is a button for you:



<a href="http://beautifulblogdesigns.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z78/mikerin3/Amanda%20Padgett/FinalFeatureButtoncopy.png"/></a><br/>

Please Note: To see more beautiful blogs, head over to Designs So Pretty, where a beautiful blog is featured almost every day!