I was looking at my blog the other day, and I decided that I really didn't like what I had going on design-wise. The colors reminded me of an old lady's purse. So I called up the people at Extreme Home Makeover to get their input. Turns out Ty Pennington doesn't do extreme blog makeovers, he only does houses...stooge.
Then I remembered that my friend, Meri, is an accomplished digital scrapbooker and once recommended Scrapblog.com for some design layouts. Meri's blog layout is beautiful, so I just knew that I'd find something cute if I looked hard enough. Ahem. I found a blank page staring, well, blankly out at me. It was unnerving. Not to be outdone by a fancy schmancy digital scrapbooking site, I emailed Meri and requested a personal tutorial.
We met this morning at Caribou Coffee, which is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Mostly because their chairs are super-comfy, and the workers don't roll their eyes when they see me walk in with a baby. Plus, their mochas are divine. While our babies munched on Cheerios and Gerber puffs, Meri showed me the ins and outs of the site.
What would have taken Meri maybe ten minutes to complete, took me a good three hours--used up some of the treasured naptime hours and beyond. Granted, part of the period was devoted to reading the ever-stimulating I am a Bunny about 15 times to Michaela Byrd, who tires quickly of playing with Tupperware, and did not seem to grasp the importance of the task on hand. There were so many embellishments and backgrounds and colors...it was making my head spin! I finally just clicked on some things, and hoped it would work out.
At any rate, what you see here is likely a work in progress, as I shall assume my sister will see this and give me a scathing review. I'm not one of those girls who switches blog backgrounds the way I do handbags. I like to see something familiar when I log on. I'd like to keep this background, maybe making a few tweaks here and there. THANK YOU SO MUCH, Meri, for your help!
I hope you all like the new layout. I am a people pleaser. I hope you'll stick around to read some more. Until then, I'll keep Ty on my speed dial and hope he comes around!
11 hours ago
Amanda, your blog makover looks great! Ty...Amanda, you're too funny.
ReplyDeleteTy could NOT have done better than this...it's adorable. So are you going to take jobs now that you've got it figured out???? Ty might be calling you...
ReplyDeletesuzanne
I LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteAHHH!!! I missed a tutorial on blog backgrounds....I'm bummed. I would have loved to have gotten the ins/outs from Meri because I too love her blog site and now I'm jelous of yours! Very cute and springy :)
ReplyDeleteI love the new look!
ReplyDeleteI love your new blog. The daddy & mommy bird looking in the tree for their two little girl (pink) birdies is cute. I love your wisdom with words (branching out, etc.). Being 0ne of the older readers of your blog...let me tell you it's alot easier to read with a solid color then the old one (figured brown & pink.)
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say accomplished, but I appreciate the compliment! :) It really looks great, I love it--you did a fab job. :)
ReplyDeletelove it! i also used meri's "blogdealer", but didn't get the tutorial. oh well, one step at time ;0)
ReplyDelete