Most What Matters

Most What Matters chronicles the adventures of Amber and her family. It was important to her that she have plenty of room to post the beautiful pictures she includes in her posts. Amber knew that she wanted grey, yellow, and a splash of blue for her color scheme.

The beautiful background is a transparent overlay I found at Katie's Wish on Etsy. You can visit Amber's blog to check out the post divider, grab button, and other goodies I designed for her. Thank you, Amber, for being clear with what you wanted. I am in love with your blog!

Aubree at Fabricadabra Designs

When Aubree from Fabricadabra approached me about helping her set up shop for her new sewing business, I was really excited to help with the project. She makes the cutest baby and toddler clothes, blankets, and toys. Who wouldn't want to put their little one in these baby booties?

Baby Booties - $10-12

I came up with a concept for a header that would work as both a banner and logo. I found some awesome vintage sewing graphics from ClementineDigital and adjusted the color scheme to match. Since Aubree wanted her colorful products to be the highlight of the blog, we kept the design somewhat simple and clean looking.  

Thank you Aubree for letting me help organize your new business. I wish you the best of luck as you are starting out!  

Losing Dominion

My very talented friend Mark McLean recently published his first book, Losing Dominion. He asked if I would create a design for the book's website and I was thrilled to help. I know the publishing of this marks the end of several years of work, as well as the beginning of his career as an author.

The cover for the book included a graphic from a painting Mark's grandfather had done, so we used this same image in the header as well. I enjoyed creating something with a different feel than the private blogs I've been recently working on.  Congratulations Mark!

The Thompson Family

Congratulations to The Thompson Family on the birth of their second son, Lucas David. The momma, Stacy, is one of my closest friends from college. Her oldest son Jordan and I are "birthday buddies," sharing half-birthdays with each other.

Lucas David Thompson

This is actually the third blog design I've done for Stacy.. she is always the willing guinea pig. I created the design several weeks ago, and had been impatiently waiting (just like Stacy) for Lucas to arrive. Here is what her blog looked like before. It is actually one of my very first designs, back when I had no real idea what I was doing.  

before

With the arrival of Lucas, she needed something that wasn't focused solely on Jordan, but also didn't want to manage two blogs.  So, I surprised her with this design! 

after

The monster family was drawn {by me!} in Adobe Illustrator.  Can you see the resemblance? 

I can't wait to visit the Thompson family this Christmas and meet little boy Lucas.  Her boys melt my heart.  Thank you Stacy for trusting me with your blog design.  Sending you lots of Love and Congratulations!  

Live, Laugh, and be Mary

Designing a blog for my good friend Mary was a bit intimidating at first because she is graphic designer herself.  But she assured me that she was excited to have me do it for her. Mary's directions to me were to use lots of purple jewel tones and maybe 'put a bird on it'. No, she didn't really say that, but the Bloggess did and Mary & I both are still laughing over it.

{via}

Back to the blog design. I've been learning a lot of new things through a workshop I'm taking at The Blog Designer Network. Most importantly, I'm totally changing the way I design blogs from the ground up. From now on, I will work on the whole design in Photoshop as one large canvas so I can see how the different elements will work together. Here is Mary's layout, as an example.

What is really cool, is that I'm learning how to write the code myself, instead of just copying and pasting bits of what other people have posted on various tutorials. For example, I coded the ribbon side bar banners as background images so the next time Mary wants to add a sidebar widget, the banner will automatically show up in the background!

This is what the finished product ended up looking like. Another cool thing is that the birdcage is actually part of the background image, so it stays in place as visitors scroll through the site.

Thank you, Mary, for trusting me with your blog design. It was so fun to take your ideas and turn them into something we both love.  

Tracy

Every time I do a new blog I think to myself "This one is my new Favorite!" And it's true again. Tracy and I had a lovely afternoon sitting side by side working on her new design.  She already had a beautiful picture that she knew she wanted to incorporate.

After a little cropping and photo-editing, we put it inside a frame and added the rest.  

before

after

This is the first navbar that I've made for someone else, and I think it turned out beautifully.

Tracy, thank you so much for spending the afternoon with me. It was so fun to have you participate in the design process. {And I love spending time with little Miss Daphne!} I wish I could meet one-on-one with everyone I design for!  

      

Michelle

Michelle was so excited for her blog makeover. She and I talked about colors and picked this palette from Photocard Boutique.

Photocard Boutique // Image Credit bhg.com

Blog Before

And After

I also made Michelle a fun little monogram for her icon and grab it button. 

Something about the M and W being mirrors of each other tickled my fancy. 

Thank you Michelle for letting me "pimp your blog" {as you so eloquently put it}.  

Chelsey

The blog makeover for Chelsey turned out so clean and happy!  Chelsey is a super-mom to two little ones and also sister-in-law to my friend Crystal whose blog I made over earlier a few months ago.  It started with this color palette from Photocard Boutique.

Photocard Boutique // image credit country living

From there we went through several variations for the header and title font.  Next I added some cute sidebar banners, awesome photos of her kiddos, and some finishing touches.

I want to thank Chelsey for her patience with me on this project.  It took a little longer than I expected to get it quite right, but I think the end results are just lovely.

Alicia

Alicia is a sweet mother of two, and professional photographer who has great design sense.  She had a few ideas for her family blog, and we worked together to turn it into something really fantastic!  

before 

after

I also made my first "grab a button" for Alicia's blog.  I've been wanting to learn how, and will post a tutorial of how I did it in an upcoming post.

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Thank you Alicia for giving me great ideas and inspiration for the design.  The blog is beautiful, and definitely one my favorites!  

Kristen

The blog header for Kristen at Hang 10 K-ten went through several stages before perfection.  Check out the evolution:

  

We especially liked that the K of K-ten looks like a wave itself.  Kristen is one of my oldest friends.  Growing up in the same small town, we were in the same classes from elementary school through high school.  Oddly enough, we have also both become teachers and world travelers.  

It was so much fun to make something that fits Kristen's personality: laid back surfer meets world traveling professional.  Here's the amazing before and after of Kristen's blog.

before

after

Lastly, Kristen requested a post signature with footprints. Overall, I think the blog turned out just right for my beach loving friend.  Thank you Kristen for trusting me with your design, and for the encouragement along the way.  

In.Light.In

Several of my good friends volunteer and run a children's ministry here in Dominica called In.Light.In.  On Friday afternoons, they go to a local park and visit with the children of Portsmouth.  These amazing girls and guys play games, make crafts, share meals, and spend time with the local children.

Before

After

It is a tradition at In.Light.In to feed the kids boxed macaroni and cheese.  The girls tell me that it is the first meal some of the children will have had all day.  To honor that, I made a little mac'n'cheese icon for the blog.

If you are interested in learning more about In.Light.In or supporting their efforts, please go check out their blog.