You know, part of what's been keeping my posts in the draft folder is I'm not happy with my (completely non-existent) blog design skills... I don't want y'all to see it looking like this (hopefully it won't anymore when you read this), but I'm not really happy about having a "canned" look... I searched free blog design templates & found Shabby Blogs, with tons of free stuff- and WICKED pretty, too! I don't care if someone else has exactly the same thing, I'll share for a while. Maybe having a way cute blog will encourage me to post what I write more often... I have a new plan for blog organization (you can read about it at 1000 Trains, I'll edit to include the link soon) including pages & boring updates & mobile blogging... Aren't I sooo tech-savvy... :)
Right now, though, I want to chat about building a blog. I mentioned that I don't have design skills- I should add that I don't have color coordination skills either. Blogger is flexible about what colors we can use for almost everything- I like that when you pick a color for your background, or for post headings, the Design page offers a color swatch of matching/complementary colors for the one you picked. I got bogged down in wanting my post headings to be clearly different from sidebar tags, and new/visited links highlighted, but still as a cohesive (and attractive) palette. This is why they pay (other) people the big bucks- I made a mucky mess of it. If I decide not to change my background, I'll probably leave most of my text (posts & headings) black. Then I can take some time to look at blogs I like for palette inspirations. Note: it's totally poor form to copy someone else's design (and illegal if it's copyrighted work), but inspiration is ok. (I've even read some beginner blogger tips suggesting it.)
Shabby Blogs has a full website, including a blog, tutorials (!!), free downloads & designs and more. It's certainly not the only site out there, but I really like their work. I only added a background tonight, but downloaded some sidebar tags & header bars. I managed to hide my plain text header from myself, but when I figure out where it went, I have a nifty one to put up. Shabby Blogs has blinkies (which lean toward the overly cheery/cutesy, but that's just me), sidebar tags, backgrounds & header bars, as mentioned, as well as pretty images to use in your posts (think giveaway announcements), buttons and post dividers. They've got a category for all the freebies from the blog and another for custom work.
For backgrounds, I really like:
Damask Don't Tell (pink):
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#308
Hootie Cuties:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#345
Owl Family Reunion: (you're looking at it...)
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#461
(I have a serious owl obsession... See my Pinterest.)
Jane:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#534
(Jane Austen, anyone?)
Meandering:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#593
Owl Be There:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#386
I had to stop looking, there's like 12 more I really like and I'm only 2/3 through the list. (Love the thumbnails- I don't have to open each to see it!)
And they have tutorials!! More on them later, but the link for the tut page is below... And here's a quickie awesome one for resizing & sharpening an image for internet use.
http://shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/photography-with-jessica-resizing-and.html
All Shabby Blog tutorials:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=9
You can tell from the button on the sidebar that I really like this site- 5 out of 5 wet fingernails up!! Thank you so much, ladies!
