Simple Pleasures

I had the pleasure of working with Sharon from Simple Pleasures.  She is a homemaker from Australia that loves to cook, read, garden, and her faith.  She blogs about an assortment of things that can benefit many readers.  Just today, she posted a recipe for a vegetable chicken soup!  It looks so yummy!  If my hubby would eat vegetables, I might just have to try to his out!  (You do have to convert into our wonderful English measuring system though :)

Sharon came to me from being a reader of Rebekah's blog.  She saw what I did with Rebekah's and decided that we could do the same idea with her own.  She loved the kit that I used by Lorie Davison.  So, I contacted Lorie to see if I could add her to my designer list.  Lorie gladly agreed (with an additional fee), so she is now someone I can use.  Her work is unique.  I have never seen anything like it. 

The header didn't start off as a storybook page.  It started more with various elements, and she loved almost all of the kit elements, so it was hard to get the look she was going for.  It evolved into the storybook look as we continued on.  She had a vision of what her header should look like and gave me lots of examples of the things she liked and wanted to try to incorporate.  She loved the painted plates, the frames on the walls, and of course a set table with various things.  She loves baskets as well, which was a key point in getting her design the way she wanted it.  I think I captured her wants pretty well in here.

For the sidebars, I noticed that the kit came with lots of pictures frames.  I thought this would be a very simple, yet attractive way to feature her sidebar titles.   Sharon has made blog templates before, so she was pretty insistent on the overall layout, leaving her sidebars 350px wide.  This is definitely the largest sidebar I've worked with, but I made it work.  It allowed for the frames to be a little bit longer so we wouldn't have to scrunch anything.

Sharon wanted to make sure we incorporated teacups and flowers somehow, so I added the divider with the tea pots and small flowers.  She definitely loved the idea, and it also incorporated her favorite color - green.  

I was worried that I was going to make it look too much like Rebekah's blog, but I think we pulled it off without making it look the same.  I was able to use many of the elements I hadn't used previously.  I know Sharon loves it, and I'm very pleased myself.