Bethany Hamilton Photography

Bethany contacted me last week to update her photography blog.  She had done some excellent work with her previous design using a collage of her photos, but she wanted it to be brought together just a little more.  She has some adorable photos to look at and does great work.  Her prices seem very reasonable and the product she offers is just perfect.

Bethany chose the kit "Pieces of Me" by Amy Teets Designs.  She said the kit had exactly the look she wanted for her site.  She loved the color palette of the reds, greens, cream, and  black.  I sent her several samples of the background, and she chose the dark background which helps make the text area really pop. She does a lot of shadow effect on her photos as well as black and white, which also makes this black background go even better.  Bethany sent me a few pictures to use in the header, and I found the frame in the kit that helped accentuate these photos.  The kit also came with these perfect fabric flowers that I used to dress up the frames. 

I also used the flowers in the sidebars along with the frame for the titles.  I used the flowers again in the signature as well.

The ornamental design from the kit was also perfect for the divider. (I love it when the kit provides me with the perfect element for this type of thing!)

If you're in the Mesa, AZ area, you definitely should use Bethany!  Her talent is amazing!  She has an amazing eye for a great picture!  I know you won't be disappointed!  Go check her out!  (And look how cute her design is!)

(You can also check out more of her work on Facebook)

The Bargain Hunting Mommy

My friend Cara (from Hot Springs Hitts & Mrs.) had a need for another blog that she does, The Bargain Hunting Mommy.  She is a wife and mother and tries to live as simply and efficiently as possible.  She blogs about different deals you can get at various places as well as tips to save money. 

Cara is so easy to work with because she lets me use my creative juices to create a design that I like!  I knew right away that we should use a caricature of a lady shopping.  I sent several examples to her, and she loved the look of the first one I sent.  I knew right away that we should use the 4 colors (red, orange, yellow, and pink) as polka dots and stripes for the elements.  I was able to use a brush I already had for the polkadots and then I created the striped pattern to go around the caricature that I later used for the sidebars as well.  Cara is a very fun and energetic person, so I knew I had to match it!  I found a couple of fonts that suited the idea nicely.  (Pea Lacy Chunky and Tan Patty from Kevin & Amanda)

I incorporated the dots in the divider as well as the navigation bar to create a cohesive look with the whole thing.

I then took the bags from the caricature image and used them for her signature as well. 

All in all, Cara has a great website!  No matter where you live, she's got great deals and great advice!  Check her, and look at the adorable new look she's got going on!

Emmy's Closet

Sara contacted me from Emmy's Closet to update her blog.  She originally started the blog to showcase her adorable bows that she makes.  The blog ended up turning into something much more than just bows.  She blogs about all kinds of things like her family, reviews of products, blog hops, and much more. 

Sara had a friend that had designed her logo already for her bows that she used on her Etsy shop and her previous blog.  I just loved the little girl that she used!  I thought it was just precious.  But she wanted more.  So, she chose to use the kit "Over the Rainbow" by Kristin Cronin-Barrow. (ironically minus the rainbows!)

The logo was originally white, but I just didn't think a white background would be appropriate!  So I got to experiment quite a bit with the select by color feature on GIMP and perfect it to work with a transparent background instead.  The logo also also had a handwritten font that she already used.  But Sara LOVES fonts, so she said it would be alright if we changed it up a bit!  I decided to go with Kwekel and Pea Squeaker from Kevin & Amanda.  I thought they were still cute, but not too flashy for the logo. 

I was able to use the polka dot background in the great frame that was in the kit to highlight the little girl logo.    She wanted to keep it simple, so we added a few elements from the kit to add to it.

For the sidebars, I used the same frame idea with the different colors as well as the 2 fonts.

I added the little flowers from the header for the divider to make a more cohesive look with the flowers on the sides.

I was also able to use the little girl logo for her signature as well.

One of my favorite pieces of the blog is the connect buttons.  I thought they turned out so cute!  She wanted to have a way for people to subscribe (RSS and Email), go to her Facebook, Twitter, as well has her Etsy shop

I think the whole thing turned out very cute!  Sara said it was absolutely perfect!  Go check her out!  She has some adorable stuff on her site!

The Adventures of a Nursing Student

This design is from a little while ago, but it's so darn cute that I decided I needed to feature it!

Grecia from The Adventures of a Nursing Student contacted me for an update on her blog.  She started this blog after getting accepted into nursing school.  She wanted a place that she could talk about her journey, as well as anything else going on in her life.  She wanted something fun, and also wanted to incorporate the nurse aspect. 

She decided to go ahead and add on the caricature.  I searched and searched for a nurse that was somewhat of what she wanted.  Grecia was hesitant with the selections since most of them were blond and didn't go with the color scheme she wanted.  Finally, she made a choice, and thought it would do.  Little did she know what the final product would look like!  She loved the recolored, brunette haired nurse! 

Grecia decided on the kit Sisterly Love by my 2 favorite designers, Meghan Mullens and Kristin Cronin-Barrow.  We had to recolor a few of the papers to get her exactly what she was looking for.  She asked for mostly pinks and greens, with a tad bit of orange.  The kit had a lot of blue in it, but we were able to just use it as a small accent color in the header. 

The header used the caricature image, and then the kit came with a perfect round frame.  I added the flowers to the side to give it some flair as well as the swirls to give it a little added touch.

Grecia loved the flowers.  So I tried to add a few to each sidebar and the divider.  The kit came with these cute little journal frames in the 3 colors that I was able to incorporate. 

I was able to incorporate the various swirls from the kit as well to create the little whimsical feeling throughout.

One last element that brought the whole thing together was the signature.  Grecia had the idea of having a nurse's clog next to her name.  I recolored this as well and then added a sweet little flower to it.

The fonts we used for this particular design are from Amanda at Kevin & Amanda.

Oh {Photo} Shoot

Pea Faith

Go take a look at her blog!  It's just adorable!



QPeach

Don't worry!  This is not inappropriate!!!  :)

Apparently, Cutesie Blogs is international.  I did another blog for a sweet lady in Dubai, as well as another in Singapore and now this one from Japan.  Tracy contacted me from my new Facebook page.  She sells Japanese fashion push up bras.  She just needed a place where she could have her own order site. 

Tracy was not interested in doing a whole package, so we just did 3 basic pieces.  Background that coordinated with the header (she created the header herself), sidebars with an order form, and a navigation bar. 

I came up with the idea of the lace over the pink to go with the look of the bras she was showcasing in the header.  I used a lace overlay for the background.  I then used it for the sidebar titles as well.

I decided to keep the navigation bar simple and bringing in the hearts that were also used in the header.

The biggest surprise was the installation!  I logged on to her Blogger to get everything installed, and the whole site was in Japanese.  I had NO idea how to get it to English, so, I just had to go back and forth with my English site and figure out the color the button was, or what number link it was.  It was quite the experience! 

Tracy hasn't added any of her products yet, but I'm sure she will soon. 



Hot Springs Hitts & Mrs.

Cara is a friend of mine from high school that lives in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  She has been quite the blogger lately.  She was probably one of the first friends that I started doing designs for.  She graciously let me play and design her personal blog a couple of times for fun.  She has started 2 additional blogs since then, and came to me for help.  This particular blog is about anything you need to know if you are planning a trip to Hot Springs.  Which, if you've never done so, you should.  It's beautiful, and there are a lot of unique things to do.  I got married there 4 years ago, and it was beautiful, and now my parents live there.  It's nothing like you'll ever see anywhere else. Anyway, her blog is to feature some of the places and things to do.  The name I think is so clever!  Her maiden name is Hitt, and now she's married, so you get the "Hot Springs Hitts & Mrs."  with reviews of all kinds of places!

She has the great blogging ideas, but no idea how to design one.   She pretty much knew exactly what she wanted.  She went out into downtown Hot Springs and took pictures of all of the great historic features of the city.  She later sent them all to me and I got to look at them and figure out what would work best for the actual design.  I had seen something similar with basic pictures of different activities from another website, and decided that I could implement these pictures in the sidebars.  She had 7 different categories she wanted to feature. I did my best to try to find a picture that coordinated to the category.  Each of the categories has a cute play on words using "hitt" or "mrs." 

I also used a classic picture of the Hot Springs for the post divider.

Overall, I think the blog turned out very classic.  It's easy to navigate, easy to read, and has a wealth of information for someone who wants to travel to Hot Springs.  It also gave me the opportunity to enhance my portfolio of professional looking blogs that don't necessarily have to be so "cutesie".  Go check it out!

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.

My Fabulous Find

Sherri from My Fabulous Find is one of my good friend's mom.  She recently lost her job and in an effort to generate some income, she decided to really take action to grow her business.  She makes custom and handmade gifts.  She makes unique gift items that are perfect for any occasion.

Sherri is not much of a computer person, but she wanted a place that she could showcase each of her products and generate some other business online as well.  I run my business off of a blogger site, so I knew we could come up with something that would fit her needs. 

Sherri asked for something boutiquey, and chic.  She liked the black and white idea.  She also wanted a little pop of pink there occasionally.  So, we used fleur de lis and damask throughout.


Category titles on the sidebar:

Page Titles

Added damask decoration on each page showcasing the product details.

For this page, I used mostly photoshop brushes.  I was able to customize them to the size and design I was looking for. 

Go check out her products.  She does great work. They are also very reasonably priced.