Five Favorites >DIY Web/Blog Design<

Join me in my first-timer excitement as I link up with Hallie at Moxie Wife with lots of others and share five favorites.  Five favorite what?  Well, pretty much anything you want.  I’ve been reading the posts linked to this little party for some time now and I’ve always found them really entertaining, fun to read, and sometimes really helpful.  I think it’s one of my favorite link-ups in the history of link-ups…such a great idea Hallie!

So, my faves this week (assuming I find time to list my five every week…here’s hoping) revolve around blog design.  I recently gave the blog here an overhaul and I did it all myself…read, free.  Everything was free.  I didn’t pay a cent to anyone to do anything.  And granted, it’s not the most high-tech, glamorous design in all of blogland, but I like it.

It took a lot of googling and a lot of html and CSS learning to stash away all the design knowledge I’ve packed in my noggin’; much of that said learning happening during the couch-sitting later months of the twin’s pregnancy.  So, without further ado, I give you my five favorite websites that give tips and tutorials on DIY web/blog design:

1.  Design It, Love it
Carolynn’s web design blog is my favorite favorite.  She’s all for helping you make your blog “pretty” and she also has another website devoted to finding and sharing free design tidbits along with free labels, printables, etc… – Fab 'n’ Free.

2.  Helplogger

Helplogger is where I find any technical information I might need like how to add social media icons and how to move certain aspects of your blog to a desired location.  They take the intimidating front of HTML and make it a piece of cake for people like me.  :)

3.  Freckles In April

Besides having a blog I get sucked into for nap times at a time, Kayla has a series on her blog, Freckles In April, called Blog Therapy where she gives hints and helps to a better blog.  She details process steps so well with pictures and explanations that she makes almost any web design tweak a walk in the park.  I’m about to head over and hit her up for her tutorial on making a customized navigation bar.  Should be fun…and up soon! 

4.  Something Swanky

Ashton blogs about dessert and design, two of my favorite things and what a happy pair they are.  She has a whole tab devoted to diy blog design.  I found her blog while searching for a tutorial on image-mapping.  Satiate your sweet tooth before you head over though or you’ll be wiping drool from your keyboard.
 

5.  xomisse 

I recently found Ellie’s blog after googling tutorials on how to move my date header and I found lots of great explanations and tutorials there.  On top of paid custom web design options, she has great freebie and downloads section I’m excited about.  I haven’t had much time to explore but I look forward to using her blog as a go-to when the design bug strikes.

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Just an FYI, I use the Blogger platform to run my blog but I know some of these websites have tutorials for WordPress as well, in case you’re looking to do some blog tweaking yourself.  :)

Do you have any others to add to the list?  Are you the sole-designer of your blog or would you rather hand the tech work off to someone else?  Or do you have any questions?  I love answering questions!  No secrets here!

Button Button

Who’s got the button?  I do!  I made one!  See?

And you can have it for your very own if you’d like, just scroll down and find it in my sidebar, copy and paste, and whoop there it is!  I made it with my fave online editing resource, pixlr.com and then got it up and running on the blog using this awesome tutorial by Marie at Code it Pretty.  Seriously, she walks you through each little step holding your hand the entire way until, whaddya know, at the end you’ve got yourself some blog bling to share!  Anybody else got a button to share?  Let’s accessorize!  :)

New Look

You  may or may not have noticed that I, once again, switched up the look of Bean In Love.  Why?  For kicks and because it's like decorating...for FREE!  I absolutely love making backgrounds - they're like fabrics to me that I can use without paying for - headers, and just changing up the color scheme to reflect my mood, the season, or even a color fad.  Honestly, if I had time, which many moons into pregnancy and then nursing two might afford me in a couple of weeks/months, I'd put a new face on the blog every week.  So we'll see what happens. 

In saying all of this, which you probably don't care about anyway, I was thinking about posting a little itty-bitty tutorial on web design and then got cold feet about it.  I'm no pro by any means and just putting up this little facade I've got goin' on now took me a good six or so hours of work only because I ran into a few glitches I didn't know how to fix until my genius-in-web-design brother-in-law swooped like a knight in shining armor and helped me fix them.  So, I realized I probably shouldn't write about how to do something like web design that I still am so rusty with myself.  So, I'll just pass on some good places I've found to go if you'd like to learn more.

• For a TON of free background patterns that you can change to any color you desire, http://www.patterncooler.com/ is the place to be.  All you have to do is find a pattern you like, switch up the colors and/or size using their background editor, save it to your computer, and upload it as a background in Blogger's template designer.
• For thousands of cool and free fonts, check out http://www.dafont.com/!
• To make your own header or blog graphics, especially if you don't have access to Photoshop or other computer software, http://www.pixlr.com/ works just as well.  We do have Photoshop but lately I've found myself using pixlr more often because it doesn't take my old computer as long to launch and use it.  Pixlr even uploads all of the fonts you have saved on your computer so you have access to all of those cool fonts you've downloaded from dafont...bonus!
• For really great tutorials on everything from the basics to the more advanced ways to make your blog more attractive, a few good websites are http://www.bloggersentral.com/, http://www.puglypixel.com/, and http://www.makincuteblogs.com/.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to comment or to email me and I'll try my bestest to answer you or to at least point you in the right direction as regards web design.  But remember, I'm faaaar from being a pro.  Also, like I mentioned above, I love creating headers and backgrounds and I'm going to have lots of relaxation time in the next couple of months before the twins get here so, instead of making myself a new header everyday with all that spare time on the couch, I'd love to help whip up some headers for anyone looking to get a new one.  Of course I'd do it for free - heck, you're doing me a favor by a) giving me something to do while I rest the weight of the beanettes on any surface that'll have me and by b) giving my blog a design rest.  Just send me an email with your ideas and I'll get my pixlr on.

Anyway, I need to get off my tush and go wrangle the chaos that is currently invading our guestroom.  I hope to be back later today with a post of my progress so, if you're in the virtual neighborhood, stop by.  :)