So, blog updates... the fun banner I posted over a month ago IS indeed for my dear friend Jayne. Shabby Juls got it right. :) Jayne's got some fun things to add to the sidebar area and then we'll make some minor adjustments but for the most part it's done and it's absolutely one of my favorites so far. If she hadn't liked it I'd have used it for my own. :)
And then one that I did awhile back that I can't believe I haven't blogged about before was for a little shop in Oklahoma City called Basiques Boutique. It's owned by the sweetest mother/daughter team and I'm thrilled that they're going to actually start selling some of their gorgeous items online so stay tuned. Here's what we came up with for the banner using one of their gorgeous wall paintings. How fun is that?! :)

Another blog that's not quite finished but close enough to show is Jo-Anne Coletti's. She paints gorgeous rose paintings and has recently released a CD of digital scrapbooking papers and elements. It was fun to use some of her own elements in the design. One thing you might notice about her blog is that I'm now offering the complete custom design package for blogger customers. Pretty exciting since I've had a number of requests for that. :)
I've got 3 blogs that are in their final design stages of pulling everything together and coordinating with the client on sidebar items and I've got a few that I'm waiting for feedback on their initial banner design. (A couple that were sent out over 2 weeks ago so I'm hoping they're just on vacation or something and not trying to figure out how to tell me the banner is not at all what they were looking for. LOL)
I also have been wanting to switch my blog over to wordpress for a LONG time and finally decided to take a weekend (and it took the better part of an entire weekend) to learn wordpress once and for all. I had just gone through a very discouraging situation with a client where I almost decide to hang up my blog designing hat. An idea that I had that I thought would be a fun option to offer to future blog clients, one that I'd put a lot of creative energy and work into was given to another designer and it just sucked the fun right out of this designing stuff. I don't get a lot of original, completely-not-done-before, creative ideas and this was one that I was pretty excited about. What made me even more happy was that the client was super excited about my idea too. Well, now the credit for that fun idea will go to another designer. If someone is interested in having a fantabulous about page done for them I am more than happy to haul out the fun ideas with all the bells and whistles that I have now stashed away in my little creative cabinet but I don't think I'll be advertising it as an ala carte option for now because I don't want it to appear that I'm copying someone else's creative idea. Sooooo, instead of continuing to feel abused and taken advantage of I chose to let the situation motivate me to learn more aspects of this blog design world and find something different to offer.
So this is my new home on the web and I'm SO excited to start offering full wordpress custom design and setup option to clients. What's AWESOME about wordpress is that there is no monthly fee for it and it's incredibly customizable. Like crazy customizable. I can't wait to play around more with my own design but for now I'm just tickled with little things like how fun the comments icons are and how nicely they show up right after my signature. It's the little things like that that can totally make my day. :)
So here's the current pricing for the various blog design options. I'll be finishing up the blogs I'm currently working on by this weekend so if you're interested in a custom design e-mail me or you can fill out the questionnaire here. Not to sound like an infomercial here but these are introductory prices and will likely change after I've had a chance to realize (as I often do) that I'm only making about 50 cents an hour on these projects. LOL I will also be likely increasing the prices of the design options in blogger and typepad but until I have time to make those changes on my website pricing page you can jump in on the current rates. :)
Kay, infomercial over. :)
I saw this little photo project posted by Rachel awhile back and since a word immediately came to mind AND I have a fancy little remote for my camera I decided to join in. You can see lots more here. But yeah, I'm beat. So if you decide to jump in on the photo project send me a link so I can check out how you're feeling. :)
I also feel inspired, motivated and blessed so it's not all bad. :)
So here's my current balanced to-do list:
I decided that my to do list template needed a little updating. Still balanced, just different. I uploaded the new template so you can grab it here if anyone's interested.
And then I joined in a little challenge at one of my favorite blogs and they posted this little list of girl-power questions yesterday. Here's mine. :)
1. Name - Shawn
2. Pink - Love it or Hate it? love it
3. Signature shade of lipstick, lipgloss, etc. - pink gloss (little bit sparkly)
4. Do you have a best girl friend? I have many - the VERY best
5. Do you have a woman mentor? not that I can think of
6. Are you a woman mentor to someone else? I highly doubt it
7. Tomboy or Princess? Princess
8. Favorite Girl Band can't think of a girl band but favorite girl artist - hands down Sara Bareilles
9. Are you a mom? Do you want to be one? just to pixel and actually no
10. Do you and your mom have any rituals? not that I know of
11. Fashion magazines - yea or nay. nay
12. Do you have a feel good outfit? do feel good shoes count?
13. Have you called your grandma or special aunt, or special older lady lately? saw my grandma for the last time Friday night
14. Signature Scent? angel although I rarely wear perfume
15. Favorite female tv character I can't pick a favorite
16. Favorite place to hang out with gal pals? a good chick flick with popcorn
17. Did you ever ditch your girl friends to be with a guy? Do you still? I'm sure I have
18. Friend you call when you need a laugh? Jayne
19. Friend you call when you need a shoulder to cry on? Jill and/or Nikki, depends how late it is. :)
20. Have you reminded your friends of how much they mean to you lately? not nearly enough
Can you tell I'm trying to make up for a month of not blogging? Kay, back to work and then dinner with Jill tonight and funeral visitation for my grandma. Tomorrow is the funeral and then I'm looking forward to a rather quiet weekend and catching up with out-of-town cousins. Back soon with some photos of recent sewing projects and hopefully an etsy store update.
Have a great day!
