December 16, 2010 By Amanda Padgett

Have you ever come across a wonderful craft or recipe post with lots of instructions and you wanted to print it out or save it to your computer for later use? I used to use ‘print page’ or I selected the text and chose ‘print selection.’ Not long ago a reader at my photography and Photoshop Elements blog, Everyday Elements, turned me onto Joliprint for printing posts and I love it! It is a very simple yet useful tool to make PDFs of blog posts, which you can either print or save. You can add it to your tool bar, for printing at blogs that don’t have a print option. Simply click on the icon … [Read more…]

December 18, 2009 By Amanda Padgett

Okay, I hope this comes as an intervention for some bloggers, but please know that I write this post with love. I visit a LOT of blogs in the “Blogosphere” to find new designers and “beautiful blogs” to feature. More often than not I find blogs that have fallen prey to many design pitfalls. So, I am going to list a few steps you can take to spiffy up your blog so that more readers stick around. Center up the buttons on your sidebars, please. It is so easy to do and it will make your blog look so much better. Simply go to the gadget with that HTML code for the button and add < center … [Read more…]

November 14, 2010 By Amanda Padgett

Are you new to WordPress.org? Or, are you thinking about moving from Blogger, but aspects of WordPress (like plug-ins) intimidates you? Well, if you are anything like me, the word “plug-in” stresses you out. Before I started a WordPress.org blog, Everyday Elements, I would hear others talking about plug-ins and they seemed so complicated and something I just wanted to steer clear of. 😉 Then, after I had my nice, shiny new blog set up (after much crying, trying to figure out FTP, themes, hosting, you name it), I realized other people had things in their sidebars or posts that I want in my … [Read more…]

July 12, 2010 By Amanda Padgett

Posted by Dawn Farias OK, I admit it: the only things I know about Seth Godin are that he is bald and doesn’t have a horizontal header on his blog.  He has a vertical one.  Both points can be easily illustrated.  Observe: Actually, I should say that’s all I knew about Seth Godin until recently.  Blogging with Amy published a post talking about how to use and optimize the What Would Seth Godin Do plug-in for WordPress.  That’s how I came to find out more about Seth Godin. But first, more about plug-ins. A plug-in for WordPress and Typepad is a lot like the header gadget for Blogger: a … [Read more…]

December 16, 2010 By Amanda Padgett

Have you ever come across a wonderful craft or recipe post with lots of instructions and you wanted to print it out or save it to your computer for later use? I used to use ‘print page’ or I selected the text and chose ‘print selection.’ Not long ago a reader at my photography and Photoshop Elements blog, Everyday Elements, turned me onto Joliprint for printing posts and I love it! It is a very simple yet useful tool to make PDFs of blog posts, which you can either print or save. You can add it to your tool bar, for printing at blogs that don’t have a print option. Simply click on the icon … [Read more…]

April 11, 2011 By Chris

They say that the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. When deciding how I wanted  the second half of my career to go, first I needed to sit down and address the most glaring and obnoxious mistakes I’d been making. If I couldn’t identify what I was doing wrong, there was no point in trying to change. Since five is a nice, easy-to-manage number (because, seriously, I could have kept making a list for about a week…) I sat down and came up with this list of the most egregious mistakes I have been making as a business owner. Here they are, in no particular … [Read more…]

April 3, 2011 By The Blog Designer Network

Are you bored to tears by your bland, generic blog template? Need a website that is vibrant and inviting? The Pixelista offers design solutions that won’t empty your wallet. If you’re looking for a web professional with creativity and passion for your project, The Pixelista is the right choice for you!       … [Read more…]

April 3, 2011 By The Blog Designer Network

Deluxe Designs specializes in blog and graphic design. We design personal and professional blogs including craft, mommy, photography, small business, and fashion blogs, but certainly do not limit ourselves to these. Using the Blogger platform, we provide user-friendly and finished looking design templates and work with you from beginning to end. Visit us to learn about other services such as Facebook welcome pages, logo design, Etsy, business branding and more. We love clean and elegant styles! … [Read more…]

April 11, 2011 By Chris

They say that the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one. When deciding how I wanted  the second half of my career to go, first I needed to sit down and address the most glaring and obnoxious mistakes I’d been making. If I couldn’t identify what I was doing wrong, there was no point in trying to change. Since five is a nice, easy-to-manage number (because, seriously, I could have kept making a list for about a week…) I sat down and came up with this list of the most egregious mistakes I have been making as a business owner. Here they are, in no particular … [Read more…]

March 22, 2011 By Cheryl

  One of the things I love most about using HootSuite for Twitter, is the ability to schedule Tweets. Did you know you can also use HootSuite to schedule things to post on your Facebook page? I’ll show you just how easy it is………….. You need to start with a HootSuite Account and sign in. Go to the Welcome page and click “Add a Social Network” Next you will see a screen like the one below: 1.  Click Facebook PAGE (not just Facebook – that is for your profile) 2.  Click Connect with Facebook 3.  Click connect with Facebook and login in when prompted.   Next you … [Read more…]

November 30, 2010 By Cheryl

If you are anything like me, you subscribe to a lot of blogs. And on a daily basis you find things you want to remember………maybe a great craft tutorial, recipe, how to edit photos or maybe just something you’d like to share with your readers or friends. Well, what if you had an easy way to help you remember all of that great stuff you find online? People, I would like to introduce you to your new friend {with a GREAT memory}………Tumblr Tumblr.com is a free and lightweight blogging platform, aimed at making it effortless to share text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, … [Read more…]

March 20, 2011 By Dawn Farias

In the last post, I showed you how easy it is to use the new Pages gadget in Blogger to create a horizontal navigation menu. Today, I will show you how to use a link list gadget to make an ever better one.

1. Delete the pages gadget – If you currently have the Pages gadget underneath your header gadget, then delete it. We will need that space for a link list instead.

2. Add a link list gadget – When you add a link list in your sidebar, the links display vertically. Adding a link list in the unique spot right underneath your header will display the links horizontally and have the default styles that are part of your chosen template. And THAT is the part of the magic of the new Blogger changes.

You will want to follow this path: Dashboard > Design > Add a Gadget > Link List > Save.

3. Configure your link list – Editing this link list is when you will enter the permalink for each of the links you want to offer your readers. What you enter for ‘New Site Name’ will be what your readers see on the tab which is going to display itself underneath your blog header.

There are two types of links you can add here. The first is a standard web address, or permalink. This can be to an About page, a favorite post on your blog, or an outside link. See this post on using Print Friendly for a mini-tutorial on how to find and copy a permalink.

The second type of link you can enter here is to your specific labels. This is great for displaying ALL of your posts for recipes, tutorials, photos, etc. Here is how to find the permalink for one of your labels. Find a post with your desired label on it. Scroll to the bottom of the post and click on that label.

After clicking on this, your blog will load up all the posts you’ve published with that label. Now, you can go into the browser’s address bar and copy the permalink:

Paste this into the ‘New Site URL’ tab, give it a name and then save. In the image below, I’ve added two additional tabs so you can see several in a row:

Enjoy playing around with your horizontal navigation in Blogger. If you’ve ever coded a horizontal link list in the past, you probably appreciate how easy this new feature is!

January 21, 2009 By Amanda Padgett

I have to start somewhere and I decided to start with Designs by Summer. I came across her site when I was reading someone’s blog (honestly I cannot remember which one). After reviewing her portfolio, I was impressed by both the quality of her designs and the price for her services. The phrase she uses is “Beautiful Designs, Wallet Friendly Price,” and she is spot on.

Summer is a self taught designer, who had her start with digital scrapbooking first, which turned into blog design after teaching herself about HTML and CSS. Examples of her work can be seen by going to iMommy, or Org Junkie’s Product Reviews.

Prices for new blog design are set by package and range from $35 to $100. She also can make headers (ex: Inspired Mama Musings above), buttons, signatures, awards, Etsy banners and avatars for $3 to $15.

My personal blog, Moving Forward, needed a face lift in a major way. The template I am using is a free one, and beautiful, but it does not fit my personality. Last week I contacted Summer to design a new template just for me. I will share the new site (and button) once the template is up and running.

July 9, 2011 By The Blog Designer Network

Tonight we’re having a Twitter party from 7pm-9pm Mountain Time!  Use the hashtag #BDNparty and follow @the_bdn to chat with tons of blog designers, people who enjoy blog design, or just to hang out!  Plus there are tons of giveaways that you can enter!  It’s going to be so much fun!

January 21, 2009 By Amanda Padgett

Hi there! I am glad you have stopped by. This blog is in its infancy, but I hope you find it beneficial anyway.

The purpose of this blog to show case the many women who design blogs either as a hobby or as a part time business from home. I started blogging about six months ago, and really only started following other blogs about two months ago. I was so amazed by the beauty and style of some of the blogs and wanted that for my own. Many hours have I spent looking at blog after blog to see who they were designed by, then going to that designer’s site.

Through my researching, I found many, many incredible designers and I thought I would pass that information along to those who may be interested in updating their blog’s look. Several of the sites offer free templates, some simple, some more elaborate. Many designers offer premade templates, which can be purchased for a small fee.

Please be patient as I find the right feel and design for this blog. I have dozens more designers to add, and I sure the lists will continue to grow as I discover new ones.

Next week I will be giving away a premade template from a fantastic designer, with the winner choosing the template, so make sure to check back in!