October 24, 2012 By katieprice

The Blog Designer Network is so excited to announce that we are planning to hold our first conference in late Fall 2013!  We want this conference to be beneficial for new & experienced designers, as well as anyone interested in learning more about design, development, business management, social media, and so much more. To aid […]

October 16, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

Sour Apple Studio has developed a brilliant way to design your own blog with just a few clicks! As a blogger, have you ever wished to have full control of how your design looks?  Choose your background, header, fonts, and more with this handy tool that lets YOU perfect your design. Here is what Lindsay, […]

October 12, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

We just quickly wanted to announce that this will be the last opportunity to take the live four-week workshop that teaches you how to build your own design business from the ground up!  Many students have graduated from our workshop, and we have seen them go on to form businesses and develop their talents in […]

September 12, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

The art of designing blogs and websites is a relatively new and booming business.  Every month several people graduate our Blog & Web Designer Workshop, and other talented individuals all over the web are launching online-based design shops.  As a blogger, you may be looking for a designer using our directory, or are searching independently […]

June 1, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

May’s featured designer is Lynne at Visual Serendipity! Here is what some of her former clients had to say in their nominations. I am nominating Lynne because not only did she create a beautiful blog for me, but she has gone above and beyond with her customer service. She makes sure that everything is perfect […]

May 1, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

May’s featured designer is Amber at Zany Dezines! Zany Dezines started with Amber and her mission to provide fellow bloggers with new and creative designs that were both fun and affordable. After falling in love with web design in high school, she’s taken her love of making things pretty to the blogosphere! Determined to master […]

April 10, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

This is a guest post by April Patel. If I have said it once, I have said it 100 times… “I’m going to go kill some time on Pinterest. If I’m not back in an hour, send reinforcements!” Chances are you might not know about Pinterest yet. But then again, it is the fastest growing […]

March 2, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

We have brand new sponsorship opportunities available!  You can download the PDF here, or view the image below!  Spots fill up VERY fast, so be sure to contact us if you’re interested.  

February 29, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

Today Facebook announced that business pages will be getting the “Timeline” layout by March 30th, and we have  some excellent tips to help you design and utilize this new layout to your advantage. You may already be familiar with the Timeline layout on your personal page, but now your business page will have cover photo […]

February 27, 2012 By The Blog Designer Network

February’s featured designer is Lindsay at Happy Potamus Designs! Hi! I’m Lindsay, a graphic designer and owner of Happy Potamus Designs. I’m also a stay-at-home-mom to a wonderful daughter and am so happy that I get to stay home with her and still do what I love. At Happy Potamus, I specialize in custom blog designs, […]

April 6, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

Here are some helpful tutorials I’ve come across in my blog hopping the past few weeks. Hope you find them as useful as I did.

How to create a Gravatar (an image beside your comment) by Darcy at My3Boybarians.

How to create a drop down menu for your labels (Blogger only, WordPress already has this as a widget) by Jill at Sneaky Momma Blog Design.

Blogging Glossary – defining blogging terms by Melanie at Blogging Basics 101. This one is great for those new to blogging.

How to create slide show headers by Rita at CoffeeShop.

I hope you enjoy them and learn lots. Each place has a lot more tutorials to offer, so if you have time stay and browse around.

April 28, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

Before I get into today’s post, I want to thank all my sweet followers! In the past 14 months, 501 lovely ladies have decided, for whatever reason, that BBD is worth following. I appreciate all of you and hope that BBD is a useful, user friendly resource for you to use over and over. To celebrate, I have some giveaways coming up this week, so stay tuned.

Okay, today I wanted to talk about blog conferences. There are several out there just for woman, but not always the easiest to find, so I’m compiling a list (what can I say, I like to make lists – that should be evident here at BBD). The locations vary, but hopefully there will be one near you.

Why attend? Basically, to connect with other bloggers, to network and to hopefully just learn how to blog better. I am excited to be attending my first blog conference, the Type-A Mom conference, in September, in Asheville, NC.

Thank you to Tamara, who writes about blog conferences at Blog Conference Newbie, for letting me know about her great site. Blog Conference Newbie lists lots of blog conferences and provides tips and tricks when attending a blog conference. If you’re at all interested in attending a blog conference, her site will prove very useful.

If you know of an all-woman conference that isn’t on the list, please let me know.

November 15, 2010 By Cheryl

Whipperberry is fairly new to the blogging block but these girls really know how to pull off one beautiful blog!  A collaborative blog of super talented friends who created Whipperberry as a place where they can come together in one spot, and share their creations and treasures with the world!

I don’t remember how I first ran into their site, but it was love at first click.

The things I love most about this design are:

• the colors – fresh and current
• the feminine feel with out being to “fru- fru”
• it is clean, and very pleasing, soothing
• the uncluttered sidebars
• an about  section in the tool bar, titled “chicks”
• a search bar near the top, again simple not too cluttered
• a good use of color, even though most is gray, it’s not “boring”
• how the scroll is consistent in the header and sidebars and well as between post, yet doesn’t feel “over done”
• connect icon buttons in the sidebar fit the whole design and are easy to find

Congratulations, to Heather, creator of Whipperberry on having such a beautiful blog, and thank you for being a part of Beautiful Blog Designs.

This blog was designed by Call Me Kristen.

April 21, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

I want to share a neat place to find beautiful and creative free backgrounds for Blogger blogs. Delightful Dots is a wonderful resource for those who like to change their backgrounds often. She has them tagged well so you can search by theme (seasons, colors, etc.) plus offers them in both two and three column layouts.

For the next two weeks she is offering custom design templates for a $25 donation to help Rex Stuart, a young boy with brain cancer (which my dad died of last year). If you love her design style and would like to help with wonderful cause, head over there now and get on her list.

Also, I want to thank her because she has Beautiful Blog Designs listed on her site and it refers lots of traffic my way and I am grateful.

January 2, 2012 By April at CreativeGirlMedia.com

If you’ve been curious about design and taking the plunge into starting your own business, this week begins the next installment of the Blog Designer Workshop.  Click here for more information and to register.  This workshop is great for both intermediate and novice designers and coders, and covers Blogger coding, WordPress coding, and design in the software of your choice.  

February 5, 2009 By The Blog Designer Network

The designer I am showcasing today is April Durham of April Showers. She is a very talented lady who kind of stumbled into blog design after several people liked the drawings she had done for her own blog.

After a little nudging from friends and clever marketing by her, the April Showers design studio was off and running! She works full time for a NBC affiliate and designs custom blog templates, headers and buttons in her spare time. Her blog and header designs are beautiful and unique, and are a great value!

Here are just a few examples from her gallery:

She also designs adorable buttons for your sidebar and even offers some for free. If you use a button from her, please leave a comment for her so she can pop over to see how great it looks on your blog. Here are a few of the FREE buttons you can find at April Showers:

I also wanted to add that she has a darn funny blog to follow. April is very insightful and witty and it has been very enjoyable to read her posts daily. So, even if you aren’t in need of a new blog design, shoot over there and give her blog a read – but don’t forget to leave a comment.

October 27, 2011 By The Blog Designer Network

We have a new forum that we’re extremely excited about, and wanted to share some of the ways in which you can use it.  Posting questions in a forum is extremely helpful because it allows your questions and answers to be in a public place where others with similar issues might be able to find it too!

1.  Are you new to blogging?  Do you need tips on how to start your blog, or how to get more readers?  Ask your questions in the Blogging Newbies forum!

2.  If you’re a blog designer, or need some advice or feedback on a situation,  or anything that might warrant an opinion (we have lots!) just ask in the Advice and Feedback forum!

3.  Not sure about a design you’ve created, or want a constructive critique?  Post your design or blog in the Portfolio and Blog Critiques forum.  Both designers and Bloggers are welcome to post their designs, blogs, or any creative work in which you’d like advice on!

4.  The Blogger Design and Coding forum is perfect for both newbies and expert designers who have questions about CSS and HTML on the Blogger interface, or any Blogger related questions.

5.  For those who are WordPress lovers, there’s an entire group for your WordPress needs!  You can ask specific questions about the Genesis Theme Framework, the Thesis Theme, or even Blogger to WordPress Transfers.

6.  Lastly, there’s a group dedicated to all aspects of graphic design in various platforms.  Learn about Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator!

Best of all – it’s always free, and we’ll be around ready and willing to answer all your questions – and we hope you’ll share your knowledge too!

October 10, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

Congratulations goes to comment #18, Kristina!

Random Integer Generator Here are your random numbers: 18

Timestamp: 2010-10-16 15:23:25 UTC

I am like SUPER excited to be in our new home at WordPress.org and to celebrate, we will be hosting a series of custom blog design giveaways in October and November. I am also thrilled that our first giveaway at our new home is for April Showers Blog Design!

For those who do not know April, she is a bundle of creativity and energy!! When I first started Beautiful Blog Designs, she was the first designer to contact me and show support. Her designs are unique and beautiful and I know she puts a lot of heart into each one she does. And, she was the very first “Beautiful Sponsor” for BBD! Love you, April!! ♥ ♥

I want to take a moment and share a couple of her designs which I just love so you can see her fabulous ability.

The prize that April is generously giving away a Super Amazing Package O’ Fire worth $120 (Blogger) OR  “Package A” (WordPress) worth $150!

The Super Amazing Package O’Fire includes the following:

• Header
• Background
• Custom Post/Sidebar Title Font
• Button w/ Copy Code
• Signature
• Horizontal Menu Bar
• Favicon
• Set of 10 Social Networking Icons
• Post Title Background/Icon
• Sidebar Title Background/Icon
• Post Footer
• Footer
• Search Engine Optimization

The WordPress Package A includes:

• Header
• Custom Theme
• Background
• Button w/ Copy Code
• Sidebar Title
• Image Signature

Now for the giveaway nitty-gritty:

To enter, simply leave a comment telling me how long you have been blogging.

Earn extra entries by doing one or more of the following – BUT make sure to leave a new comment for each thing you do. If you already do the listed things, simply leave a comment stating such.

The giveaway will end Friday, October 15th at 11:00 PM EST. Random.org will be used to choose the winning comment.

The winner will be notified by email and will have one week to confirm with April. If the winner does not claim the prize, a new winner will be chosen.

November 22, 2011 By The Blog Designer Network

Many designers use various techniques for linking images on a website, and making those images change upon hover. From image maps, to slicing each image individually – the page load time and usability of these techniques aren’t as optimal as using CSS image sprites.  Here is a quick way to create a functional and user-friendly set of links that load much more quickly!

As an example, we will create links and a hover effect for this set of social icons.

Notice the above is a SINGLE image, rather than three separate images.  You may choose to link these at this point, and not have them change when visitors hover.  However, good blog and web design principles tell us that it’s always a good idea to have links of any sort change upon hover.  This tells your readers that there is something of interest behind the link, and that they should “click” it!

So create your “hover” images and place them under your default images like this.  Note that this single image is taking the place of six potential images, thereby reducing server requests and saving bandwidth.

Here is the code we will use for this effect.  (You can see a preview of the result in our header!)  Copy and paste this into a helpful visual editor like the one at W3 Schools or Dreamweaver so you can see the results as you make changes.

#social{position:relative;}
#social li{margin:0;padding:0;list-style:none;position:absolute;top:0;}
#social li, #social a{height:58px;display:block;}

#facebook {left:0px;width:65px;}
#facebook {background:url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') 0 0px;}
#facebook a:hover {background: url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') 0px -63px;}

#twitter{left:65px;width:65px;}
#twitter{background:url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') -65px 0;}
#twitter a:hover{background: url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') -65px -63px;}

#rss{left: 130px;width:65px;}
#rss{background:url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') -130px 0;}
#rss a:hover{background: url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') -130px -63px;}

 

 

 

Step 1: Use your own images.

First, replace the image links with your own image URLs.  You can use your own server, or a place like Photobucket.com to get image URLs.

Step 2:  Size and position your “display windows.”

Change the height in the first section to accommodate your images.  Note the values left and width in each section.  Change the width in each section to accommodate each individual icon.  (Ours are about 58px high and 65px wide.)  Then change the left value to move the “windows” from the left side of your document to the right side.  Currently, your icons won’t appear properly in these windows until we position them, which is the next step.

Step 3: Position your default images.

We want each default icon to display in each window.  Note the values after the first image URL in each section.

#facebook {left:0px;width:65px;} #facebook {background:url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') 0 0px;} #facebook a:hover {background: url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') 0px -63px;}

These two values position the image from the left side of the document and from the top of the document.  If the first value is positive, your image will move to the right.  If the first value is negative, your image will move to the left.  If the second value is positive, the image will move down.  If the second value is negative the image will move up.

Step 4:  Position your hover images.

Now, use the second value after your image URL to position your hover images into the window.  If you placed your hover images below your default images, this value should be negative.  You can also use this value to simply position a set of default images to move up or down on hover, without the need for a second set of images to use on hover.

Step 5:  Add your URLs and more icons.

At the bottom of the code is a place where you can add your own URLs for your social sites.  You can also add as many links as you want.  Just remember to duplicate each line item (

) for a new link, as well as duplicate a section of CSS and title them all accordingly.  For example, to add an e-mail icon to our list, we would add this code just before the tag.

#email{left: 195px;width:65px;}
#email{background:url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') -195px 0;}
#email a:hover{background: url('YOUR IMAGE URL HERE') -195px -63px;}

And add this line item before the tag at the bottom of our code.

You’re done! Place the entire code in a widget on your blog!