May 10, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

Today’s Beautiful Blog is My Two Seasons, a self-hosted WordPress blog run by Michelle Johnson. My Two Seasons is a place for Michelle to share her love of photography, nature and family. Her photography is beautiful and inspiring, and I find myself drawn back there time and again.

The design for My Two Seasons was recently created by Michelle herself and I think it is just fantastic!

What I love about the design:

• Clean and simple design, with plenty of white space
• Tidy, well organized sidebar
• User friendly navbar at the top of the blog
• Simple, but very tasteful header with rotating pictures
• Soothing color scheme
• Great content!

If you have some time to blog hop today, I highly recommend popping over to My Two Seasons. You’ll find yourself staying longer than you thought you would!

Congratulations, Michelle, on having such a beautiful blog! If you’d like to share this feature with your readers, here is a button for your sidebar or a blog post.

If you’d like to see all the past Beautiful Blog Series features, simply click on Beautiful Blog Series in the Categories section in the sidebar.

p.s. Don’t forget about the giveaway going on right now. Two budget blog makeovers by Adori Graphics; to enter click here.

January 26, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

This giveaway is now closed.

Congratulations to the winner, Summer, comment #17, from Lady Luck’s Abode! 

(I usually paste in the Random.org part here, but I exited out of the page and can’t get back. It was #17, I promise LOL).
 

Today we have the Grand Prize to finish off the birthday bash for Beautiful Blog Designs and I am very excited to be hosting a giving away for a custom blog design by 7M Designs!

Kim, the designer at 7M Designs, has decided to reinvent her design business this year, and she started off by giving it a new name. The design business was formerly BB Blog Design, but she renamed it 7M (after her personal blog, The 7 Millers) to incorporate all her design work including Christmas cards, birth announcements, web sites and more.

Here are a few of her designs that I love:

 

I love that right when BBD is celebrating the anniversary of it’s launch, we are helping a designer celebrate the relaunch of her business. That’s why I keep Beautiful Blog Designs going, to aid bloggers and designers – it just feels good!

The prize for this giveaway is a custom blog design that includes:

• Custom header
• Backgrounds
• Custom sidebar tabs (up to 5)
• Custom signature
• Installation (of course)

Here are the giveaway specifics:

1. To enter simply leave a comment telling me what your blog is about (food, photography, homeschooling, crafts, a mixture, etc.).
2. Earn a second entry by going to Kim’s portfolio and coming back here to tell me your favorite design. Make sure to leave your answer in another comment.
3. The giveaway runs from Tuesday until Thursday, January 28th at 11:00 PM EST.
4. The winner will be chosen via Random.org and she has one week to claim their prize via email to Kim or a new winner will be chosen.

June 21, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

Today I am featuring a Blogger blog, The Homeschool Chick, a blog run by Sue, a homeschooling mom who writes about homeschooling, her faith, photography, blogging and the little things that tickle her.

What I love about The Homeschool Chick:

• Clean, cute design that is fresh and cheerful.
• Lots of white space, which is easier on the reader’s eyes.
• Very well organized sidebars, with important things like how to contact and follow up top for the readers to find.
• Creative and engaging About page.
• Well written posts with text broken into smaller chunks, easier for the readers to follow.
• Pictures with most posts, which help to engage the reader and illustrate the point of the post.

The Homeschool Chick was designed by Designer Blogs, the design studio who created BBD’s look also. They are so wonderful and I love the look they created for Sue.

Congratulations, Sue, on having such a beautiful blog! Here is a button if you’d like to share this feature with your readers.

It’s been a few weeks since my last Beautiful Blog Feature. Even though the features don’t seem to get many comments, I do get lots of feedback about them via emails or on Twitter, so I keep doing them. Also, I think it is good for new bloggers to see what a beautiful blog consists of, because it’s not all about the design.

If you’d like to see all the past Beautiful Blog Series features, simply click on Beautiful Blog Series in the Categories section in the sidebar.

February 3, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

At first glace this post may not seem to fit with the direction and purpose of Beautiful Blog Designs, but it does so bear with me.

Everyone knows, or should know, that adding pictures to your blog posts really helps gain the reader’s attention and sometimes helps explain crafts, tutorials and more. Everyone on the planet knows about the Pioneer Woman, right? Her pictures are amazing, entertaining and educating. Her shots used for her recipes help take the mystery out of cooking. Or, what about A Soft Place to Land? She has wonderful craft ideas and always share several pictures so that her readers can see the craft, step by step.

Now, before adding those pictures to your posts, make sure they look as good as they can. Regardless if you use a point and shoot camera or a DSLR, editing your pictures can make a world of difference. A hugely popular program is Photoshop, but it comes with a huge price tag. A stripped-down version of it is Photoshop Elements, which is much more affordable.

Now, if you don’t have a editing program, no worries. There are several free ones you can use online (do a Google search and you’ll find many). One that come highly recommended is Picnik.com. And before you fuss about not having to learn how to use it, there is an excellent post at TidyMom about it today. She describes how she edits her photos, makes collages and adds words to pictures.

Do you use a free online editor? If so, I’d love to hear about it. Leave the program and the address and I’ll add it to this post.

Here are some recommended by BBD readers:

Thank you, SueAnn, Elizabeth and Emmy for taking a moment to share with us what works for you.

August 17, 2011 By The Blog Designer Network

If you’ve ever used digital art from MYGRAFICO ARTS & CRAFTS you know how affordable their amazing graphics are, and how useful they are when designing blogs and websites!  From detailed patterned backgrounds, to cute frames for blog headers, and even high quality clipart – the variety found at their newly re-designed website is just one of the reasons to take a look!  Plus their prices are just unbeatable!  Most of the items come with commercial license options and can be used by blog designers, web designers, print designers, and more.

They also have implemented an affiliate program where you can earn money by referring your blog readers and even design clients.  Track your clicks and earnings, and have a variety of options when it comes to promoting this great and resourceful site!  We have been avid MyGrafico fans for quite awhile, so we jumped at the chance to become affiliates too!

*The affiliate links in this post may generate a small commission for the BDN.  We appreciate your support!*

April 3, 2011 By April M

Sometimes I would like to schedule when my new post will show on my blog at a certain date and time instead of me having to go in and post it manually. Here is how to do that:

Step 1: After you have created a post click on “Post Options” under “Labels”.

Step 2: Choose “Scheduled at” under “Post date and time”. Enter the date and time you would like your post to show on your blog.

Step 3: Click “Publish Post” and wah-la!

October 23, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

Bloggy Blog Desigz is teaming up with another designer on October 30th and giving away design goodies every hour of the day, from 10AM to 4PM via TWITTER! Read this POST to see how to enter. It’s very simple and sounds like lots of fun!

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Blog Designers: Do you have a blog design giveaway going on that you would like Beautiful Blog Designs to publicize? Simply use the contact form to send me the HTML code for your button and main details of your giveaway.

We are excited to officially announce that we are in the planning stages of hosting the First Annual Blog Design Conference!

This conference will focus on inspiring, teaching, and expanding the knowledge of those who attend.

Speaker Proposals are now being accepted. Use our contact form to inquire.

July 27, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

Guest post by Dawn Farias

Today’s Beautiful Blog is A House Full of Moxie, “a blog about being a small business owner, mom, wife and all around crafty kind of chick”. That crafty chick is Lisa Bacon, founder of Moxie Pear, a graphic and web design boutique.

What I love about the design:

But there’s also:

• A prominent and succinct “about me” spot right in the upper right of the sidebar.
• A tagline that lets you know immediately what’s going on at this blog.
• Perfectly coordinated, but not overwhelming, graphic details for labels, comments, social media, post series, and tweeting individual posts.

Lisa has paid attention to every small detail while still keeping her space clean and simple.  Go check out her blog, A House Full of Moxie, for tips on crafting, business ownership, cooking, indie shopping and photography.

Congratulations, Lisa, on having such a beautiful blog! Here is a button if you’d like to share this feature with your readers.

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You can find more from Dawn Farias at her site A Bit Bloggish – a place with digital scrapbooking kits, tutorials and tidbits on daily life.  Feel free to follow her on Twitter, too!

March 19, 2010 By The Blog Designer Network

I have given this page a clean slate. Designers – if you would like me to advertise a giveaway you having going on, please read this post and then contact me with the pertinent information.