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.  :)

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