My blog got a makeover

It's something I've wanted to do for a while,  just haven't had the time to sit at the computer for several hours straight, and that's what it took. Hours. I'm sure the little tweaks I made could have been knocked out in no time by someone who actually knows what they are doing. I am not that someone.

At one point considered paying someone to do it for me and even contacted a couple of  blog designers. It turns out they don't design for typepad blogs. When I started Creative Little Daisy in 2006, many of the blogs I read were on the typepad platform and those that were with blogger seemed to complain of frequent problems. The typepad bloggers weren't complaining about blog issues and they had nice looking blogs, so I went with Typepad.  Knowing absolutely nothing about blogging, other than how to read one, I jumped in blindly, fumbling my way around. In the past few years, there has been a shift. The number of blogs using blogger far exceeds typepad blogs (those that I read). If you google search anything to do with blog design tips or tutorials, you will find most are aimed at a blogger supported blog. That made the task of giving CLD a face lift a little more challenging, not impossible, just more challenging.

By now, y'all know, I love a good challenge, right?

What I really wanted was to streamline things. My sidebar was beginning to be a jumbled mess of various  links and buttons. I wanted a set of icons that matched and were pretty, making it easy to subscribe to CLD and find my facebook, pinterest, email... Finding the icons was easy. There are many sources for free downloadable icons, but clueless me didn't know what to do with them, how to get them on my blog. Then I found this that led me to this. Pretty buttons and easy to understand instructions for installing them. I had a little time on my hands, so I got down to business. It would have been very cut and dry except, like I mentioned before, I have a typepad blog, so I'm not one of the cool kids. The steps are a little different, but I was able to install the icons.  Here are some instructions for inserting images in your sidebar if you have typepad.

All was good, except that the pretty new icons made the rest of the blog look bla. One thing led to another and then another. You know how that goes. By the time I called it quits, because I was too cross-eyed to see anymore, I added the buttons, made a new sidebar image, a new header and new navigation bar. I also changed the colors.

I not going to go into great detail about what I did, because I would probably just embarrass myself. Most of you probably know these things already, but if you have specific questions, ask and I'll try my best to answer.
I did want to provide a link for the tutorials and tips that I found very helpful.

First, I would like to thank The Academy {snicker, it sounds like I'm making an acceptance speech} Not that Academy, this Academy for providing the free social media icons and Kira for providing the easy to understand instructions for getting those buttons on my side bar.

I wanted a cohesive and coordinated look and found the Instant Eyedropper tool very helpful. An icon is installed in your system tray that allows you to determine the HTML color code of any object on your screen.

The blog header and the navigation bar graphics were created in Picnik.

I used these instructions for adding the images to my navigation bar.

I think that's about it. It was a fun challenge and a way to get creative without getting paint in my hair, for a change.

Comments

[Sarah{Handbags*N*Pigtails}]

Well, I for one,love your new look. I just finished a "cheap, on-my-own-don't-know-what-I'm-doing" makeover on mine 20 minutes ago but I'm annoyed that its not simple enough. I may end up paying someone to do it. I totally missed the brains when it comes to technical stuff.

[Laura]

Well I LOVE it!!!

You did good :) Very simplified and pretty.

[Autum]

Hi Sarah,
I love the look of your blog. If you've been able to do that with it, why pay someone? If it isn't simple enough, have you tried eliminating one element at a time to see if you like the look better. I thought I wanted my blog to have a background, but once I had it installed, it was too much for me. It took me two days working on mine and I will probably still tweak things, but I love that in the end, it didn't cost a dime. I gained a little knowledge along the way, so I feel confident in making a little tweak here and there.
Your blog has some fancy little extras I would not begin to know how to make work. I think you did a great job!

xo Autum

[Autum]

Thank you Laura. I'm so glad you said that because simplified is exactly what I wanted, and pretty too ; )

xo Autum

[Kim Fleming]

I'm on typepad too & it's a pain in the rear to make changes. Thanks so much for posting these tips, I will definitely use them in the future.

PS--Your new look is so fresh & springy!

[WillowCaroline]

I'm impressed! I use wordpress and whenever I want a new look, I have to go with a packaged theme - I would never be able to figure out how to do it on my own!

[lisa]

Love the tabs at top

[Ashley Ann]

Looking snazzy! I love the flowers! :D

[Kira]

The makeover looks great! So glad that my tutorial helped : )

[Winnie]

Hey I just *love* the makeover. It actually makes you want to come back :)

[garage equipment]

For me its always a good idea to have some make over to your blogs. Aside from the fact that you might earn more readers, they will also love to visit your page every now and then.

[Felix Stendahl]

You're blog actually looks fantastic. Is your theme included in a packaged deal? The font and the background complement each other very nicely. That’s what made me think it’s a packaged deal. It does look creative yet so simple. Good work!

[Autum]

Thank you!  No there is no package theme. I used typepads CSS option that gives me pretty much complete freedom in the color and style choices. It would be a good thing if I actually knew what I was doing. It took a lot of research on my part and trial and error to come up with the current design. All the art work was done using the now sadly departed Picnik. I was able to get all the colors I wanted using the custom eye dropper tool that will give you the html code for any color on your monitor.

[Sage Aumick]

It seems that you had so much fun on your blog designing and lay outing! But really, blog designing and lay outing is a modern kind of artistry, wherein being you is still the best thing one can do. Forget about the means, as they say, because the final results will speak out for itself. Cheers for the happy designing and blogging! :)

[social media speakers]

I love new design of your blog. I like the design on the top :)

[D]

Good sharing.
http://www.google.com/search?q=JOYFAX

[The Violet Hours]

Hi there.
One question...how did you get your social media icons to line up horizontally? Mine are vertical. Your blog is adorable!
Thanks!
Amanda

[Autum]

Oh my goodness,  I have no idea how I did that.  I will try to find the answer for you though.  My blog design abilities consist of reading tutorials and giving it a try till something works.  But I will get back to you!

XO
AUTUM

[The Violet Hours]

I just tried something and it worked! I put them all in the same note and not different ones so they lined up instead of stacking.
Thanks for writing me back tho!
Best,
Amanda

[Autum]

Yay!

[Account Deleted]

Hi Autumn! So glad I found your blog. I'm going to follow along! I have the same issue you had but you are probably more computer savvy than I am. I retired last year so now have more time to blog but trying to figure out how to custom design my own blog makes me go cross-eyed. I want to give my Typepad blog a cleaner look but want my icons to be cool and streamlined. You did a great job on blog! I found someone who custom designs graphics but she doesn't work with Typepad blogs. I've been with Typepad since I started so don't want to move to another platform. It's now 2013 so picnik no longer exists. I could probably design some icons with Picmonkey? I'll be coming back her to look at your links and give it a go! I desperately need to clean-up my blog design.

[Account Deleted]

I want to go with a 2 column layout too. Love how you have all your icons on the right side. It will probably takes me weeks and lots of frustration, but I'm going to try to do a redesign by myself.

[Account Deleted]

It's me again. Sandy, from the Delightful Eclectic Abode. I'm looking for a set of icons that don't have reader (not sure if reader is/has gone away) I'm looking for a set that has google + and Twitter. It seems most people are using google+ which I love because it is visual.