Photography Website and Blog {parting is such sweet sorrow}

I just finished up designing Sarah Elizabeth’s website and blog! We had a lot of fun working on it – she wanted something swirly and coral for the logo, while keeping the website professional, and we based the rest of the website and blog on that logo design. Sarah was so sweet to work with and I greatly appreciated her flexibility and graciousness! =D

Unique to this website was the incorporation of flash slideshows and a custom portfolio gallery. Her stunning photos are displayed on the main page of the website in a slideshow, while there’s another one on the about page. =) I enjoyed adding those new elements!

Check out her sites and don’t forget to follow her!

*This will be the last post until August, so I bid you all a fond farewell! ;) I’ll be back in August with new tutorials and posts.
Have a great summer!*

Shoppe Closing in July

But not for good. ;) Starting on July 1st and ending on July 31st, the shoppe will be closed and I will not be accepting any orders. During that month I will work on finishing my novel, taking advantage of “Camp NaNoWriMo,” a July version of the regular NaNoWriMo. This will also be a good summer break to have, and I will be back in full force in August!

I will finish the designs of everyone who I am currently working with before breaking for July. This might run over the month of June, but I will still finish with these people. (And let me tell you, I’m having fun with these designs! We have two website/blog combinations in the works, and one will be done in the next few days. I can’t wait to share it with you all!)

I am accepting one more client between now and June 30th, so hurry and get your order in before July!

Cowgirls and Yes, I Forgot

First, I published yesterday’s post, completely forgetting to mention what was probably the most important thing of all! Maeve is hosting a giveaway this week, as part of her Photographer’s Week, and the prize is the Professional Package (curtsey of yours truly), worth $80, and consisting of a website, blog, logo, watermark, and Facebook integration! You have until the 23rd to enter. Alright – go check it out!

My sister finally decided that she wanted to get a blog. She’s in the process of starting a craft business, and thought it’d be fun to have a personal blog along with her website. =) So I designed her blog today (it was a different experience to have your client sitting next to you as you work) and we finished up tonight! =D She wanted a cowgirl/Carrie Underwood look, and I think we pulled it off. ;) Check it out here and follow her – she’s already pining away because she only has two followers! ;)

News, Giveaway, a Blog, and More…

A lot has been going on around here lately! Rachel and I just finished up her blog design, there are three new tutorials up, two new freebies, and the homepage has some important changes.

Maeve is also hosting a giveaway! Check it out here and enter to win the Professional Package (formerly the Photographer’s Special). The package is worth $80 and consists of a website, blog, logo, watermark, and Facebook integration!

First off, check out Rachel’s new look! She asked for blues, grays, and whites, and wanted something simple but elegant. The process was fun and went very quickly! =)

Check out the tutorial and freebies blogs for more of all that, and stop by the homepage, too. I have so many blogs that even I get a bit confused sometime, keeping up with everything. ;) What I’ve done is set up a news section on the homepage, so that at one glance you can see everything that’s new, whether it be a blog post, freebie, tutorial, or general announcement.

And last but certainly not least, the petition. I was so delightfully surprised by the big response I got within the first few days of the announcement, and I continue to be! Everyone’s support and help in this endeavor has been great. Now, can I ask you all a quick favor? I would love it if you guys could write a blog post, summarizing the point of the petition, and linking to the petition so that your own readers can sign it. This is something that will impact every person who uses Blogger, and I think that if we can spread this as far as possible, our influence will grow. The more people who protest Blogger’s actions, the greater chance we have of overturning this. I’ve set our goal for 2,000 signatures. I know that’s a lot, but I think we can do it, with all of you helping out! And thanks in advance! You’ve all been so wonderful. (And I’d love it if you’d all comment and let me know if you blog, and leave the link to the post! I’d love to read your posts. =) )

If you want you can take the code for the widget that’s on the right of my blog – here it is -

<script type="text/JavaScript">var Care2P_Parameters=["http://www.thepetitionsite.com/xml/petitions/221/357/537/feed.rss", "small", "single", "341213001", "0", "#7cbb42", "#eb6924", "#c739e"];</script><script type="text/JavaScript" src="http://dingo.care2.com/petitions/widget/common/petition_embed_br.js"></script>

And the link for the actual petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/give-us-back-edit-html/

Thanks, everyone! You’re all troopers!

A Petition

I got up this morning ready to do a lot of writing…I was set to get at least 2,000 words written. But I checked my Blogger home first.

I use Blogger in Draft, as I know many of you do. The advantage is that we get to experience Blogger’s new changes right before they’re released to the general public. I discovered today that Blogger has completely changed the design, format, and layout of the dashboard, and they have removed our ability to edit the HTML of our templates.

Now, they are currently asking for everyone’s opinions on the new changes, and, of course, have not released the new design to everyone. But after reading all the documentation I could find on the subject, all I could come up with is that they want to release the new design soon, and are excited about it. There was no mention of restoring the ability to edit HTML.

Because this would destroy many web design businesses, I have created a petition (widget on the right), asking Blogger to restore the “Edit HTML” capabilities for good, in draft home and regular home, and to not change that ability. I would greatly appreciate it if you, my loyal followers, would sign it. All information provided is kept private, and is only used for verifying that a real, actual person is signing for themselves and not making names up. =) Thank you all so much!

(Want more info? Check out the page here - http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/give-us-back-edit-html/ – or email me at petition@beautydesignstudios.com for more information.)