Thursday, June 11, 2009

New faces, new look maybe?

Two blogger meets to describe; first, I hung out with Patti and Mark, Pam and V., and Gil and her hubs down from Ottawa, at Pam's house. It was great and we had loads of fun. I could not bring the boys, they were sick and teething and studying for exams. But maybe next time? Anyway, everyone was wonderful, and I can't wait to get together again.

I met some very lovely women at the Toronto BlogHer meetup this past Saturday and I enjoyed myself immensely. Thank you for taking me Lisa! (She was my beard. Just in case.) In fact, after chatting with Her Bad Mother and everyone else, and mentioning that story about CATSA and breastmilk on planes (is that like snakes on a plane...?) guess what I saw today? This! Awesome, thank you thank you to everyone who reads and tweets and does whatever to help fix our Canadian mess!

I think that BlogHer '09 might work out even if I will be hiding in the corner behind my computer. Mostly because it seems that everyone else is going to do that as well, so it will be a crowded corner. Heh.

One funny thing. Last year Mel had blogged about blogger cards and how they get handed out with all your info, and you know I've been dithering about what to put on my badge and tell people. Well, it turns out that at blogger get-togethers, everyone introduces themselves as their real name and then says their blog name. And if you don't say your blog name, or url or something, then there is a long weird silence. Like---well---who are you?

And everyone is nice and nobody cares about details, but, I have to wonder, they are also likely not as crazy as me or as much of a naked blogger as I am. Although, after reading Niobe's confessions posts and Julia's secrets post, that may not be true, turns out y'all are as interesting and fucked up as I am, but nobody admits it except me. Two weeks ago, I was convinced that I was the only nutbar in the blogosphere, but now it's fer sure, I am not alone. Which is awesome, right? I need company! Otherwise people will think I am just talking to myself.

But to get back to my point, I need cards people, and not just the goofy plain typed ones with my real name and address for playdates. I need one with a design! Which means my blog likely needs a damn design! Something it has never really had. I just picked a blogger template and changed a few colors and started typing. Since I never actually look at my own blog, but just read comments on email, it never occurred to me that we might need to put some lipstick on this pig.

Until now.

So what should I do? Where do I start? I have no ideas, beyond hating the color green. Also hate peach. And I need some one to do it all for me including installing, because I actually can't do any of it. I can pay someone? I can type, and I talk a good game, but I'm always afraid to fiddle with settings. Plus cards. I know there are local places that print them, but how? Do I email it? Email what for that matter? Or draw something with crayons? Chalk on sidewalk? Sanskrit on paper?

Anyway, if you have any ideas for facelifts or bloglifts or contacts, pass 'em on. I may not remember to put on face makeup at this thing, but I'd like it if my website looked good. And if I do it on my own, the only look I'll dream up will involve the theme, "Cheap 'n Crummy."

Help!

11 comments:

  1. Did you meet Sam/Temptingmama? She does blog design. *sigh* wish I was going with you.

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  2. Just about any web designer could do it. If you're staying on Blogger, it's really just a matter of doing a header for you. It would probably only cost $100 or so.

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  3. Vistaprint is really cheap for cards, and if need be, there are lots of card templates.

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  4. I just used a Blogger template too, & I haven't touched anything in eons.

    Calliope at Creating Motherhood has done a lot of funky blog headers for people. http://creatingmotherhood.com/

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  5. Yeah, uh just so you know? You're not the only crazy blogger. I'm throwing myself in that category too. Especially lately.

    Eden got a cool new blog design. http://edenriley.blogspot.com/ Not sure who did it for her but it's neat!

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  6. motherbumper did mine. I think its supercute but I'm biased

    I love that I am so mysterious I don't even get a link...

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  7. Cali at Creating Motherhood did mine AND she figured out that cool navigation bar at the top. She's great.

    Though my cards don't match my blog at all. I didn't change the blog until this past fall, so the blog last year when I got those cards made looked like the normal blogger template. And then I thought about matching the blog look to the card, but then Vee donated her gorgeous picture. So...I say, go with what you want even if they don't match :-)

    But I get to meet you this summer too!

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  8. Yeah I did some REALLY CHEAP Vistaprint cards for BlogHer - not that I am on a promotional tour but I figured it was easier than writing down @ewiller 50 times (assuming of course that 50 people want to know my twitter handle, ha ha). Anyway, I didn't really think about the design of those and linking them to my blog design (which I may have just settled on, mine is pretty boring with just the custom header). You, I think your words are what's speaking. Design is secondary. Some of the WORST blogs have the most colour and noise going on!! :-)
    And as one of the people there, I found you perfectly charming and would love to meet you again as we hide in the corner at BlogHer so that I'll have someone to talk to.

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  9. Can I just say I'm jealous about you meeting all the cool bloggers. I'll just sit over here in Denmark and sulk.

    As for design ideas I've seen a lot of nice ones from Calliope as mentioned above.

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  10. I'm really upset that I got sick just before the TO BlogHer meetup... in fact, both the girl and I got sick, with these colds that I KNOW were not the swine flu. But we were hacking nonetheless and would have been snotty company.

    This is my first time at your blog and I love your openness and honesty. I'll have to look for you in Chicago, but I don't know what the HECK you look like! Look for me, 'kay?

    I need a new blog design too, mine is so lame, but I went and spent a small fortune on Moo cards with pix of my kids, that people will wonder "huh?" but they're prettier than I am ... I'm sure I'll come home with half of of them because I'll be too chicken to give them out...

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  11. I have no answers for you, as I have the same questions. I've been wanting a blog makeover for about a year now, so I have a favorites folder with about 100 blog designers bookmarked, but I'm no closer to making a decision than I was before. If you want a copy of all the designers I found, shoot me an email or @ me on twitter. However, to keep from a lot of confusing choices (which is what has kept me from making a decision), I'd probably suggest what everyone else has said: Use Calliope.

    I can't wait to see the blog/card choices you make and to hear how BlogHer went. The need for a serious blog makeover/personalization and the need to maintain a reasonable amount of anonymity are two of the things that have kept me from BlogHer, so I'm anxious to see how it all works out for you. Maybe next year I'll finally join you!

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