Blog love

Photo Credit

Yesterday evening I gave my blog some much needed TLC. If you're reading this post in Google Reader, hop on over to Life & Layouts to check out the amazing blogs that I have added to my blog roll!

Since taking Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class, my list of subscriptions in Google Reader has increased to ten times the size that it was three months ago. Madness. The blogs to your right are those that provide me with endless hours of entertainment and inspiration. Some are on my wavelength, some make me think outside of the box...all of them inspire me to become a better scrapbooker, cook, photographer and person. Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, I would also quite like to live on a ranch. I know that the list will grow in 2010, and I seriously need to think up some imaginative titles for each section (any suggestions will be gratefully received).

So, thank you ladies, for broadening my horizons and for setting the standard to which I aspire. And yet another THANK YOU to my readers, followers...those of you that take the time to comment and to those of you that simply stop by from time to time. You rock. But I'm going to stop there, because this isn't the Oscars.

Anyhoo, my proudest achievement to date is adding a divider to my blog! I even fiddled with the HTML. The needle and thread is from I Love My Blog Makeover, which also has a very handy tutorial on how to install it. And then I got thinking. I have come across some really fantastic and informative tutorials on how to edit and improve the design of your blog in recent months. Most of the time I forget where I originally found them, so I end up spending hours trawling through my Firefox history hoping that something will remind me...I could, of course, bookmark them like a normal person, but that's just not my modus operandi. Organisational issues aside, they might be helpful for those of you like me, who are just starting out and want to run and hide from their blog's HTML code, or who simply want to give their blog a makeover in the New Year. So, here we go:

Useful resources:

1. The Cutest Blog on the Block - (TCBOTB) loads of pretty backgrounds and headers/banners.
2. Shabby Blogs - gorgeous backgrounds, buttons and blinkies, dividers, headers, etc. Be sure to check out the Shabby Blog, too.
3. I Love My Blog Makeover - more lovely backgrounds and blog accessories.
4. Aqua Poppy Designs - lots and lots of backgrounds.
5. Just Something I Made - check out Cathe's Free Blog Buttons, Gadgets and Goodies section!
6. April Showers - April's tutorials are very helpful for beginners.
   
7. Kevin and Amanda - Amanda's famous Fonts for Peas and Scrapbook Fonts are 100% unmissable (and very useful for signature tutorials).
8. Webs - Amanda, from kevinandamanda.com (see above) uses this website in a few of her tutorials, which I've linked below. I'm not entirely sure what it is or how it works, but I know that it's important.
9. Photobucket - most people already have a Photobucket or Flickr account for their blogs, but, since most of the tutorials referenced below use Photobucket, I thought I'd mention it here.
   
10. My Live Signature - create your own signature for your blog, for free!

Although a couple of these websites do custom blog design, the majority of the backgrounds and blog accessories are FREE!

How to get a 3 column Minima template in Blogger:
How to get a 3 column template @ TCBOTB
Make your blog three columns @ April Showers

Adding a Favicon to your blog:
Tip of the week: How to add a favicon to your blog @ April Showers

Making that pesky Blogger nav bar disappear:
Disappearing nav bar tutorial @ Shabby Blogs
Tip of the week: How to delete the nav bar @April Showers

Using custom fonts for titles/blog posts:
How to use a cute font for your Blogger post titles @ Kevin and Amanda
How to use a custom font for your entire Blogger/blogspot posts @ Kevin and Amanda

Adding a signature to your blog:
Add a signature to every blog post on your Blogger/Blogspot blog @ Kevin and Amanda
Tutorial on how to add a custom signature to your blog @ I Love My Blog Makeover
Tutorial: How to add a custom signature to your Blogger posts @ Shabby Blogs
Tip of the Week: How to make and post a signature @ April Showers

Adding a divider to your blog:
Tutorial: How to add post dividers to your Blogger blog @ Shabby Blogs
Tutorial on how to add post dividers to your blog @ I Love My Blog Makeover
How to apply our post divider images @ TCBOTB

Adding buttons:
Blog buttons! @Kevin and Amanda (scroll down)

I've got some more photos from the past few weeks to upload in the next couple of days, as well as a few layouts to share! Progress is being made...

Have a fantastic start to the week!