Katrina Fricke: Little Sister and Musician

My littlest sister Katrina is a very talented musician. She is a singer/songwriter who has been writing her own songs for years now. This past week I spent a few days with my family in Canada and took the opportunity to capture some pictures of Katrina and film her very first video for her brand new YouTube channel. It had started snowing, and I just love the feeling the slowly falling snowflakes gave the images. I also created a logo for her and a cool header image with some of the pictures we took. 

I am really proud of the woman she is becoming, and I can't wait to see where her music takes her. 

Here is her logo and header image. 

And these are my favorite pictures. She doesn't look 16 years old, does she? She is so beautiful, inside and out. I'm proud to be her big sister. 

And I am so excited to share with you her very first YouTube video: a country version cover of Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off." Such a unique take on the song. 

Please subscribe to her YouTube channel, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter. We've got a lot of great stuff coming in the near future, including some of her amazing original material. 

Let’s Begin Sewing

It has been my pleasure to work with Rachel of Let’s Begin Sewing on a logo and blog design during the last few months. She was looking for something simple, streamlined, and classic but that still told the story of her blog. She wanted a place where people just starting out with sewing would feel at home and would be able to learn from her journey.

We started with the logo itself and I landed on the idea of using a spool of thread as the basic shape. This logo went through many a revision, mostly because I was thinking about it too much…imagine that! But once I focused on the simplicity of the concept we found something that I think works perfectly. I love the final logo design.

And then I took this concept, with its fonts and shapes and converted it into a full, but clean and simple blog design for Rachel. She chose a lovely green for her little pop accent color that I think works so good and allows the colors of her quilting and sewing projects to be the life of the blog. I’m so happy with how this all came together. See the site live here.

Thanks so much for picking me for your logo and blog design, Rachel. It was a pleasure to work with you. I hope you enjoy your blog design for a long time to come!

Recent blog design work

I am so excited to share with you my most recent blog design work. I was connected with Erin when she won the design giveaway I did The Charming blog. I was inspired by her passion for life, the fun everyday life posts she does and I enjoyed reading the “Love Story” about her and her fiancé. Her blog is all about her life and how she approaches it, so her blog name is just perfect: “Living, Laughing and Loving Life.”

We started with a colorful Pinterest board, narrowed down the color scheme and I created this moodboard for the project.

We wanted a little glitz, while being feminine and soft. I was really inspired by the feathers. And this is how her final design came together:

Come see it in action HERE. I was so excited to work with a developer for the first time on this project behind the scenes. Her name is Claudia, and she totally rocked this for me and Erin. I love the mouse-over details in the nav bar and the social media icons. So happy with how everything came together!

I am currently reworking my design packages, but if you’re in the hunt for a new look for your blog, check out my Design page and shoot me an email. I would love to hear from you and see what we can create together.

Go leave Erin some love! Tell her what you like best about her new design. I’m sure she’d love to hear your thoughts!

We Do Design

I am so excited to be included in a fabulous week of design over at The Charming. All week there will be two sessions every day with tons of design tips and tricks, giveaways, printables and lots of great designers. You’ll want to check it out. Tons of fun stuff happening over there!

My session was posted yesterday and its all about creating and using a Blog Mission Statement. You’ll be amazed at how much this one thing can help you find and develop your voice as a blogger.

Creating a Blog Mission Statement is one of the first things I have my blog design clients do. It helps us both have a clear vision of where the blog headed.

Are you thinking about a blog redesign for spring? Check out my Blog Design page for more details about working through the process with me. I’d love to hear from you!

My newest designs

I have been working hard on a few designs lately and I’m excited to share some of the results of these projects.

The first is a header design for the lovely Niamh at Finding the Joys in my Journey. She was the winner of my header giveaway at Hope Squared in October. We had a lot of fun talking back and forth about colors and textures and how she wanted the header to look. I love the final product which captures the brightness of her personality and her blog. My favorite things are the geometric shapes and how all the colors look together. She was a pleasure to work with, and her blog is a fun space to visit. Take a look at her header live on her blog HERE.

Next is a complete blog makeover for Rebecca at Our Busy Little Bunch. She received a blogger grant from Mom Central to give her blog a makeover and she chose me as her designer! She knew exactly the color scheme she wanted and sent me these pictures of fabric as a starting off point.

I loved the bright colors and grey as a neutral. She is an amazing quilter and sewer and initially I wanted to do a pretty literal interpretation of that in her design. But after some conversation I realized Rebecca didn’t want to be completely contained by that. So I went back to the drawing board and focused more on the colors with just a little bit of frill. And I added a hint of stitching/thread feel to some of the design elements. I love how everything came together, and Rebecca has been blogging up a storm since the design went live. I’m so excited for the future growth of her blog and am so glad she likes the design. See it for yourself on her blog HERE.

And the final project I have to share is for Gretchen, mother to darling little Arabella whose blog is full of stories of her little girl, her favorite etsy finds and real life moments. I had fun working with her color scheme and using pictures of Arabella. This header was a lot of fun to create!

 

We worked together to come up with a goal for her blog and something to tie everything together. In just a couple sentences that we used for her sidebar I think we accomplished just that: “I’m taking a cue from my daughter Arabella and living life to the fullest. Telling her stories, sharing our everyday life and encouraging others to live their best life wherever they are with all that they have.” I know you’ll enjoy reading her blog. Visit Gretchen and little Arabella HERE.

I am currently working with my friend and photographer Marta of VonGrey Photography to design her website using Showit. This is my first time really digging into the software and I’m having fun learning something new. Can’t wait to reveal the final website once its complete, so stay tuned!

So this is a big part of why I’ve been pretty quiet here on my own blog. Most of December and January was almost full time hours at the Credit Union and my spare time has been spent working on these design projects. I feel like I’ve hit my stride and am really in “my dream job”…working with the public by day and designing and blogging by night. I just need to work on balancing things better so I have time to share here too. Thanks for sticking around in the meantime and for your comments. They just make my day!

If you visit the blogs I shared today be sure to leave a comment! I’m sure that would make them smile too. Thanks!

Blog Design work update

I have been hard at work this month with 2 repeat customers creating new blogs for fun and interesting purposes. I designed both Mary and Kristin’s personal blogs, but I was so honored when they wanted to work with me again for their new projects.

Mary is an Independent Beach Body Coach and wanted a blog for her new business that will be full of inspirational content promoting a healthy and fit lifestyle in conjunction with the Beach Body programs and products. Her new business is called Game-On Fitness, and so she chose the name Game-On Fitspiration for her blog. I worked with muted tones, a vintage sports inspired color scheme and some great fonts. She’s got a series she’s featuring right now called “Nine Innings to Health” that you should totally check out.

It was a pleasure to work with Mary again. I can’t wait to watch her blog and her new business venture grow. Thanks Mary!!

I just worked with Kristin a couple months ago to develop and create her Fancy Free Life blog and we had lots of fun working together. She is an elementary school teacher and had a plan for a classroom blog she wanted help with. I loved all the school elements and colors she brought together in her Pinterest board and had fun drawing inspiration for her design from that. I’ve mentioned a couple times that Leah of Mommyish.net was so kind and gave permission for her elements to be used in the design. I just don’t think the finished look would be the same without that great apple!

She’s going to use her blog to keep in contact with her students and their parents throughout the school year. Isn’t that a great idea? Thanks so much for choosing to work with me again on this fun project Kristin!

I really enjoyed working on both of these designs and love that with everything new I create, I continue to learn. Blog design is something that I’ve really come to love and have a passion for. I’ve got another couple designs in the beginning stages that should be a lot of fun! I can’t wait to share those completed projects too.

Are you looking for a personalized blog design? Do you have an interesting side project that you want to develop and keep a blog for? I’d love to work with you! Take a peek at my Design page and see if one of my packages will work for you and feel free to send me an email. I hope to hear from you soon!

Leave some love for these ladies in the comments below.
It will just make their day!

dirty feet. wide open mind

My far-away friend Dani is one of the very first people I connected with in this big wide world of blogging, and we’ve stayed close through the years. We’d tossed around the idea of working together on designing her blog in the past, but something clicked this time. My design skill level has increased and I could create what she was looking for. This is my first time using an image map as a header. Totally loved figuring that out!

Dani wanted her blog to just be the header and the main post column, kind of like how most photographers have their blogs. I thought that was perfect and unique like her and was excited to work within those parameters.

Here is her completed header. I am so proud of the finished product! Click through to see the complete design live on her blog.

Whenever I am working on designing blogs I usually have this “aha” moment where everything comes together…the colors, the concept, the elements themselves…and once it clicks I just go! My “aha” moment for this project came when I was reading blogs and saw Hey Miss Indie’s sponsor giveaway post. One of her sponsors, The Joyful Fox was giving away a line portrait, and as soon as I saw it I just knew that’s what I needed for Dani. So I contacted the blogger, Laura for more information. Turns out, it is her boyfriend Chris Conlon (from Grand Rapids, MI) who is the artist behind the portraits. He was quick to respond and send me some more samples of his work to see if it was exactly what I was looking for. I must admit, I was smitten with his art.

Check out his line portraits and his painted circle portraits. Crazy good, right?! I know!

So I commissioned him to do a line portrait of Dani from one of my favorite pictures of her, and I am beyond pleased with how it turned out. His turn-around time blew me away, and I will be working with him again in the future for sure!

It was just what her header needed, and the thing that brought the whole design together. I just adore it and will probably hang it in my office. Thanks so much Chris for creating this for us! (You can contact Chris directly at blindfoxart@gmail.com if you’re interested in working with him.)

I was able to be on the phone with Dani when she saw the completed design for the first time, and her response just brightened my whole day…okay, probably my whole month. She really loves it just as much as I do. Thanks so much Dani for letting me create this for you! 

This was a really fun project to work on, and I learned a lot in the process. Thanks for sharing in the joy of a completed design with me. I’m celebrating!

Are you looking for a new header to freshen up your blog?
Or maybe its time for a brand new look?
Check out my design page for more details.
I’d love to work with you next!

Favorite Fonts

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for typography and fonts of all sorts. Ever since working on my high school yearbook I’ve been drawn to them. Fonts are always what I see first…on buildings, in commercials on tv, business cards, movie intros and trailers and blogs of course! And I collect them like a crazy person…a “font hoarder” if you will. That would make for an interesting episode of that Hoarders show… Okay, just kidding. But I think my point is clear: I really like fonts.

And today I wanted to share 5 of my favorite fonts right now, why I like them and where I got them.

1. Baker Script: I love a good connecting font where the letters really look like cursive writing. This font is one of the best at that I’ve seen. I love the vintage feel of it and the “S”. I always look at the “S” first, cuz that’s what my name starts with, and this one is lovely. 2. Flip Serif: This is a new font I got a couple months ago from Creating Keepsakes. Every Friday they share one of their popular scrapbooking fonts for free on their FB page and this one jumped right out at me. Uniquely places serifs (the strokes that finish off some lines within the type) on this font add to its draw for me. I like different and unexpected. 3. Simply Glamorous: I found this font from a pin on Pinterest that had links to a ton of great fonts. This one caught my attention, you guessed it! Because of the “S”. I love the grandiose scripty capitals and the handwritten effect. I use it for my {things I love} Thursday post titles. Fun and unique. 4. Roskrift Clean: Oh be still my heart…this calligraphy font is just killer!! I want to use it in a blog design so bad, but I haven’t had the extra money to purchase the commercial license. Another one that I would LOVE to have is the Carolyna font. Its so whimsical and has a great handwritten feel to it. On the wish list for sure! 5. Pea Our Best Bites: This is a terrific font that I got from Kevin&Amanda. They have a ton of free scrapbooking fonts and also create fonts from people’s handwriting. And I love that! It adds such a personal touch to any project if you can use your handwriting, or “borrow” someone else’s! They’ve got so many great ones on their site.

Do you have a favorite font?
How do you source the fonts you use?
What letter or character do you find yourself drawn to?

Shadylane Designs

I have been eager to share my newest blog designs! The two I did this past month have been so much fun to work on, and I love how the colors and the concepts came together. I like to have my clients pull together ideas with Pinterest. Even if they don’t have a fixed idea in mind when they start, once they begin pinning images and pictures it falls together, sometimes even in ways we didn’t expect.

The first one I want to share is for Kristin of Fancy Free Life. She was starting a brand new blog, and as things were coming together she found a scripture that inspired a name change. It was the perfect fit, and we even put the scripture in her sidebar. I love the colors that came out of her pinned images and loved the delicate touch of lace.

I really really love this finished design. The colors, the fonts and how well it matches her personality. It was a pleasure to work with and get to know Kristin too. She’s so sweet and a good photographer. Her most recent blog post is about a photoshoot turned surprise proposal. It’s the cutest story.

The second design I did was for April of Memoirs of a Panda. She is in the military and lives on an air force base in Germany! She was looking for something bright, busy and full of personality…and that’s exactly what her design inspiration pin board was full of! Lots of fun to look at! I pulled colors out of the images she loved and went with bold lines. She also took advantage of the handwriting font option and I was able to use her own personal handwriting in her design. It adds a very personal touch that I love.

“Panda” is a callsign she was given on a deployment and then a training exercise, and now its serves as kind of an endearing nickname that her good friends and a lot of coworkers call her. She embraced it by using that for her blog name. I didn’t want to go to literal with pandas, but there are a couple hidden in the design. You should head over to her blog and see if you can find them! And say hello while you’re there. April is a ton of fun!

Are you looking for a new blog design that really captures your personality? I’d love to work with you! Check out my blog design packages and see if something that I offer will work for you. I’d love to see your name in my inbox!

What are your favorite features to see on a blog?

Do you like sidebars full of links, or a more clean and simple look?

Have you started a Pinterest board for design inspiration?

 

New Design Work

With the redesign of my own blog complete, and a few inquiries about my designs, I decided to take on some blog design clients again last month. I wrote a little about it when I offered a blog header as one of the giveaways during my blog party, and shared the first one I'd completed. It makes me so happy to create a space for people online that feels like home.  

Today I want to share another completed design with you. This one was done for Ashley of Markland & Main. She was open to trying a different type of layout, with the header in the sidebar and I love how it turned out!  Lots of arrows to direct your eye and a favorite color pallet of mine (pink and brown were my wedding colors).  

I have also finished designing the header for the winner of my giveaway last month, Zelina of Honey in the Sun.  Her boyfriend is working on getting it up on her blog still, but I love it too much to wait to share!  I wanted something that felt warm and looked like how the name of her blog made me feel.  I saw this idea in my mind, and I it came together just as I'd imagined. I literally did a happy dance when I finished it and she loved it just as much as me! 

 

Are you looking for a fresh new blog design to match your personality and spirit? I'd love to work with you to create an online home you'll feel comfortable in. :)  Please check out my Blog Design page and see if there is a package there that works for you. And feel free to email me with any questions: shadylane_14{at}hotmail{dot}com.  

Is there a design feature you love to see on blogs? 

Do you like blogs with clean lines or lots of little details?

What is your favorite thing about your own blog?

BLOG PARTY: things I love Thursday

Welcome to the very first {things i love} Thursday post on the new SHADYLANE BLOG.  For the last few years I've had this feature on my blog and a good link-up post is always fun.  Click the button under my Special Features on my sidebar for previous TILT posts.  Its where I share the fun and unique things I stumble across on the internet.  

I wanted to restart this feature with a post full of links to the blogs and resources I utilized during my redesign process.  I've found that if you want to learn something there are always places to look. 

>>>> Sarah over at SillyGrrl is a circus performer with a bunch of great blogging and design tutorials.  Check out her Nerd Q & A posts HERE. 

>>>> One of my favorite tricks for customizing blogs comes from Kevin and Amanda.  This post from 2009 shows how to use custom fonts for blog post titles and your sidebar.  I created a font from my handwriting and love how it looks for my titles.  See the how to HERE. 

>>>> The Primp My Blog section over at Her New Leaf was full of great tips and tricks.  

>>>> My social media icons at the top of my blog are from this post over at The Academy.  They created a set for each of the Pantone Colors of the Year since 2009.  I loved the Honeysuckle color for 2011.  I found these icons (and created a couple extra ones that I needed, like Instagram) and had the perfect color to finalize my design.  Download your own HERE. 

>>>> Something simple that adds a big impact on your blog post is to remove the shadow around your images.  Check out this bit of coding that will enable you to do that HERE. 

>>>> Ashley from After Nine to Five did a great post about staying inspired with blogging.  At her suggestion I got really inspired to write down all of my ideas and see where they take me.  Doing that gave me some great ideas and posts I'll be doing on the blog now.  See her 5 tips HERE. 

>>>> And for the inspiration sake I created a Design pinboard over at Pinterest.  These are the things that helped me work through visually what I wanted my blog to look like.  I just love Pinterest. :) 

Do you have any blogs or resources you always turn to 

for your design needs or ideas? 

What is inspiring your blogging and design? 

Please share links in the comments.

I like to go exploring on Thursdays. :) 

invitations and a little peek

We are back from vacation and while I'm wading through editing pictures from the wedding and our visit to New England, I thought I'd do a little peek here on my blog.  I did a morning after brunch slide-show and these are three of my favorite images I shared with the small group of friends and family that the bride and groom had invited.

It was a beautiful day full of love, friendship and gorgeous weather... literally the nicest day Halifax had seen all summer.  This group was a blast to get to know and hang out with while taking pictures and in the days just before the wedding.  Chris and I were completely welcomed and we felt like part of the gang in no time.

Since the wedding is now over, I would also like to share today the invitations that I designed for this wedding.  They're quite non-traditional, but I think they match Katie and Cody perfectly.

These are the first invitations I've designed for someone else and the process was so enjoyable.  I based the color scheme off of one of my sunset pictures and pulled grey, purple and yellow out and sent my ideas to Katie.  It worked out perfectly because she was already planning on wearing a grey wedding dress (AMAZING!) and she ended up doing the bride's maid dresses in the purple color.  I think we make a good team, and I'm so proud of what we created together.

And let me tell you, it was a little surreal going into people's houses in Halifax and seeing these up on their refrigerators. :)

I'll share much more about the wedding once Katie and Cody have seen all the images.  And look for a post all about our vacation sometime this week.  We had such an amazing time. :)

blog designing

I have had the honor of working on a brand new blog design for the lovely Laura and wanted to share the finished product.  She got the amazing news that she will be part of the brand new Design Team for Scrapbooking from the Inside Out starting next month, and felt it was a great time to create an online home that was just right for her.

I was so excited for her, and eager to get started.  First we walked through the steps of figuring out exactly what she was wanting from her blog.  She wanted  a place to share her projects, stories from her life and causes she feels strongly about.  She sent me links to her favorite blogs and and told me what she loved about them and we discussed ways to implement features and designs in a unique way just for her.  Then I worked creating a mood board with the thoughts I had and elements I'd sourced that I thought she would like.  And once we hammered out a few details, like fonts, colors and page specifics, I created and then launched her brand new blog:  Progress, Not Perfection.

I love the organic elements with unexpected colors, and the little bio in the sidebar.  I sure love how it turned out, and I think Laura likes it too. :)

This was my very first time working in Typepad.  I was so fortunate that Laura took a chance on me and let me use her blog a bit as a guinea pig project.  I learned a ton about the Typepad dashboard and did a bunch of coding for the design elements.  It was an adventure learning something new, and I really appreciate the opportunity that Laura gave me.

Anyone else out there eager for a new design??  I would love to work with you to create an online home just perfect for you.  Click HERE for more information.  I hope to hear from you soon!  And now I do Typepad blogs too!

designing again

i am so excited to share my most recent blog makeover.  my scrappy online friend Patty did a twitter shout-out saying she was looking to redo her blog.  and after a couple years hiatus on the blog design front, i decided it was time to dip my toes back in and offered to work with her. 

and we had a blast!!  we sourced inspiration for the feel she was going for, the colors she was drawn to and the fonts she just loved.  in her words she was looking for "something out of an art journal with a twist of vintage and a pinch of scrapbook" and i ran with it... this is the final design:

i am so loving how it all came together.  yellow and grey with a touch of aqua.  i think its just so "patty" and she's loving it so far too. 

i want to take this chance to thank patty for trusting me with her blog and for giving me the chance to get back into blog designs.  im now so excited to move forward.  are you looking for a new look for your online home??  perhaps im in your price range!  :)  for more information see my sHe*deSigNs tab at the top of my blog.  i'd love to work with you too!