Blog Makeover | Eclectic Darling

Hello readers! I am so very excited to share with you the finished results which you previewed about two weeks ago!!! Kora, the truly eclectic author behind Eclectic Darling is one of my dearest and closest friends and I'm so honored that she allowed me to redesign her blog for her...but not without her input!!!

First you must see the way the blog was:



The blog was originally titled "Conversations With An Eclectic", but Kora was ready for a change in title since she had been blogging for over a year with this blog name and felt it didn't fit quite right.



A close up of the beautiful text that she had picked out! I think it's actually still included on the new layout! :)

Kora is a busy woman between her job as a nanny, cake decorator, and wedding coordinator...she hasn't had much time to learn about blogging, layout, and design and was really excited when I offered to do a makeover. I was excited she let me because I had my blog (Blue Eyed Beauty Blog) where I want it for now, but I still want to keep learning new things and I think the best way to do that is to keep finding blogs to makeover/redesign!

I asked Kora if she had a background picked out and she did! It is a beautiful one too:



A beautiful mix of patterns and colors!

Unfortunately it was much too small to actually fill out the whole entire background, so I had to go create something that would work. This took a few hours, but here is what I came up with after several tries and fails:



 I thought the original image worked nicely with the burlap, don't you?

Once the background was created I loved it! I loaded everything on my test blog and played with colors to figure out a good color scheme which worked well with everything since there are many colors that are very contrasting on this background.

The header for the blog was quite easy. I wanted it to blend with the background, so I just copied the same section of background from the picture just before this and made the title. Together it looks like it's just the black letters floating over the background, which is exactly what I wanted!

Finally I designed a button, obviously using a bit of the blog background so that it would go together! I just love the text, which is from PicMonkey. I created a code using this tutorial I wrote up after creating this button (I got tired of chasing down blogs and trying to remember which code was the one I liked so I finally decided to make my own!)

I really love how everything turned out and Kora is extremely excited about the new design...as she expressed in this post from November 12th! I am excited for her and for her blog! I am also grateful for the experience this gave me in the world of blog makeovers as I am planning on having the option available for other bloggers to have their blogs made over for no cost just so I can have the experience.

Eclectic Darling is now up and 'open for business' and I know that Kora would absolutely love for you to stop by and visit her corner of the blog world and leave her a comment letting her know you came by! So go visit today and become an eclectic admirer and follower! :)