5 Design Resources for Bloggers

Hey dollfaces. As you know, I'm on vacation(ish) in the NC mountains and am a little too busy for this blog right now. But don't worry, I've got Kate here to give you some tips on designing your blog. She's giving away all my secrets! :) 


Hey friends! I'm Kate from over at Diaries of an Essex Girl where I talk about travel, health, love and all kinds of random nonsense. I am excited to be sharing something with you all today on Allie's blog, isn't she just a pretty cool lady? I'm pretty sure we can all admit to thinking dinosaurs are pretty rocking - amiright?

Blog designing is something I've actually been into for years but as times have changed, so have blogs and although now it is less time consuming - it requires a lot more tools that just Photoshop and somewhere to code. In fact, you don't need either of those things anymore if you don't want to or know how to use them. I've compiled a list for you of the 5 top resources you need to start using now to make your blog designing that little bit more seamless and the best part is - they are all free!

1. Design Seeds

Design Seeds is an awesome website for designers because it has thousands of colour palettes to choose from. Each palette has six colours that compliment each other beautifully and are inspired by different themes or images. Some of my favourite categories are Flora, Autumn and Nature. No matter your blog niche, writing style or personal colour preferences - you will find the perfect palette on Design Seeds!

2. Browserling

Have you ever coded an awesome layout and then had someone tell you it looks crappy in XYZ browser? No? Well it sucks. Browserling allows for cross-browser testing so all you have to do is type your URL in and it shows you how it looks in all available browsers. This way, you can spot an error BEFORE you share the blog design with the Interwebs and have someone tell you your design sucks for them. Winning.

3. Image Maps

If you already know how to Image Map, that's awesome. If you don't, let me tell you how and welcome you to the world of prettier designs! All you need to do is upload your image, create a shape around the part you want to link, enter the link and then move on to the next shape. Done. This can create lots of different links on one image without them overlapping - great for pretty navigational bars and social media icons.

4. Design Your Way

When browsing Google one day, I stumbled across an incredible page - Big fat collection of free resources for designers. I mean, the name alone sells it right? This page is full of textures, patterns, brushes, themes, fonts, social media icons, vectors, EVERYTHING you could possibly want. All for free to download right this very second. Happy browsing!

5. Pic Monkey

Maybe I'm a little late to the party with this one, as I believe Pic Monkey is pretty popular with bloggers. However, I really think it's an important one to share because it shows that you do not need Photoshop to create pretty images for your blog. I've seen some amazing tutorials online for Pic Monkey on how to make navigational bars (with Image Maps!), advertising buttons, bio images and page headers. On their blog, Pic Monkey shared the Top Ten Tutorials for using their service to pretty much design your whole blog. Can't ask for more than that can you?
Here's hoping I've shared at least one tool with you today you didn't know about - unless you are a total blog designing superstar and in that case, lets hear about your favourite design tools!

What tools do you use to design your blog? Sharing is caring!

Catching My Eye 11: igloos + mushrooms + no pants

Oh man guys. School is getting to me already and I've only had three days. I drank my first cup of coffee, EVER last night. I hate caffeine so much but I just had to. Sigh. So just a heads up, that I won't be posting 7-8 times a week like I have the last few months, but it'll be at least 4-5. I'll be here y'all!

Now for my favorite links of the week:

♥The igloo hotel in Kakslauttanen, Finland. Get up close and personal with the northern lights. Yes, please!

Built from a special thermal glass the temperature inside the igloo always stays at a normal level. It also prevents the glass from not getting white frosted, hence keeping the view clear even when the temperature outside drops to under -30°C. Every igloo is equipped with a toilet and luxury beds. On every evening a hot sauna and a refreshing ice hole are waiting for you.

♥Eight things I learned from 50 naked people. (And no, not me, the author)

♥This awesome video of what women have looked like through the centuries.



♥Super cool pictures of bioluminescence in action

♥Jasmine shares fall television shows you should be watching.

♥The awkward years project:

Remember the years between being a cute kid to the awesome person you are today? I'm talking about your awkward years. I want to share a collection of people sharing their most awkward years and show how great of people they turned out to be. To all of you who are struggling out there, and those that love before & after portraits, this project is for you!

♥Goodreads's list of Movers & Shakers every month always brings me some of my favorite new reads.

♥Kayte makes it easy with seven tips for travelers.



♥My favorite tumblr for travel pictures: Exquisite-planet.

♥Lena Dunham's awesome response to her no-pants critics. #thightstillidie

♥You might have missed: Love your brain: a new series ♥ Easy peasy ways to make your blog prettier in 5 minutes ♥ How to refrain from verbally stabbing customer service reps

What are you loving this week? Leave me some links!

Catching My Eye 08.

Would you make me very very happy and take my survey? I promise, it's super short, 9 questions. And most of the questions are multiple choice, a few you have to fill in a word. I will love you forever! 

Just a heads-up, friends. I'm heading up north today for a super short trip. I have posts scheduled for you but I won't be responding to comments until Friday. So no, I don't hate you, I'll reply soon!

The best of the interwebs:

♥This video. True, ain't it?



♥This beautiful word art! I'm getting SO into typography lately. Any of you like typography or things like that?



♥This DIY on A Beautiful Mess on making a photo-covered journal.



♥Yeah, I'm way behind. But Mulberry's Fall 2011 line ads are phenomenal, aren't they? I want to live in it.

♥Victoria's Secret PINK has launched a line called Consent Revolution: underwear decorated with phrases like "Ask first", "No means no" and "Let's talk about sex". By the time women in the United States graduate from college, one in four will have been raped. Women are twice as likely to be raped in their lifetime than to develop breast cancer. This is little, but maybe it'll change things.

♥In this video, Heineken offers people free flights to exotic destinations. The only caveat? They have to leave immediately and they don't know where they're going.

♥This fascinating study shows that Instagram is more depressing than Facebook.

♥Have you heard that the Postal Service might stop delivering to your door? If you live in America.


♥You might have missed: july music recommendations ♥ 5 More Things I'm Not Ashamed Of (But Probably Should Be) ♥ Marie Curie, karate-chopping stereotypes ♥ Sponsor CMS in July/August.

Catching My Eye 07.

The best of the interwebs:

♥How to make your t-shirts look semi-ladylike.

♥This super duper cute elephant and hot air balloon throw pillow. Literally, anytime you see anything with an elephant (or rhino or whale or dinosaur) on it, please just buy it for me. I'll love you forever.

♥This writer made me laugh by rejecting his rejection letter.



♥This jelly.

♥Is there any land in America at all? This map makes it look like all rivers.

♥Here's that permission you've been waiting for.

♥McDonald's suggested budget for employees shows just how hard it is to get by on minimum wage.

♥Your sneezes sound like choruses of angels giggling. --Emergency Compliments.

♥You might have missed: Three Must-Read Memoirs ♥ Things I love about me +why that's not arrogant ♥ A reading playlist ♥ Sponsor CMS in July/August.

Catching My Eye 06.

The best of the interwebs:

♥I know this is super old stuff, but this video of Jimmy Kimmel getting Coachella attendees to lie about their music knowledge cracks me up. Probably something I'd do though--I hate admitting when I haven't heard of a band. Anyways, I was cracking up.

♥We all know we should go to bed early and get up early, but how often does that really happen? Here's 7 ways to get in bed earlier tonight.

♥Clearly, I still can't stop thinking about Iceland. Take me there!



♥This Spanish restaurant allows unemployed patrons to work for an hour in exchange for a meal.

♥This awesomely education infographic shows ten top destinations in the world that may be disappearing and why you should visit them while you still can.

♥Beautiful faceted, geometric tattoos on The Uniqueness of Being's feature called Tattoosday.

♥You might have missed: Let's Make Things Pretty: Free Fonts ♥ 4 Genius TEDTalks ♥ In Which I Try To Make You Like Something Weird

Don't forget these two super important things!!

I'm holding an awesome Adventure Lovin' Giveaway AND Call Me Sassafras has ad spaces on SALE for super cheap!

Catching My Eye 04.

This week: I worked, scooping lots of ice cream ♥ Played lots of games with friends ♥ swam & laid out on the beach ♥ ran my longest run in awhile (4.5 mi) ♥

Now for the best of the interwebs:

♥Obama likes Snocones.

♥Shannon at The Feminist Mystique has a series on different women (and some men) and their choices to change, keep, or hypenate their last names upon getting married.

♥Bill Nye the Science Guy's house is energy efficient with solar panels and green windows.

♥95% of people wash their hands wrong, are you one of them?

♥Sarah Von from Yes and Yes shares a new idea for your bucket list: write a letter to an inmate.

♥This explanation of the right & left sides of your brain.



♥The reasons I love Anthropologie: These Victorian style whale bookends, this beautiful pale pink watch, and this bust of a giraffe that I want hanging on my wall.

♥You might have missed: fresh pair of eyes [a playlist] ♥ Weekly Wishes #3 ♥ celtic rock [a playlist]

♥Follow me on Twitter

♥Follow me on BlogLovin'

Catching My Eye 03.

This week: I moved to Michigan for the summer, leaving my friends and the boy behind. ♥ Started work assistant managing an ice cream shop ♥ read lots ♥ enjoyed the first few beautiful Lake Michigan beach days of many to come ♥ played endless games of Taboo with friends ♥ made multiple late night McDonald's, Target and Dollar Store runs with friends ♥

Now for the best of the interwebs:

♥Is summer keeping you from actually getting stuff done? Here are 16 ways to get motivated. You can also check out my Weekly Wishes and see what kind of stuff I'm trying to get done. My favorite way is #11: Start small. Really small. If you want to start a habit of exercising for half an hour a day, exercise for five minutes a day, and only that. Make that a habit, then move to ten, then fifteen, then twenty, then thirty. Easy peasy.

♥This gorgeous peach statement necklace. Or, this supercute trio of seaside themed earrings from The Northern Sea for $12.

♥The Minimum Wage Machine gives a brilliant social commentary on the minimum wage. By turning a crank, the machine releases a penny every 4.97 seconds...the exact same as minimum wage, which many people earn for much harder work than turning a crank.

♥If you consider yourself intelligent but still "normal", check out TED's list of 180+ books any human being should consider reading.

♥Because sometimes nature is just too weird, this website [WTF, Evolution] chronicles weird animals & plants and captions them with witty remarks, like this.

“Check out this awesome dance move I invented.”

“Oh god, evolution, please stop doing that.”

“What? It’s called ‘pronking.’ All the springbok are into it.”

“I can’t take you anywhere.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMIiB9DnRXg]

♥If you've ever worked in the service industry, you will crack up at this (or even if you haven't). On this site, the staff chronicle the antics of crazy restaurant customers."

♥You might have missed: Wake Up, Allie [a playlist] ♥ Weekly Wishes #2 ♥ A Packing Playlist

Catching My Eye 02.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnydFmqHuVo]

This week:My sister got home from Italy♥I cooked cheesecake, all by myself! Usually, the toaster presents enough of a challenge, but not today...♥Went on a frozen yogurt date with the boy♥finished my first book of the summer♥ran many miles.

Now, for the best of the interwebs.

♥This album by Common Labor is so great. It's like rap and folk and awesomeness. Even better? Name your price.

♥Portraits of zoo animals in clothing make me smile. I'd love some postcards of these prints!



♥Skittles burgers? Oddly themed weddings? Sometime Pinterest seems to be drunk.

♥Is this real life? A vending machine that prints books.

♥Try out this recipe for salted caramel cheesecake. If I can make it, you can.



♥This lovely offbeat bouquet.

♥This post from Of Corgis & Cocktails with all things popsicles for summer.

♥Lastly, here are ten yoga poses to do in bed. At the end of the day, I love relaxing with a couple of these poses and find that they help me fall asleep faster and relax more. My favorite? Definitely happy baby.

♥YOU MAY HAVE MISSED: ReverbNation Gems♥June Book Challenge♥One for the Road [playlist]♥The Forest Unseen [book]

Catching My Eye.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVc-Z8yFYW8]

This week: I finished school (for the year)!♥celebrated the boy's sister's birthday with dinner & cheesecake♥started my half marathon training plan♥started my summer reading for European History♥went on many Roo runs!

Now, for the best of the interwebs.

♥Do cabins make you nostalgic and warm and fuzzy inside? If so, Cabin Porn has pages and pages of beautiful cozy cabins around the world.



♥Slightly profane, this gallery shows pretty much every hilarious post on tumblr.

♥This list of 100 best American movies needs to be somehow incorporated into my summer to-do list. I have to say, I'm quite proud that I have seen 13 of these movies--even if most of them were in my Film Studies class.

♥Carrie at Dream Green DIY make these awesome gold and neon DIY bookends out of rocks. Definitely a project I'd love to do! Only problem--bookends take up room that I need for more books. Tragic. #litworldproblems



♥Fun and semi-useful, this chart for better understanding your haters is both simple and resoundingly true.

♥As a girl who doesn't plan on having kids, this article about the life of childless adults showed me two sides of the issue I thought I knew well.

♥You May Have Missed: moving out: a tribute to a childhood home♥Cover it Up//An Anthropologie Playlist♥3 Awesome Tumblrs You Should Follow♥DIY Patterned Envelopes♥

 

Love, A.