Happy Mother's Day!!

**FIRST...if you are in my queue and don't usually READ my posts of new designs you REALLY should this time!!! I have news that may interest you.**

Announcing a brand new look for a VERY VERY SPECIAL LADY, Linda over at Hugs Included! You may have seen her around or even on my sidebar because...she's my MOM!!!!

I wanted to give her a design LONG AGO when she started her blog, then for her birthday and THEN for Christmas but I was just too busy. So I put a few current projects on hold so I could get this done for her just in time for Mother's Day...I can't believe it's actually FINISHED!!

Of course, I didn't have to get TOO much inspiration from her...she is my mother so I pretty much know what she likes. Earth tones with lots of green, elegant and classic yet fun, that's MY MOM! She did tell me she wanted birds and a drew me a little picture of a Stampin' Up! stamp. So when I found these graphics on istockphoto.com I thought it would be just PERFECT for her blog! I think it all came together beautifully and it really is HER!!! She fell in LOVE as soon as she saw it, no changes, no revisions and I was doin' the happy dance!!!! Changes are always fine with me but it's WAY cool when I get it right the first time...especially when it's Mom! ;D



Be sure to pop over to Hugs Included yourself to see it in action! You MUST see the card she made for her "GRAND OPENING"...it is totally PERFECT with the design!!!! The flowers, the flourishy leaves and OF COURSE that stamp...I just love it all together!!!

You may also notice that she has CUSTOM FONTS for her post titles, sidebar titles, post dates and even the comment form (I made my post titles and dates match hers...see it?). This is not something I've tried before. YES, YES I've been making sidebar headings on my designs since the beginning but this is different! Those are just images I make and upload. New titles must be added manually for new sidebar gadgets/widgets and I cannot do that for post titles at all. These fonts are provided via JavaScript and Flash so no custom images are needed if you want custom fonts. I have seen a little about it in the past but just haven't looked into it much. Well, my Mom's design was going so smoothly I decided to give it a try. Thanks to MANY wonderful geeks on the web I was able to do this relatively simply using sIFR. Of everyone writing about this awesome tool I must give kudos to Amanda over at kevinandamanda.com. She's got everything you need to get sIFR up and running on your blogger blog...THANKS Amanda!

Once I got the custom fonts up I couldn't go without a little graphic enhancement with them. I'm VERY pleased with the whole result so I will DEFINITELY have to use this method in future designs!!!!

I did have one small kink. The font I had chosen for the the titles was NOT created with numbers and a lot of symbols were not there either. So I did a bit of digging and found out how to make my very own fonts. After I figured that out I was able to create missing numbers and symbols to match. I know it seems like a lot of trouble (I could have just found another font) BUT I've been wanting to know how to do that anyway and honestly that is just how I roll!!!!

So if you're ***patiently*** waiting in my line...tell me if you would like custom fonts on your blog. We could even use your handwriting since I learned how to make fonts too!!!!! You will also get the font for your own use with your computer as well...TOO COOL!!! :D

All in all I had a GREAT time "working" with you Mom!!! I got to learn a lot and try new things, plus you're my Mom...I felt like I knew what you would like or not like every time I made a change to your design. We really are SO alike!!!!! I love you with all my heart and I can't wait to spend Mother's Day with you!!!!!! And big hugs to all my loyal subscribers, customers and PATIENT people waiting in line! I really do appreciate all of you, have a Very Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!!