Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Getting Settled

Soooooo….. What do you think?!?

Do you love the new blog design?  I told you it was going to be wonderful.  I do have to admit; I never imagined it would turn out quite this wonderful!

Let me give you a little background on the new digs:  I was involved in a Facebook contest and ended up winning and getting connected with Leah at Cutesie Blog Designs.  I looked at Leah’s work and got pretty excited because she is really talented and working with her on my new blog design held lots of promise. 

My new found anticipation quickly dwindled, however, when I discovered that Leah only worked with Blogger (a blog program) and not WordPress, where my blog was already published.  Here’s the twist ~ I had actually been contemplating moving the blog to Blogger for awhile, but had no clue how to do so.  Once I contacted Leah and she gave me a few really good ideas, and assured me that the Blogger platform was much easier to work with according to my business needs, I started getting excited all over again.  And so the process of blog-building began.

We started from scratch.  This is important because I previously worked with someone who attempted to revamp the header on my Etsy shop by starting with what I had and tweaking it.  Total disaster.  Starting from scratch and adjusting the details was definitely the way to go. 

That being said, I must tell you that Leah has the patience of a saint.  Once Leah had my “vision” in place, knew basically what I was looking for and sent me the first draft, we began to correspond back and forth to adjust the details.  I considered myself to be a major pain in the backside and way too picky, but Leah did everything I asked, gave me fabulous suggestions along the way and her ideas were fabulous!  By the time I opened the file with the final blog design on it, I literally gasped and had to cover my open mouth.  It was beautiful.

Well, I guess you know that because you’re looking at it!  I don’t have a hard time ranting and raving about it since I really didn’t have too much to do with it.  So, here come the props….

Leah – you are incredible.  In case no one has mentioned it to you today – you are an amazingly talented woman.  You did not miss your calling in life.  How a bunch of letters, numbers and symbols of HTML codes can turn into art, I will never know.  Please accept my most sincere thanks and appreciation for the wonderful job you did with my blog.  All 19 emails were so worth it!  =)

If anyone has a blog that needs redesigning, a few new elements, or perhaps just a logo for their business – contact Leah.  If you have a friend who needs any of these services, please have them contact Leah.  She simply rocks.  Here’s how you can reach Leah:

Cutesie Blog Designs on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/CutesieBlogDesigns

Please feel free to click around the blog page and make yourself comfortable.  There are a few places that will become more developed as I get to know the Blogger world better.  Of course, the first step is to become an email subscriber so you don’t miss anything.

If you were a subscriber to “Through the Grapevine” on WordPress, you heard about the promotion that’s running right now.  Here’s more about that:

If you currently subscribe to this blog, simply get out your address book and suggest that a friend (or two) also become an email subscriber.  Once your friend has subscribed, simply send me their name or email address and you will BOTH get 20% off your next order PLUS free shipping in my Etsy shop!  That’s right – the WHOLE order!  Once I have verified that you and your friend are listed as subscribers, I will email you a coupon code to use during the checkout process on Etsy.  It’s a win-win situation! 

Here are the simple instructions:

1.  Follow this blog.  If you don’t already, subscribe now.

2.  Find someone in your life you think would enjoy Wild Apple Design jewelry.  Suggest to them whatever way works best for you (i.e., email, Facebook fan page suggestion, phone call, text message, link to this page) that they also subscribe to this blog. 

Don’t forget to tell them to leave a comment here on the blog; that qualifies them for their 20% off plus free shipping coupon code.

3.  You also need to place a comment after this post, stating that your friend is a new subscriber.  Once I’ve checked this out, you will receive your 20% off plus free shipping coupon code also!

This offer runs through the first week of the blog transition to Blogger, so take advantage of it while you can.  Offer ends October 6, 2010 at midnight central time (U.S.)

Football fans in your life?  Check out my new line of football fan zipper pulls.  The swivel clip attaches instantly to the zipper on your sweatshirt, purse, gym bag, backpack or keyring.  Only $7!


Blessings,

~ Jenn


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