My New Design!!

(I added the above image to this post as a keepsake, even though it’s a slightly updated version.)

Hey, everybody. If you’re here right now, you’ve probably noticed that things look a little different than they used to! I am SO excited to unveil my new design. The header artwork was done by Tabitha over at Not Yet Read. She has a feature on her blog called Art it Up, and I have long been drooling over her adorable designs. When I got the idea of redesigning the site, she was the first person I thought of!!

If you’ve never checked out Tabitha’s artwork, go do it now! You should follow her on Instagram and then you won’t miss out on any of her new work. She also sells some of her artwork on Etsy (she’s planning on putting even more up there after her next craft fair), so go and follow her shop!

Some  fun facts about my new design:

• Hopefully you noticed that the FYFA fox girl has been eating her books. She’s feeding her fiction addiction, of course!

• You’ll also notice the little birdie up in the tree – I couldn’t give up birds completely!!

• This is actually the second design concept that Tabitha came up with. I loved the first one as well, but Tabitha wanted to surprise me with one that she thought was even better. And, of course, I adored it.
  • But I couldn’t give up on the original little fox girl, and my son had the brilliant idea of using that picture on my other site (which isn’t updated very often unfortunately, but it’s still there) – Best Kids’ Reads.
  • Head over to Best Kids’ Reads and you can see that original concept, but the design is still REALLY wonky right now. I don’t have the header ratios right yet and I it’s WAY too busy now, but I didn’t have time to fix it yet. It’s coming …
  • I kind of love that the two sites are similar, but not the same – it almost looks like the Best Kids’ Reads one could be fox girl when she was younger (or maybe her daughter!).
• I created the header itself from the actual watercolor pictures that Tabitha sent to me –  which is why the picture looks so beautifully watercolory (I know that’s not a word, but …).
  • Luckily, I still have some Photoshop skills from back when I used to do digital scrapbooking, so I was able to make some tweaks to digitize it and create the header itself. I love how it turned out!
  • Unfortunately, my Photoshop skills are a bit rusty, so it pretty much took me all day yesterday to do it. Oh well – it was worth it!!
• Due to my subpar computer skills, it took me FOREVER to figure out how to change the background paper (the old one just didn’t match anymore). Actually, I never did figure it out – I had to get Ashley from Nose Graze to help me, even though it was SO simple. Sigh. Good thing I use her for my hosting!!
  • Let me know what  you think of the cream background. I like it but I’m still not COMPLETELY sold. Should I make it even a little paler? I already lightened it a bit from the original. Or should I go with something completely different?
• You’ll probably be seeing the FYFA fox girl around in some other graphics as well – we shall see!!

That’s about it. Make sure you grab my new button from the bottom of my page!

So, how do you like the new design? Are you still missing my birdie? (It’s okay if you are – I understand. I was attached to her too!) Any advice on anything else I should change to go with the new design? I want to know!