The Cutest Blog Backgrounds- Free and SO Easy

Hello, to all of my blogging friends I just have to share this link. Now I know a lot of you are already familiar with Hot Bliggity Blog and I know several of you who blog, have custom templates. Personally, I sprang for the custom template, not so much because I made the decision to do so, but in all honesty, when I started the blog, I had no idea as to how to go about uploading one.

I've since figured it out and Oh-My-Gosh, it's free and so easy! This is not to say that I'm changing my background. I'm in love with it as the designer tried to make it look like one of my all-time favorite Lilly Pulitzer Vintage prints: "H&S" by Pell. Here' an image of the fabric. See the likeness?? Yes, it's very close.

But onto Hot Bliggity Blog...If you use Blogger, you can pick one of several templates for free (actually, they ask for $1 donation, pretty painless), you can change them so easily by being in the Minima template mode and simply going to your Layout page and entering the code in your HTML/Java Script Gadget.  That's it.

There are a ton of really cute backgrounds nestled between a lot of brown backgrounds, because apparently somewhere in the world, somebody likes brown. They even have Holiday templates if you are so inclined. Now, if you make the decision to upload a new background to your blog, I wouldn't go crazy alternating them if I were you. Blog backgrounds are like hairstyles, no matter how cute it is, if you change it too often, people will think you're unstable.  But, there's always room for the occasional improvement!
Here are a few of my faves:

All available at Hot Bliggity Blog

http://hotbliggityblog.com/backgrounds.php?limit=All&querystring=

Lotus and Lilly Is Open and Ready for Business...mostly

                         Clutch in Lilly Pulitzer Elefrance fabric



The new independent online shop is up and running!  The name of the new shop is: Lotus and Lilly.  Additional items will be added through out the weekend, but there's plenty to go and look at now. To welcome new customers (as well as old), we're offering a discount code which can be used at the time of checkout.  The code is good for 25% off the entire purchase!  Here's the code: LILLY510  This offer will be good through June Friday June 4th.

Stop by the new store: Lotus and Lilly !

Shop Opens Friday, May 28th!

I've been making items to go in the new shop.  Here's a peek at the bracelets. I love these!  I'll post the link to the store here with a discount code, so stay tuned!

Oh Baby!

New Baby Booties- These will fit infants from 0-6 months depending on their little feet.  I love these and think they are perfect for portraits.  I have a photograph of my father that was taken when he was 4 months old.  He was wearing little blue booties.  I have the photo framed in a shadow box with the actual booties displayed in front of the picture.  I cherish that photo and those booties.  With that in mind, I made these by sewing every stitch by hand, just because I think they should be special. I'm on my way to put them in the Looking 4 Lilly shop right now.

I'm not sure why I thought developing my own website would be simple.  There's more to it than I imagined, plus I'm changing my business name which requires all sorts of applications, trips to the County Clerk and so fourth.  Truth is, the only thing that I really want to do is play with my girls and make things in the studio once they're in bed for the night; Trying to work while they're awake is futile. 

In the months ahead, I'll be able to dedicate more time to the business-notice I'm not mentioning the name because I don't want anyone to go look at my empty store!  It will be filled with all sorts of lovely little Lilly items soon and you will be the first to know.  You will also be the first to receive promotional deals!  In the mean time my other etsy shops are up and running and that will continue. 

I'll be able to spend more time developing the business in the fall because that's when the twins start Kindergarten.  It was a tough transition when our oldest started school.  She was ready, me...not so much.  The twins on the other hand,  I think we're all starting to feel ready.  Honestly, as much as I love spending the days with them, they're bored and then they start antagonizing each other, which makes me feel like more of a referee than a mom on some days.  It's just time for something more, even though they are in preschool a few days a week now. 

I really admire people who home school, maybe because I'm a little in awe of them.  I just know that if I were to give it a try, it might not go so well (I just deleted "I would suck at it" and tried to put it in more tactful terms, but make no mistake, I meant the latter).  It's horrible to say that, but it's true and recognizing your weaknesses is a strength, right? Let's just go with that.

Working on New Website

I've been extremely busy with a few huge orders and many smaller ones. While I love selling on etsy, I've decided to spread my wings a bit and open my own online store.  This is something that I've been wanting to do for a long time so I'm pretty excited about it.  I will post information as soon as it's up and running which I'm hopful will be within the next two weeks!  Just wanted to keep you posted. I haven't stepped away, I've just been spending more time in the studio than on the computer.  Not to worry though, I'm working on a few new ideas and have a giveaway planned for the near future!