massive sweet and lovely update - part two

Part two of my massive sweet and lovely update is design work! I have some pre-made blogger templates available, as well as custom work like blog overhauls, blog headers, custom illustrations and custom paper dolls! I'll only be working on a limited number of projects at once so I have a low quantity in stock on each custom design item.

I stopped doing custom work about a year ago and have had some of emails about it since then, so I hope some of you guys are still out there and interested lol ;) I'm really excited about the custom paper dolls! I think they'd be perfect for marketing a little boutique or even maybe for a super customized bridesmaid invitation?

I have four pre-made blogger templates in the shop ready to go and I'm hoping to be adding more constantly! My idea is to make designs that look like you had custom work done, even though it's actually a template. I feel like so many prefab templates seem to lack little details that make a blog look special and I want to change that :)

Please note: coupons are not eligible on custom design work or blog templates.

farewell, old layout

I've had the same header for almost a year, the same layout since January 2011 and the same sidebar buttons since I started my blog over two years ago. And this weekend, I finally changed it! It's not a huge difference ... I doubt anyone will be like "wait, what blog IS THIS?!" (In fact it's quite possible a lot of people won't even notice I did anything) but I really love the little changes I made!

If you're in a reader you can click through here to view the new design! :)

shop my closet update, new flapper doodle item and new blog designs!

First of all, I finally updated my shop my closet store today! I have lots of dresses, as well as some accessories and coats. And if you're in the market for blog design or a sponsor spot you can snag those in my shop as well :)

I also added new wooden brooches to my etsy shop! I'm having one of those little "in love with my new product" moments. Would it be weird if I wore one myself? Because I really want to! They're $8 in my shop here!

I also updated my blog design store. It's much easier to navigate now and I have a whole page dedicated to examples of mine & Casey's work. You can check it out here! And I've done a bit of new design work recently so I thought I'd share some of it in this post!

Header design for The Cupcake Earthquake

Header design for HopPipOLLa

Blog overhaul design for Her Name Was Greta

Etsy banner design for Beatnik Gal Vintage (Keep an eye peeled for her shop opening! She posted some sneak peaks of the inventory on tumblr and I'm so smitten!)

Blog overhaul design for Just Add Glitter and Stir. I was so excited about this one that I sort of did the whole entire thing the same night that I got Maggi's order. I mean, a request for a bright kitschy glittery blog?! So so so so fun!!! :D My favorite part is the embroidered header text (you can see it better when you view it full-size on her blog!)

And finally, my little brother's blog! He hasn't written his first post yet, but it's going to be about food, trains, craftsmanship (like woodworking) and his personal style. When he gets the ball rolling we're going to start doing some brother/sister style posts! I'm so excited about it!! :)

exciting news!

Scathingly Brilliant blog design is now officially a two-girl team! I'm so excited to announce that one of my closest friends, Casey from Noir Girl, has joined forces with me to create tons of blog designing goodness! Casey is a 1940's-loving style and movie blogger, an amazing graphic designer and artist, and she has the most impeccable taste of anyone I know! And she's a wordpress gal, so blog makeovers are no longer limited to blogger! We're doing headers, etsy banners, makeovers, illustrated portraits and more... you can check out our site here!

darn you, youtube.

If anyone else has a white/light colored blog and is scarily obsessive picky about how all of their colors match, you'll be equally irritated by youtube's new black embed player. I went back to look at an old post yesterday, and as I was scrolling down the page I noticed these ugly black bars standing out like sore thumbs against my pretty white background. "Umm, where did YOU come from?" I asked them. They replied that youtube had changed the style of their players, and that this affected all previously embedded videos as well. When I asked how I could get them back to light grey, they snarkily told me to search on google myself :p

So I found this tutorial which gives you a line of code that you can insert into your embed code to get the old color back. The only problem is that you need to manually insert this code into old *and* new codes. There is no option to select gray when you're embedding a video now (remember how you used to be able to pick purple or pink? I miss those days.) so I'm keeping that little line of code someplace handy from now on. Personally I think this is pretty stupid, though, since most people have light colored websites, right? ergh.

Anyway, I just thought I'd post this in case anyone else had a similar panic attack but didn't have talkative youtube players to help them find a solution...

arrows c/o hello vanny!

all in the details

skirt - vintage

top - old navy

lace shrug - tj maxx

shoes - modcloth

locket - handmade

belt - old navy

I really love the way I format my outfit posts, with three full-length photos collaged vertically at the top of each post. But it really doesn't allow you to see all of the little details (especially on things like shoes and jewelry) at such a small size. So I thought once in a while I'd start adding a little collage of detail photos. Good idea? Yay? Nay? I sort of think it takes away from how simple my posts looked before but then I think I'm being too much of a blog design freak. Sometimes content has to trump design right?

Oh, and starting today I'm also illustrating some of my outfit posts on my other blog, Flapper Doodle! I've had this idea in my head for a while and I'm pretty excited about it! :) To see the first illustrated outfit post, click here!

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

If you had the day off today & a carefree wallet, what would you do?

petticoat fever

{ image via flickr }

After years of thinking my skirts could use some extra volume, I *finally* ordered a crinoline petticoat last week, and it came in the mail yesterday! It makes every single dress I own look 200x better. Honestly, if you like the old fashioned silhouette of 50's dresses, with fitted tops and voluminous bottoms, you need crinoline. I got mine on amazon, pretty cheap considering how many of my dresses are going to look like they cost twice as much when I wear this slip underneath. I'm going to wear mine all the time, but it does add a ritzy factor that will make plenty of my casual dresses spiffy enough to wear on Posh Frock Friday!

By the way, if you're viewing this in a reader you can't tell, but I overhauled my layout again! After changing my header I figured I might as well change everything else as well. I made the colors of my buttons and images match the header, changed my profile photo (and added a bio-ish thing underneath) and moved my left sidebar over to the right. I really adore the new layout.. Of course, I'll probably end up changing it again in a few months, but right now I'm in love with it! ;-D

web design!

Since my number one favorite way to spend my time (besides watching movies, playing with my cats and drinking grapefruit juice) is fiddling around with my blog designs, I decided to use that enthusiasm in a more constructive way, and open up an etsy shop for web design! I might add more things in the future, but for now I'm offering my services (that sounds so cool, by the way!) for blog design, blog headers, etsy banners, tumblr design and blogger overhaul! It's all at slightlyterrific.etsy.com (Scathingly Brilliant is taken. BUMMER!) So exciting! :-D