Done: My Oh-So-Cute New Blog Design

Note (after I finished this post): I am suddenly finding back my passion for writing in English! Yes! Finally something different, something new in the writing style I am delivering. Not to say it's so great or whatever, 'cause it isn't, but it has been cool writing this post, unlike some of the others where I just produce grammatically correct sentences without feeling like "I really want to go on writing but I can't because it would bore my readers". Resorted to Chinese for some of the more emotion-laden posts because I just can't figure out how to keep on typing with feeling in English. I don't know if this sudden interest in writing back in English is temporary, but I am SO HAPPY. Like, seriously. Maybe it's because I've started reading again, so the words now flow more easily? 

Oh God look. I've written an entire paragraph of 8 sentences without breaking a sweat! <3

Yay!
Finally finished my new design! How is it? :D

I know, I know. I said it'd only take around an hour. And my blog stayed down for one day. Sorry.
>.<
I was busy; I had to touch-up a gift for a friend (make it look better and personalized), and go out to a UK education exhibition, and spent a whole half day outside.
Anyway you could see that I haven't totally changed everything, some things still stay the same way, and everything is still in their usual positions. It's just the main design that was thrown out of the window. :P

Blek...Danbo designing a piece of bread. Just like me ;)

One thing I regretted the most: not taking a printscreen of the old design. I wanted to do a before-and-after kind of thing, but I forgot. Honestly, I think Alzheimer's hitting on the younger generation. =.=
But never mind. Those of you regular readers will probably remember the pink-ness of my old design, and the trademark kind of butterflies everywhere (in pink, too, if you remember).

Not wanting to put private for one more day I did my best to put up everything aligned properly and in the most aesthetically pleasing positions as fast as possible. At first I had way too many ideas and wanted everything in. Greedy. I know. I paid the price because I had to change all the links all over again, because it turned out too cluttered, too many different things, too not simple.

I think I have outgrown pink. Pink is a sweet colour, and I admit I kind of like it when girly is the way to go. I still am fond of it, I still have some pink in my new design anyway, so yeah, I'm not throwing it out entirely just because I wanted something new. But no more of total pink-and-white for a blog that's growing slowly but surely. The pageview count is very encouraging even though some of you might think it's rather slow. This blog is still in its infancy, give it a break. :)

So here goes my new design. I don't hire professional designers, not because I can't afford them (well I can't, not yet), but mainly because even though they will definitely design better than me, I am such a perfectionist. I want things my way, and perfectly so, and I am sure nobody, nobody will have the patience with me after I'm through with them. The only way to get the perfection I strive to achieve is when I do it myself. I know right now it's still not perfect, but hey, it's just a blog. And I've done everything I could to weed out the obvious flaws.

The big idea is all thanks to picmonkey. I LOVE that site to bits, and I mean it. It's like my big secret of getting beautiful designs done. And all you need is every ounce of creativity you have in you and an eye for detail! That's it. Before this I didn't use much of their stickers (or overlays as they're called) as the ones I quite like were all *royale*, meaning you have to pay to use. And the free ones...well they're just not my style.

But recently they had those free cute stuff up, and I mean like, really cute. Chicks and eggs and 2D flowers and little insects that look so cute. Dragonfly, ladybird, bee...you name it. Even the spider is totally sweet. And suddenly I decided to change my whole blog look based on those awesome stuff. Those mentioned could come together to be a garden kind of look, cute, fresh and yes, simple.

The simple part was super hard though, at first. I love each and every one of those cute-sy bugs so much I tried to fit everyone in. Turned out really bad. Very distracting, and no main bug character. The chick is definitely in though, he's had my heart, 100%. Haha. So I had to choose one main bug and one other bug, and the bee and the dragonfly made the cut, as you can see. They are perfect together. <3

There is also a butterfly, but I really need a break from all the butterflies, as elegant and pretty as they could be. And the main colour was switched from sugary pink to sunny yellow, so everyday is a happy day in the blog! (even when I post upset stuff?) Yellow can be beautiful, and the yellow I chose was picked from the chick. A soft pastel yellow, not too bright, not too bland, but warm and lovely all over. (btw, changing the colour medium is hell because you have to change literally everything)

Pink as the supporting colour, black used as needed and white all over the background, because I realized even some pink bars behind could make the blog look narrow and small. (doesn't it look much wider and open now? Optical illusions are amazing)

I love my new design to bits! It's not sickeningly sweet and girly, but it's fresh and cute, like straight from the garden! I am already so fond of the Chick, and the Bee, and the Dragonfly. <3 What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. ;)

Welcome to my new blog, reader! I am so glad to share my happiness with you.
All the hard work put into the design
Worth it.
Every bit.
For you,
And for me. :)

Thanks for the support all the way through! You make everything possible. :)