Chez Spud

It’s all a bit different round here, I’ve rearranged the furniture a bit, given the walls a lick of paint …. actually I’ve done nothing, it’s all down to LilicCreative who, once again, has pulled it off in spades. I never thought I would love another theme as I did the last one, but Genevieve has done it again. I think I love this theme even more.

A few little kinks to straighten out but we’re 99% there. The whole process, as with the last time, was very straightforward. One of the many things I admire about Genevieve (or ‘St Genevieve’ as I call her) is her ability to set a schedule and stick to it, whilst negotiating around me changing my mind and generally shilly-shallying. She’s a genius I tell you, a genius…as well as being a creative wonder.

So, this is is Chez Spud for as long as it takes for me to get bored again. I like it, actually I love it. Hope you do too.

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I’m getting a makeover. Or rather my blog is. Just feeling like a change, as much as I love the current theme that Genevieve of Lilac Creative wizarded up for me. I’m really thrilled to be working with Genevieve again on a New Look Spud. Despite my best efforts, I seem not to have put her off working with me again. This time I’m really going to test her, mwah ha ha.

Right now I don’t have much of an idea of the detail, but I know I want a cleaner looking space and less ‘stuff’ and colour. Feels kind of busy round here, I think I’d like to change that. The New Look is a lot more muted, I think…and this time I’m going to nail the font because I’ve never ‘really’ been happy with my choice. I will stick with two columns. That’s about as far as I’ve got but I need to get my skates on because work starts in June.

I’m mostly just giddy that I know I’m not going to have to go through the absolutely hideous experience of finding a designer, like I did last time. There was the one that took my money and disappeared, the ones that took the brief and then disappeared, the ones that had no portfolio, the ones that failed for WEEKS to respond to requests for costings. Painful. Unsurprisingly, Sir Google-A-Lot tells me that the two Disappearing Designers are no longer in business and nor is the one that failed to respond to me begging for costings. Tant pis. Their loss is Lilac Creative’s gain since Genevieve is totally reliable, responsive, hugely experienced and all round brilliant.

I will miss the fabulous hand-drawn typewriter and camera from my header though….hmmm….might have to retain them in some way…hmmm.

I’m more than a little bit excited. Anyone got any ideas?

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Mmmm, takes a moment to look around and note absence of butterflies…ah….sweet moment. Finally, thanks to the brilliance of Genevieve at Lilac Creative I have a template for Chez Spud that I adore. I’m so pleased. I’m fairly sure I was a nightmare client, poor Genevieve. Hopefully she’s reclining on a sofa somewhere feasting on mince pies and making a heart felt entry in her Grudge Book…

I wrote a very detailed brief, but had no real idea what the final product might look like. To be honest I never imagined it would look like this, but then I lack any kind of creative imagination so that’s hardly surprising. Let’s just say Genevieve had some fairly, erm, ‘direct’ feedback as we went through the process. I might have to put myself in my own grudge book in fact. Oof.

I particularly love the hand-drawn vintage camera and typewriter she drew up there at the top. She even blogged about it showing her original sketches (sheesh! a brilliant designer, illustrator, coder AND a blogger…the woman is perfect and is henceforward to be known as St Genevieve).

No doubt there will be a few little ‘glitches’ so please do shout if you spot things that don’t work. And I have a couple of final adjustments to make, but they are very minor. All the photos are left aligned at the moment but that will change. I think the font for the posts is too big, and possibly too black. But just tweaks.

This was an appallingly painful process, until I found St Genevieve. I went through so many designers who either legged it with my money and didn’t deliver, couldn’t show me even half a decent portfolio, took the brief and then disappeared, didn’t bother to respond to numerous attempts for a costing etc etc. I started this project six months ago. Praise be for St Genevieve, we bow down and adore you.

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Nikon v Canon, Apple v PC, WordPress v Blogger…the world is full of tension isn’t it? Would be so much easier if you all submitted and bowed down to the Nikon/Apple/Wordpress temple.

One of the many reasons I love WordPress is all the widgets and plugins you can play with. My newest widget is the ‘like this’ jobbie which you’ll find at the bottom of each post. For those times when you want to show me the love, but really can’t be arsed to type a comment, you just click on the link and I get a little heart and an ego back rub all at the same time.  Sorry for confusing the issue by putting a screen grab at the top of this post, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity for another butchers at Kermy Hermy.

Sssshh, apparently work has begun on a redesign for Chez Spud…estimated time of launch is mid December. But I’m not holding my breath. I think I’m on designer number 6? Fingers crossed this one can actually, you know, do what she said she would…waves cheerily at Genevieve ;-) x

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I love blogging. What’s not to like? You get to write about yourself, meet splendid folks who do you the favour of reading your witterings, you get to write when you want and what you want and, through writing, you often get to sift through issues and problems and even get advice, help and support along the way too. It’s a win win WINNER.

But there’s a flaw. The problem is that, well, people are reading. And sometimes that means you can’t really say what you want to at all…can’t talk about work, can’t talk about family, can’t talk about feelings (if you’re British like me…because feelings are against the law in the UK. Little known fact…). So what do you do when you can’t blog it out?

I’m not a paper journal keeper, which would be a good solution. Recently a friend told me about writing letters to yourself as a record of developing situations, which you post to yourself and then file (unopened) so that you have a dated, postmarked record of the situation should you wish to go back to it for a contemporary account of events. A bit like a time capsule I guess, but a wordy one. What a great concept, I love it.

But then I know some of you blog in private, and I’m wondering about that. Does it feel odd? Do you write differently, in terms of style, than you do for your public posts? Do you put photos in? Tell me, I want to know!

I’ve begun to realise the value of ‘old blog material’ is, in terms of revisiting the past. And I’m thinking about recording the things happening in our lives which I’m not allowed to blog about publicly. But I feel a bit self-conscious about it. Which is daft as, erm, I’m the only one who will read it. Oh and MrSpud since he has my wordpress admin details, but that’s ok.

So, Secret Blogging. Who does it?  Tell us…

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I got so fed up of my ‘temporary’ blog template, and disappearing designers, that I decided to jump in and choose a better, temporary template. I’m not especially fond of butterflies with their flappy flutterings and ‘oh look at me I’m just a glorifed worm..no wait…LOOK AT ME WOAAAAH DID  YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?… I just like the cheery yellow and the layout. MrSpud is SO thrilled to be spending the evening reprogramming it to make it work for my shambolic witterings, really he adores it. He loves nothing better than spending his entire working day programming and then, oh joy unbounded, programming some more in the evenings. He’s mad for it.

Hopefully this template will be a little more temporary than the other shocker. The jury is out…can I attract the attention of a suitable wordpress designer and actually keep hold of them this time? You decide.

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