While designing new blog layouts in helping out my design partner, Michelle Laycock of Laycock Designs, the new trend is clean, simple and fresh. Lots of white space.  I'm loving the freshness of them and it's something different and nice to look at…clean lines and cheerful…makes you want to smile.

Be sure to visit their blogs to view the full layout!

Banner and Blog Layout Designs

The first one, in a long time, that I had created was Connie's of Digital Delights Scrapbooking. She specified, like the others, "fresh and clean"…Her new design is composed of a new banner and background – both which can be switched-out easily during each season of the year!

The three most recent banner designs that are also simple but beautiful, fresh and clean are:

Peggy's blog, Stampin' Peg's Stamping Spot 

Peggy's look was inspired by the coloring of Paisley Petals designer series paper (from Stampin' Up!), but based on a hand drawn wave, swirl she had made. Then we added some flowers.  However, there is a lot of white space on her blog which is accented by her banner, footer, post signature and a series of sidebar headers.

Rose's new Lemongrass Spa blog

Rose is now a Lemongrass Spa consultant and wanted a blog to help launch her new business. So, this new fresh look combines the colors of yellow and green, fun-loving daisies and of course we had to through in some lemons!

Carole's new blog Card Making by Carole

Carole wanted a very simplistic blog layout as well. Lots of white space too. She mentioned a few Stampin' Up! colors she like, such as Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight.  She like the look of the stamp set Baroque Motif, one of my favorites as well as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, so we used a simplistic but very feminine motif and swirl.

Premade Banner/Layout Extravaganza  

With designing, there is a process and sometimes it may take several drafts to get it just right…so what do you do with the ones that customer didn't like?  Well, Michelle and I are having a Premade Extravaganza Sale on JULY 1st!  There we will showcase and sell a set of banner or blog layouts.  Be sure to mark your calendars!!!!

Here's a few snippets of those I will be selling….there may be more as well by JULY 1st…MIDNIGHT, CENTRAL TIME…stay tuned! I may change them slightly before the Extravaganza but these are little glimpses of the ones I have so far. 

NOTE: Michelle will be displaying an entirely different set, and many more, on her site, so be sure to bookmark her as well - www.LaycockDesigns.com.

Additionally, each will be sold to only ONE customer on a first come basis.

Newsletter Designs 

And let's not forget Constant Contact Newsletter Designs as well. Michelle Last has a new clean template to match her stamping blog as well!  She has nice rounded buttons which I worked into her newsletter layout as well. Plain and simple but sweet 😀

ATTN: All Business Professionals

It's not all about stamping!!! Here is a business newsletter template where I assisted a fellow business partner (John Smulo of Purple Cow Websites) in creating this one (where here you just see a snippet of it), for their client, STRe Solutions.

Unlike many templates I have and help design, this one is based on all HTML code.  This is not just one of Constant  Contact's templates revised, it is compose of all HTML. So edition is coded in HTML and then copy and pasted into a new newsletter.  

Basically, with the use of HTML and CSS you can create any type of newsletter, whatever your vision is!

Although most of my clients use Constant Contact, I have designed templates for other newsletter/email marketing systems as well.

Hope you enjoyed the creations.

Heather Wright-Porto
www.BlogsByHeather.com