I know that in my last post on the subject, I said that I was finally satisfied with the design of this blog. Well, apparently my tastes run a little on the fickle side these days because, as you can see, I have changed the background and layout several times over since then. First, I decided to try a three-column layout so that my blog would look a little more like those WordPress blogs that people have on paid hosts. Of course, once I changed the blog's layout to three-column, my background, which was designed around Minima's two-column layout--no longer fit. Thus, I had to make the background bigger.
I lived with the same-but-bigger background for a few days, but I really didn't like it. The colors were a little too faded, a little too far in the other direction from the blinding, bright colors that I had before. Because I was trying to save money, I then tried to design a new background around the free vector image that I had been using. I made one that I liked and posted it, but when I woke up the next morning I realized that this background looked like a giant Christmas present. Nothing against blogs that look like Christmas presents, but it's not even November yet.
I went back to the drawing board and downloaded more papers from the DigiScrap Depot. The background that I made with them looked good on Paint.net, but when I uploaded it onto Blogger, it was a little too big and shabby, like the papers had been rubbed with a pencil eraser. I didn't want big and shabby.
Finally, when PayPerPost credited my PayPal account for a $5 post, I decided that the only way I was going to like my blog's design was if I splurged on a royalty-free image or two from Stockxpert.com. Stockxpert.com was the cheapest site that I could find credit-wise. A lot of sites start at $9.99 for a package of 5 photo credits. Stockxpert only charges $4.99 for the same amount of credits.
After hours browsing the site, I settled on three images, downloaded them, and went to work in Paint.net. As it turns out, if you click on an image with the dropper tool and then click on the paint can, you can actually fill in a new image with the exact same color. Now I wish that I had figured this little tidbit out about Paint.net a long time ago. If I had, I wouldn't have wasted all that time sliding the little color bar up and down, hoping to luck upon the same color. Regardless, the design you see now, with a few minor tweaks here and there, is what I came up with.
I'm finally through with the design, I swear (she says with her fingers crossed behind her back). Hey, it worked for the A-team every time they swore the knockout drops weren't in B.A.'s milk. Maybe it can work for me.
