Seasonal & Festive Themes ~ spotlight

With a change in season or an approaching festive event it's always a great time to switch out your blog theme for something fresh and fun! So here's a little spotlight on some of my existing blog themes where you're sure to find something that fits your mood.

In honor of today's festivities and in case you're planning a gala nuptials event of your own there's~

Cherish

Whether you're an expecting Mom or a seasoned pro, celebrating the approaching US Mother's Day is whimsical and enchanting with~

Bundle of Joy

or

Tattered Garden

And it's never too late to jump into the joys of celebrating Spring with~

Whispers of Spring

Vintage Spring

Le Jardin

and

Sunshine Garden

Of course there are loads of other themes from my repertoire that fall into these categories as well, and you can always find them residing under Complete Themes or the Special Occasion Themes sections.

And if you're in the mood for something simple there are loads of freebie backgrounds to be found in the Just Backgrounds section, like this charming Songbird background~

I always working on adding more selections to my selection of blog themes so be sure to check back for more festive fun in the near future and as always...

Enjoy~

Spring Showers Sale & Giveaway

"Oh for heaven sakes"...
Yes, those were the words I uttered this morning when I saw yet another sale from my favorite online wholesaler. I mean really... how many sales can one company have?? That said, I'm always one to stick to my word so~

Now through April 30th you can save 21% off on everything in my shop ~ just enter the coupon code below during checkout.

coupon code: showers2011

And if that wasn't enough to make you dance in the rain...

each person who purchases something from my shop between now and April 30th will be automatically entered for a chance to win their choice of one theme banner from my shop ~ how fun is that?
Good luck everyone!

Enjoy~

Setting Up Mobile Viewing for Your Own Blog

I've just learned that Blogger is currently testing a new feature for viewing blogs on mobile devices. Up until this point, if you tried to view a blog through your mobile device, it appeared huge and was difficult to read in such a large state. This new feature reduces blogs down to a more readable size and organizes postings in a cohesive manner.

To set up this feature on your own blog follow the simple steps below...

First you'll need to log into your blog and then click on this link: http://draft.blogger.com/home This area is called "Blogger Draft" and appears to be a duplicate of the regular "Dashboard" area of our blogs.

There you will click on the "Settings tab" and then the blue "Email & Mobile" link...

At the top of this page you'll see a new section titled "Mobile Template (beta)"...

*In the online world "beta" usually denotes something new and in the testing stages.*

In this area you'll want to click the small button next to "Yes, On mobile devices, show the mobile version of my template"...

Be sure to scroll down the to the bottom and click the orange "Save Settings" button...

Once saved, you can then return to the top of the page and preview a sampling of your blog by clicking the blue "Mobile Preview" button...

Something else I noticed in this preview is that certain features, like the image navigation area at the top of my blog, will not show up in mobile view so some of the navigation is missing however is does display a nice reduced version of blog and that's pretty sweet!

Enjoy~

One Thing Leads to Another - new backgrounds & theme

It's funny how one thing leads to another in my creative world ~ a visitor contacted me recently, she was looking through my plain backgrounds for something to coordinate with one of my Spring banners and wanted my assistance. Not seeing anything there myself I decided to whip up a few new backgrounds... several hours later I'd given birth to a new blog theme. Sometimes it's like that though, and I know many of you experience the same thing ~ it's just the way our creative juices flow.

That said, I've created two new plain backgrounds Vintage Spring and Whispers of Spring which coordinate with their counterpart themes. These new additions will reside in the "Just Backgrounds" section of my site and are a perfect alternative for those who prefer a simpler background design.

The new theme I created began innocently as another plain background itself, titled Parlourside...

...but I was enjoying working with the patterns and colors so much I just couldn't help myself and had to add some lovely black elements to compliment those bright yellows and so Parlourside was born...

You can view all the pieces for this new theme by clicking the image or title above and it will take up permanent residence in the "Complete Themes" section of my blog.

The plain background can be viewed by clicking on the corresponding image and can be found in the "Just Backgrounds" section.

Enjoy~

New Themes - Weather Fun

It seems nearly impossible to listen to the news these days without hearing about some catastrophic weather phenomenon and mega-storms seem to be common place anymore. It seems the days of longing for a quiet rainy afternoon to snuggle up with a good book or an old movie might be a thing of the past. Any so my heart's felt a bit melancholy lately, with perhaps a splash of whimsy, and so I've created two new themes with fun 'weather patterns' of their own...

Stormy Weather

and

Sunnyside Up

These new themes are perfect for those between holiday themes when you just want something different. Both feature free backgrounds and sidebar tags and coordinating banners are available through my shop for the cost of a gourmet beverage ~ only they last alot longer ~ yumm!

I'm also introducing coordinating post dividers and have created a new tutorial to walk you through the installation. I'll be debuting more post dividers in the near future and you can find a new section in my Elements area for all the latest coordinating styles.

And don't forget, if you're looking to round out your PrL theme, blog signatures and other coordinating goodies can always be purchased through the Blogging section of my shop...

Enjoy!

Digital Collage Sheets... who me??

So, here's something that doesn't rely of online image hosting... Digital Collage Sheets ~ Yay!

Yes, I've finally decided to try my hand with a few designs. It's something I've had a... well.. hankering for, I guess, and so I decided to finally jump in and give it a try.

Now there's no doubt mine are a little different than the norm and hopefully that will be appealing to collage artists, not to mention I like the idea of not stepping on any toes, if you know what I mean. I truly admire so many digital collage artists and house links to many of their blogs under the "freebies" section in my right sidebar.

I'm still in the process of creating and tweaking a few sheets but there are a handful currently making their debut in my Etsy shop and so for the next 24 hours they're all on sale ~ buy one get on free. Simply check out with one, and let me know which sheet you want for free in the "Note to Seller" section - I'll send you both ~ how fun!

Oh and please... if you create something with them I'd love to see your work~ that's the best part!

Enjoy!

♫Happy Dance♫

Yes ~ the faeries, elves and I are doing a ♪happy dance over here... We're hugely relieved that Photobucket has restored AND resolved the issues they were having ~ what a stressful and trying week this has been.

Lessons were learned though and it's now in my future plans to switch over to my own hosting once time permits, this will hopefully prevent any future downtime for all of you wonderful customers & followers.

In the meantime I can't thank you all enough for your unending patience and support! Happy blogging and as always...

Enjoy!

Gulp ~ Where are my images??

Ok... this isn't pretty, is it?!? It appears my tride and true image storage company has decided to glitch out and call it "maintenance". So, I'm sending out a VERY sincere apology to all of my customers.
They claim this "maintenance" will be taken care of by this morning but in the meantime I'm scrambling to find a new ~ more reliable ~ image hosting company.

Thank you for your patience~

Update: Photobucket has posted that they now intend on having the issue resolved by 11pm tonight. Here is a link to their Twitter which they are utilizing for updates: http://twitter.com/photobucket

4/13 Update: Photobucket still ensures all images are safe and they are working hard to restore all image links. Updates are being posted at:

http://s806.photobucket.com
http://www.facebook.com/photobucket/posts/10150544331825632
http://twitter.com/#!/photobucket

Thank you again to all of my customers for your continued patience. I pay each month for a business account with Photobucket so that we can all enjoy uninterrupted images, so this is a huge shock for all of us.

Again, if you need your images I can post them on a temporary site ~ just send me the info related to your blog (link and theme title) to my email address: plumroselane at gmail dot com and I'll email you the temporary code with a followup once the situation is fixed.

Thanks so much for your patience♥

Newest Customer Shout Outs

It's always such a pleasure when I have a moment to give shout outs for some of the recent customers I've worked with and their projects. I'm honestly so blessed with the most wonderful customers and each project offers a wonderfully different creative experience. I've probably mentioned before but the process is really an intuitive one and I'm immensely grateful for the opportunity to bring my customer's dreams into reality. But enough ¸.•*´fairy~dust´*•.¸ from me... let's move on to show off some fab recent projects...

A Tray of Bliss
We begin with a complete custom makeover and one-of-a-king theme ~ this fabulous blog "serves as a guide to living the high life on a small budget" and includes 'delicious servings' for all tastes and palates. For this theme we went with a quasi vintage french motif with elements of fine dining and the good life.

Cottleston PieNext we have a little corner of blogland devoted to personal musings and quips about life's turns. For this blog project the customer was interested in using one of my prefab themes but with a few personal twists. By incorporating her own photo and some charming Pooh elements we were able to enhance this blog with a new one-of-a-kind look.

Evanescent AdolescenceThis project was particularly fun in that my customer is an admitted adolescent and proud of it, and so she was looking for something fun to represent this inspirational side of her personality. For this project I created a one-of-a-kind header and blog badge which were gifted by her Dad & Mum ~ it's always such fun to be a gift!

Art from the HeartThis last one is a bit different in that I don't normally shout out about smaller projects but since I had the opportunity to use the artist's own work to create her one-of-a-kind blog badge I just couldn't help but give a mention to this fun and original project.

I do hope you'll take a moment to visit each one (just click the titles or images) and delve into their personal corners of blogland, each is a treasure treat in it's own way.

And... now is a great time to catch the makeover bug ~ whether it's a new badge, blog banner, or entire custom theme, with 19% off savings going on in my shop you can't lose. Just hop on over before midnight April 12th and enter coupon code: springbreak2011

Enjoy!

Long Overdue ~ a few new Buttons

I've been a little m.i.a. from blogging lately ~ what with customer projects, classes, and still settling in to our new home, it seems there just isn't enough time in the day.

If that work load weren't enough it seems my muses have been working overtime themselves, anxiously pushing me along on a few new projects and we all know how important it is to listen to a muse. So the first few items to debut are some new buttons to spice up your spring sidebar.


<center><a href="http://www.PlumroseLane.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Welcome Bird" src="http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy344/plumrose-lane/Badges/PrL-Welcome_Bird.png" /></a></center>


<center><a href="http://www.PlumroseLane.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Follow Your Heart" src="http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy344/plumrose-lane/Badges/PrL-onthewingsof-badge.png" /></a></center>


<center><a href="http://www.PlumroseLane.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Butterfly Dreams" src="http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy344/plumrose-lane/Badges/PrL-Butterfly_Dreams.png" /></a></center>

And click here for a quick (and easy to follow) tutorial in case you need help installing one of these babies.

As always, these buttons will take up permanent residence in the "Elements" section of my site and are free for the taking so...

Enjoy!