RV Designs

Etsy!

2011-11-29T12:45:00.000-05:00

Hello blog lovers!

We've neglected this blog for so long, but wanted to pop over today to let you know that you can catch us on our Facebook page and Etsy site.

We're going to be much more selective about accepting blog designs--we get much more excited about Etsy and party planning.

So we'll catch in another corner of the internet. This corner is going to be a little quiet until we can figure out what to do with it.

See you soon!

A Blog for a Teacher

2011-08-02T09:15:00.003-04:00

We're loving the sudden influx of education blogs we're designing--we're both teachers through and through. Kleinspiration's design features a simple header with a bold navigation bar. My favorite piece is the custom social networking buttons! I love the little flower pots.

A Blog for Good Deals.

2011-08-01T12:18:00.002-04:00

Increasingly blogs around here and simple with good graphic lines. Nothing to distract from the actual meat of the blog. Here's another great example, Sharing Good Deals.

A fantastic collection of good deals from around the net compiled with a simple header and a pop of green. We both loved the coupon image, even for virtual coupons it still resonates!

Adelphi

2011-07-22T12:59:00.000-04:00

Here's a design from a few months ago that I love!

It has a cute nav bar under the header and these sweet buttons in the sidebar for their different topics.

Really though, I'm just crazy about the font and subtle stripes on the buttons. Love!

Hey there!

2011-07-18T14:00:00.003-04:00

Long time no blog, right?

I just wanted to pop over and let everyone know that the lack of blogging has not been for lack of projects! Victoria and I have been super busy working on our Etsy shop.

Here's some of our current items for sale! Lots of invitations and party decor, as well as custom melamine plates. If you have an event coming up and don't see something that works, let us know and we'd be happy to design something for you.

A Blog for Tofu.

2011-01-15T21:18:00.003-05:00

We've been staying really busy with the things we sell on Etsy - party invitations are always in style! But we each have completed a fun new challenge in the past week - Wordpress headers! We are not going to move into the world of Wordpress design, but we're happy to make an image that fits specific dimensions.

Poppy contacted us earlier this week needing a custom header to help tell her story. Simple and clean, it fits the Wordpress design she chose for her blog. Her story is encouraging and fun to read!

A Blog for the Kimbles

2010-11-19T17:30:00.000-05:00

This simple blog was a blast to design--I love that the focus is on the pretty script and butterfly!

A Christmas Gift for a Font Nerd

2010-11-04T20:50:00.000-04:00

I thought about getting this for Vic for Christmas, then I decided to post about it here instead.

Wouldn't this be fun? A game about fonts! Memory--a childhood favorite of all. Click over here to see it--but make sure you know how to convert pounds to dollars. Because I don't.

Christmas Cards!

2010-10-28T22:43:00.000-04:00

Last year, when I was first getting into the design thing, I made my own Christmas card. Man, I was proud. This year, I thought I would do a favor for some of my favorite families and make some cards for them...

I am sure that Phil Dunphy would approve of these designs.

And while these might not actually be families, I'm hoping that these cards embody what they would send out around holiday time.

And who doesn't miss these families?

I'm fairly sure that no one will think I am near as funny as I think I am... but that's ok. I'm eventually going to get these listed on etsy, but if you are interested in personalizing any of these designs ($10) or your own custom design ($ slightly more $), please let me know!

Or more importantly, if you have any suggestions for other TV families that need to be represented in future designs, make sure to comment below!

A Blog for A Trucker Wife

2010-10-24T22:42:00.000-04:00

This was a fun one--we met Lis at BlogHer and were excited to get to design a new look for her. She wanted to stick with a coffee theme and we found a lot of great elements to use, including the Starbucks font!

Features include: custom signature, button with html, custom titles and font.

While we are busy designing and making the internet a little prettier, we would love to get you on our list! Let us know how we can brighten your blog.

What We've Been Up To...

2010-10-18T10:41:00.003-04:00

It's been quiet over here... We're tying up loose ends on a few blogs we're excited to share with you soon--but in the meantime, we've been very busy with our etsy business!

(If you are in Reader, click over to see the cool thing below!)

We have quite a few sets of decorations that are great for showers and parties. If you or any of your friends are planning a party soon, we'd love to design something for you! We just passed the elusive milestone of 68 sales, and couldn't be happier.

A Blog for Natural on a Budget

2010-09-18T18:41:00.002-04:00

If you are into living a greener, healthier life, then you need to check out what Lorrie is up to at Natural on a Budget. Because she makes it EASIER to do it without breaking the bank.

One feature that we love on her blog - and also on Christa's and Melissa's - is the button! When we design a blog for someone with a lot of followers and readers, they often request a button. This small image can be "grabbed" by readers to add on their blog. It's like a small ad but also a sign of pride - like you are saying "look what cool stuff I read!"

Rachel and I do not have buttons for our blogs...yet? Would you put a Sol and Rachel Do a Blog button on yours? What about victoriaINvirginia? This could turn into a popularity contest for the two of us.

A Blog for a Reunion and an Organization.

2010-09-09T20:46:00.003-04:00

The great thing about blogs, in our humble opinion, is that they can be used for so so many wonderful things. Well, everything really.

Seriously, ask our friends. If they come to us with a problem, we say, "Try a blog." Works for us.

Here are two blogs for things Victoria does outside the blog world. First, a blog for her high school reunion. How does ten years go so fast?

She also works with Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society and made a blog for her chapters in Kansas and Missouri. She convinced many college seniors that blogging was cool. By the end of their time together this past July, they were practically begging for a blog. Check out the sweet background that Rachel crafted for the occasion.

And the blog world got a little brighter.

A Blog for Some Chaos

2010-08-29T16:25:00.003-04:00

The Cutest Chaos, that is! Melissa wanted a look for her blog that highlighted her life in a world surrounded by all boys!

I loved doing this blog for Melissa, but I laughed quite a bit while I was doing it. Rachel has other best friends - I pretend she doesn't - and one of them is Courtney H. That's Melissa's sister! Courtney is listed in my phone as "Frienemy." We probably can agree on one thing - those little boys at the cutest chaos are too cute!

Blogs for Two Friends

2010-08-26T23:02:00.003-04:00

Our pal Marie is about to be the reason we make a referral discount--she's sent two new blogs our way this week!

Elizabeth is about to start blogging about her journey to earning a black belt--I'm interested! I can't even kick my dog. (Because I love him so much.)

Becca is "Starting Over from Scratch" and is sure to share many delish recipes with you!

Both of these girls went all out--graphic headers, custom fonts, custom sidebar titles... making them very fun to design!

Add them to your Readers... and us too if you haven't! We have 98 Google Readers currently, and if you are the 100th to subscribe, we'll give you a big old pat on the back. And maybe a free font tip!

A Blog for the Heberts

2010-08-25T13:35:00.000-04:00

Another very fun blog to design...

I'm totally getting into designing blogs without scrapbook kits--I love how modern they look!

Sarah is new to blogging and wanted to get her look perfect before she started... and I think we finally achieved it. I love everything about this design--the bike, my new favorite font, the colors... it just makes me happy!

Apparently it makes other people happy too--Vic ran across this today!

Yes, spelling counts.

2010-08-19T08:41:00.003-04:00

It's important to use the correct words when blogging. Words are what make us sound smart... or sometimes dumb. Let's go over a few. (I went to the state spelling bee in 8th grade, so I consider myself an authority on spelling.)

Peek vs Peak vs Pique

While this is not one that is used incredibly often, when I do see this word used, it is often incorrect. Here's how you can remember which is which (not witch). Remember, if you try to use this word and fail, you will be really embarrassed. If there's one thing I like to do in comment sections of blogs, it is correct people's spelling.

Peek: the e's look like eyeballs that are peeking in your window

Pique: this word is spelled in an crazy way that should pique your interest

Peak: this one means the top of something, and I don't have a trick for it

When Victoria saw a peek of the mountain peak, her interest in hiking was piqued.

Its vs It's

I have to think about this one every time I type it. The bottom line is that an apostrophe is always used when you remove a letter in a contraction (it + is = it's), and that trumps the rule about using an apostrophe to be possessive.

I use this catchy song to remember the difference. It's only 10 seconds long. And it's reaalllly funny if you were ever a Homestar Runner fan. Here are the lyrics in case your computer is from 1997 and doesn't have sound.

Ohhhhh, if you want it to be possessive, it's just "I-T-S"
But if it's supposed to be a contraction, then it's "I-T-apostrophe-S,"
Scalawag.

Your vs You're

Most people don't mess up your and you're, but here's another song, just in case.

I'm all about linking to fun stuff today, so here's a very funny spelling quiz. (I missed one.)

In summary, just because it is the internet doesn't mean you can take special liberties with spelling.

(And a final sidenote, I'm really nervous to post this because I'm sure I made some errors that I didn't catch... so feel free to be my editor in the comments below. And if you find a mistake, I made it on purpose to test you. Promise.)

The Business of Blogging

2010-08-16T10:07:00.002-04:00

We've been designing blogs on Blogger for a year now. It started as a hobby for our friends and family, then we realized we might be able to make some sweet cash to buy ourselves fancy gadgets. While we've been excited to share these skills all along, the more we learn, the more excited we become to spread our sweet Photoshop and html skills 'round the internet!

We remain decidedly unskilled at nunchucks and kayaking. (Note from Rachel: Sol and I once sunk a kayak. True story.)

Our trip to BlogHer was a good one, and beyond the fun, we learned a few things. We both still feel like we blog for our friends and family. These circles have expanded a bit as we blog, but we'll probably... er, definitely not be famous. We'll probably make people laugh (sometimes) and stay in touch.

But by golly, here at RV Designs, we're going to brighten blogs!

Starting September 7th, our prices are going to go up. Not a lot, just a little. One of our new friends from BlogHer, Sara, gave us some interesting insight into prices and what our time and design skills are worth. (Sara thinks we should quadruple our rate... we aren't raising them that much by a long shot!) A blog takes us easily between two and ten hours depending on the level of detail required. That's a lot of Mac time!

If you would like a blog makeover, facelift or small touch up, order soonish. We'll be glad to honor any orders placed before September 7th with our current pricing, even if you have to wait a bit after September 7th.

And keep on blogging.

A Blog for Jenae

2010-08-13T13:46:00.000-04:00

Oh man, this blog I LOVE.

Not only is the content on this blog phenomenal (it's FULL of educational activities you can do with your kiddo), the design is one of my favorites.

Jenae ordered just about every extra we offered: the pretty custom script font, nav bar, the button with html to grab... I just think it's too pretty.

If you have kids at home, you really should go look around! She's got things to do for kids of all ages (and she's been doing some great giveaways!)

Another Blog for Marie

2010-08-12T13:35:00.003-04:00

We've been in the design biz long enough that we are getting to redo some of the first blogs that we ever designed! It's fun for us and for the blogger, because we are considerable smarter and are making much cooler blogs these days.

Marie's blog was ill--and not in a good way--her titles had somehow broken and it needed some new life breathed into it. Combine that with her impending move to London, wedding planning and marathon training (oh, and also grad school) and you have a very good reason for a blog makeover.

We really enjoyed this blog's more graphic look and bright color scheme. Take a minute and go check out Marie's blog. I promise you won't be disappointed!

More From BlogHer '10

2010-08-06T23:53:00.002-04:00

Today was a success. It got a little silly sometimes, but we met a bunch of fun new bloggers. We danced, we traded business cards, and Victoria obsessively followed Padma around.

If you're one of those people that we met at BlogHer, thanks for stopping by! We blog together here at RV Designs (and brighten blogs too!), plus we each have our own blogs for more ridiculousness. And Rachel's cute kid.

Rachel at Sol and Rachel Do a Blog

Victoria at victoriaINvirginia

BlogHer '10 - we'll be back tomorrow. Go big or go home.

BLOGHER BABY

2010-08-06T00:32:00.005-04:00

That's right, you heard us. We're in NYC at Blogher. We have a super cool backpack and need to go to bed. If you want to follow along with us, you can go to Rachel or Victoria's site. We also have some rad tweets in the sidebars you can read.

We made this very special video for you to kick off our Blogher experience:

Also, we struggle with being normal, so this is our very first effort. Note: we are incredibly cool.

A Blog for an Art Teacher.

2010-08-04T00:38:00.002-04:00

We have a lot of friends who are teachers - and thankfully sometimes they need blog designs. Abbey's is really cool because it has her heart featured prominently in the header.

She's just about to start teaching in the high school after several years in the elementary school - so go check out her chill blog, her neato self-portrait and wish her luck as she starts a new job!

Also, make sure you stop by Thursday morning for some kind of awesome RV news. Rachel dropped a hint on her blog yesterday, here's another: NY bagels.

Word Verification and What to Do About It

2010-07-29T00:17:00.004-04:00

Rachel and I love to leave comments on blogs. Sometimes it starts a discussion, other times we're just sharin' the love. But there's one thing that is not-so-awesome about commenting.

You guessed it: word verification.We understand that google had some smart reasons behind word verification, and we both totally respect google's noble effort to protect us from spam commenting. But we turned it off on our blogs several months ago and are never ever spammed. You can see what it looks like without word verification here or there.

Here's the steps if you want to clean it up on your blog too!
This isn't for everyone, but maybe it's helpful to some of you. If you make the switch to life without "word verification," leave a comment below letting us know that you did. We'll stop by and return the favor with a comment on your blog. Happy blogging!

PS. Carrie - thanks for letting me use your blog as our example. If you want to see what I was commenting on, go check it out here. Edmund is the bomb dot com in cuteness these days.

A Blog Update for Kate.

2010-07-27T20:43:00.004-04:00

A way long time ago, we started designing blogs mostly for our friends and family. Nothing too exciting, just fun simple designs that gave blogger a face lift. Our pal Anne's sister Kate was one of our very first blogs - and that was WAY back in November!

And now some of our customers are coming back for seconds - which we LOVE.

Meet Kate. She's got a new angel boy and an adorable 2-year-old. She loves yellow and the beach, so this scrapbooked header matched her needs pretty perfectly.

Go stop by and see her sweet little boys. Thanks for coming back again Kate!

A Blog for Kristin

2010-07-22T22:31:00.002-04:00

Kristin needed a new design. A very specific new design. Lucky for her, I am patient and love playing on photoshop.

Bright, simple and clean. A perfect platform for her to tell the story of their little family. Features on this blog are a framed picture and button as well as post dividers. I really love this look!

Who wants a Cupcake?

2010-07-19T23:22:00.007-04:00

Vic and I LOVE going to cupcake shops--and there is no shortage of them in DC. My motto for cupcake purchasing is, "Why buy 1 cupcake when you could by 3?" I love cupcakes.

So does my pal Rhonda--and she is actually quite talented at baking them. Her Choco-Caramel Pretzel Glam Cupcakes are entered in the Duncan Hines cupcake contest and are doing quite well! Normally I wouldn't shamelessly promote someone else's contest (I only like to shamelessly promote myself) but I kind of owe Rhonda. You see, in high school she fell in a puddle so huge that her shoes floated away, and instead of helping, I stayed in the car and laughed at her. So we're even now, Rhonda. EVEN.

Anyways, here's what you can do to help. She needs votes to win this sucker. You can vote once per day, per browser. Every time you go vote for her cupcake (search for Rhonda Hale) you can leave a comment here telling us you voted.

Recap. Go vote, comment here. If you vote twice a day for 3 days, that means you get to leave 6 comments here. (I'm a math teacher when I'm not blogging.)

When the contest is over we'll randomly pick a winner here. If the winner is in Kansas, Rhonda will deliver her special baked goods to you. If you are outside of Kansas, you will get cupcake themed goodies and a couple sweet surprises.

Again. If you want to win some delish cupcakes, please go vote for Rhonda. It takes about 4 seconds. Just do it.

VOTE.

A Blog for a Sister, Part Two

2010-07-15T11:02:00.001-04:00

We each have one sister, and we designed Rach's sister (Laura) blog awhile ago. It was only natural that Victoria's sister would need a blog too. So we created this simple & clean design for Lauren who is starting law school in the fall.

Yeah, that's right. Our little sisters are really smart - one doctor and one lawyer-to-be. They both run and have the middle name Elizabeth. We're proud of them both and refuse to discuss whether they are smarter than us.

Go check it out. Add her to your reader. Did you put RV Designs in your reader yet? Do that too. Yeah, we are kinda bossy. That's what older sisters do.

The Worst Thing About LeBron.

2010-07-13T09:40:00.001-04:00

We are pretty bummed about LeBron abandoning Cleveland for Miami. Alright, that's a lie. We don't really care about NBA basketball.

But we do care about fonts.

In our eyes, the worst part about LeBron leaving home for sunny beaches is the letter that the owner wrote in a response.
Hope that didn't hurt your eyes too much. Yes, you correctly identified the problem - it was written in Comic Sans. As previously discussed, this is never okay. Especially not okay if you own a NBA basketball team and are trying to be angry. Words like "narcissistic" and "disloyal" look wimpy written in Comic Sans.

The good news in all this? Comic Sans is getting some national attention about just how terrible it is. It was even discussed on NPR. We're one step closer to our goal: a Comic Sans free world.

Typography for Kids

2010-07-12T16:37:00.004-04:00

Now, we consider ourselves fonts snobs... but you have to take that with a grain of salt (also, I have never understood what that means... a grain of salt???) We appreciate nice looking fonts. We don't like Comic Sans. But the further we dig into the font world, the more we realize we don't know about typography. There's a lot to know: the history of fonts, they names of the parts of a glyph (I think that's what they call it?), the fine, slight differences in typefaces. I could spend too much time learning about it.

I think this book might be a good place to start:

It's a darling kids book that adults could learn a lot from. While it's currently out of stock, you can flip through the whole thing online. Here's the url for the book: http://www.hyperactivitypography.com/

Enjoy, and learn something new!

And the Winner is...

2010-07-05T17:36:00.004-04:00

Holly, from The Description of our Days. Yay Holly!!! Holly is a fellow teacher who is new to blogging--I'm sure she'd love it if you stopped by and said hi.

Can you tell how excited we are to design something for Holly? E-mail us at rvblogdesigns@gmail.com so we can make your dreams come true!

And a little special deal for all you other lucky entrants... if you need a paper good designed, we'd be happy to make something for you for the low low price of $5 (plus the cost of any images we use in the design.) We're looking to build our etsy inventory and designing something for you would actually be a favor to us.

If you are interested in cheap labor, shoot us an email or fill out an order form indicating that you'd like a custom paper design. Yahoo!

Free stuff! No strings attached!

2010-07-02T21:47:00.003-04:00

Time is closing in on our giveaway... we want to make sure all the focus is on our friend America on July 4th and not on our rad designs.

In case you missed the first post, you can go HERE to enter. If you win (and I hope you do) you will get a free custom design, similar to what you will see in our etsy shop! To be clear, we are making you a BRAND NEW DESIGN (it will be a jpeg) to print and do whatever you please with. Need a robot invitation for a birthday party in September? I am dying to make it for you. Need change of address cards in a year? Why not just knock those out now? We are ready to make you whatever your little heart wants.

To recap.

1. Enter our giveaway.

2. Win a BRAND NEW FANCY CUSTOM DESIGN TO PRINT!

3. Sing "God Bless America."

Go ahead. Enter. We'll be sad if you don't win, but we'll be even sadder if you don't enter. Now go listen to some Lee Greenwood.

A New Design and a Giveaway

2010-06-29T20:00:00.003-04:00

And then we were like BAM! New blog design.

Our trusty RV site was feeling a little neglected (and maybe even a smidge jealous) in the midst of all our designing. So we treated the blog to a little makeover, just in time for summer. (Yes, we JUST got out of school. Summer JUST started. But you know what? The jokes on you when it is August, and we're still on break.)

I went a little crazy with the html... I just kept figuring out more and more stuff. I'm pretty much obsessed with the new navigation bar--go wave your mouse on it and watch them change colors. I know, rad, right? We're loving the new color scheme too. Navy and chartreuse is the new pink and black. Or something.

Anyways... the reason you are here is because the title mentioned a giveaway, right? So to kick off the summer (and all our newfound spare time) we are giving away a free design to our new, fancy etsy shop, "The things I sell on etsy."

The lucky winner will receive one custom design of their choosing. A birthday invitation, change of address postcard, thank you notes... anything your little heart wants. You give us the deets, we give you a fancy jpeg for printing. Go check out the designs we've already made.

It's easy to enter--and you can enter to win up to THREE times. Leave up to three comments in the following way:

FIRST COMMENT: Leave us a comment telling us what you love about summer.
SECOND COMMENT: Become a follower. Then leave a comment saying you are following RV Designs. Already a follower? Leave a comment saying that you are already one of the cool kids.
THIRD COMMENT: BLOG about it. Post it on your FACEBOOK page. Or TWITTER about the giveaway. Leave a comment telling us where we can find it on the web for a third entry.

Winner will be announced on the 4th of July. Go AMERICA!

A Blog for Mandy

2010-06-27T12:56:00.006-04:00

We were thrilled to catch up with our pal Mandy--she's an old friend from K-State. My first memory of Mandy was her bandaging my friend's rear end because she fell out of her bed onto a glass picture frame. Mandy is a very patient and loving person.

I love this bright design! And I'm a big fan of the custom font as the post title, it really brings the whole design together.

Let us know if your blog needs a new look for summer--school's out and we're ready to to brighten some blogs.

And stay tuned, we've got some fun stuff planned for the next few weeks! (Much more fun than taking pictures of our awesome outfits or food.)

A Blog for Busy Moms

2010-06-16T09:17:00.003-04:00

This blog is one of the coolest things I've run across recently! Christa is a friend from when I was a little girl--and we've recently become reconnected through the internet. She started "Mommy and Me Meals" to help busy moms prepare healthy meals for babies, toddler and families. The recipes I've seen so far are great!

Features on this blog include an image navigation bar and darling image titles for the sidebar. Add this one to your reader if you are a busy mom who loves to make healthy, delicious meals for your kiddos!

A Tote Bag for Font Snobs.

2010-06-14T13:42:00.002-04:00

We're not the kind of gals who spend a lot of time hunting down great things you would love on Etsy, even though we spend plenty of time there ourselves. We would rather be spending our precious free time brightening your blogs.

But this is one etsy item we have to share with you because it helps further our font snob cause.

Available from TheLittleFactory, this tote is perfect for anyone, RV included, who wants to teach the world the difference between serif and sans serif fonts. This is important stuff people. If you're still confused, read about serif and sans serif here.

Live long and font smart.

A Blog for a Business

2010-06-04T22:17:00.003-04:00

It's been awhile since we've posted about what this site is really about--our blog design! This one's been in the works for awhile and we've finally completed our part.

We loooved working on this site. It allowed us to try some new things and get creative with our bad selves. We pulled out all the stops here. In order to incorporate the font from the header into the rest of the blog, we used an image navigation bar and installed a custom font for the post titles. Classy, huh?

The blog needed to look less "blogg-y" and more "business-y" so we moved the sidebar beneath the posts. I absolutely love the way it looks! We're designing two more blogs that are sister businesses to this one, and eventually they will all be linked together in the lower sidebar.

How cool is that? We're pretty darn proud of ourselves. Stay tuned for more blog related posts. We're wrapping up quite a few projects we are excited to share with you!

Adding Slideshows to Blogger.

2010-06-03T11:07:00.006-04:00

It should be easy. In theory, adding pictures from one google platform to another should be the easiest thing in the world. But sometimes the Internet tricks itself into being a little bit confusing. If you liked our step-by-step guide to uploading pictures in a bigger size, then you'll love these instructions for adding slideshows.

You're welcome.

We're going to show you how to do this with Picasa and Blogger because we are unapologetic in our love for all things Google. First, upload your photos into an album on Picasa. (If it is your first time using it, it's very easy. Just go to Picasa's Web Album site to get started.) I made a new album for the post for convenient storage and sharing.

On the right hand side of the screen, you will see a toolbar with all sorts of sharing options. Click on "link to this album" to expand and see even more options. Finally, you'll get to see what you are looking for "embed album." Click on this to go forward!

A very big and in-your-face picture will show up with options for slideshows. I changed the size of my show because I have a wide window for pictures. Choose what works best for your main post width in blogger. I was too lazy to write any clever captions for my photos, so I left that option unchecked. But I did want the slideshow to start immeditately, so I left autoplay checked.

Here's where you have to pay attention. Select ALL OF THE TEXT in the box and copy it.

Next, you need to head over to your blogger post. I was already to go with a very sweet and complete post about Claire and Jeremy's engagement party.

Click on "edit html" and past the code EXACTLY where you want it in your post. If you preview the post, you'll be able to see that it is in the right spot and functional. It probably won't show up in the "compose" window, but that doesn't mean it didn't work.

Done! It should work beautifully and allow you to show off more of your fine photography.

You can see how a finished slideshow looks on blogger over here or there.

RV Designs.

2010-05-29T23:52:00.003-04:00

Hey there. Thanks for coming back to our blog. Over the past two weeks we've been trying our hand as food and fashion blogs, and it wasn't pretty. In fact, our loving friends described our attempts as scary, hilarious and frightening.

We have no idea why they would describe our blog posts this way.

So we talked it over. We're not going to be food and fashion bloggers. Instead we're going to keep up with the regular stuff that makes us happy and keeps us busy - babies, restaurants, photography, teaching, gardening, and our two crazy dogs.

And because we know more about brightening blogs than modeling and food photography, we're going to go back to featuring finished designs here on the blog. Come back again and again to meet fabulous bloggers and see what we've done.

Again, sorry about the pajamas. And Rachel's egg sandwich breakfasts.

It's Just Lunch.

2010-05-26T08:20:00.005-04:00

Packing a lunch every day when you are a teacher gets kind of old. Especially at this point in the year because we know we still have twenty more days of lunches to pack. Sometimes you are lucky enough to have leftovers. And a lot of the time you aren't, and you just have to throw something together.

At this point it is important to turn to your closest friends to make a lunch that is worth eating in the middle of a day of middle schoolers.

For Victoria, it is Margarita Salsa. French's Yellow Mustard. Vlasic Zesty Bread &Butter Chips.

The salsa - definitely the highlight - comes all the way from Kansas City. And it is worth the trip for the best hot salsa in the country.

Unlike our after school snacks, we try to eat some semblance of a fruit or vegetable at lunch time. It's always better when it's in a cute container. (Same with sandwiches.)

Hi, it's Rachel. This series of posts is depressing me--I'm a terrible food blogger and an even worse lunch packer. My children are going to hate me when they start going to school. Veggies and fruits take too much time--I'm counting raspberry preserves and peach greek yogurt as a fruit.

This has become my standard lunch. Clearly, I do not relish planning my meals as much as Victoria. I am LAME. If anything, I am now a little more motivated to get creative with my lunching.

Do you eat something cool for lunch everyday? (I'm talking to you, Carrie!) Post a link below if you have something to share--because who doesn't like to share lunch? At the very least, this gives you something to blog about if you are going through a dry spell.

Breakfast

2010-05-25T07:07:00.004-04:00

Clearly, one of us was cut out to be a food blogger, and the other one wasn't. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about that one. Hint: look at the pictures.

Victoria likes to start her day with a cold glass of OJ in her monogrammed Tervis Tumbler. (NERD ALERT!!!) The Vitamin C keeps her healthy in the minefield of germs that we teach in.

Vic likes to keep you guessing about her food choices--she mixes Cap'n Crunch (because who doesn't like PIRATE cereal?) and ~~cardboard~~ Kashi with our bargain milk. We found Organic half gallons of milk for ONE DOLLAR last week. We bought 11.

Doesn't that look tasty?

Rachel, on the other hand, does not have a tasty looking breakfast. Just about every morning she eats the "Sol Special". It's an Arnold's Sandwich thin with egg and sausage. The egg is made by Sol at the beginning of the week--it's egg whites and flax seed and kind of gross. The sausage is Morningstar Veggie Sausage and its pretty tasty. Obviously, no breakfast is complete without a tall glass of Nesquik. YUM.

Alright kiddies, if you'd like to play along, share your breakfast posts below. Or don't. We won't have hurt feelings. We recognize this is a weird thing to blog about.

Food for Thought

2010-05-24T19:06:00.002-04:00

Last week we paid homage to the world of fashion bloggers in our own special, zany RV Designs sort of a way. This week we bring you our spin on food blogs.

While Victoria dabbles in food bloggery, neither of us dedicate much virtual space to what we eat meal by meal. And there are quite a few bloggers in this world that make their bread & butter on what the eat. For breakfast. Then lunch. Also dinner. And that late night snack.We've seen it all as it enters their body. In detail and usually shot up close to reveal nutritional calories.

Up first this week for our food blogging - snack time! We're hungry after a day of 8th graders, and we need some after school fuel to get ready for nights jammed packed with sweating to the 80s and blog design.

The usual suspects.

Our snacks resemble the after school chow of most American nine-year-olds: cheddar Goldfish & Teddy Grahams. We also need our diet coke. RV note: nine-year-olds should NOT drink diet coke.

Happiness. It's Teddy and Finn together forever (not that baby - Finn is the name of the Goldfish! It says so on the box!). In our mouths and stomachs. Mmmmm...

Yes. We should probably snack on fruit and vegetables. But this is better than the whole Dairy Queen ice cream cake we consumed last week. It. wasn't. pretty.

Join us this week while we give food blogging a spin on RV. If you write a post about something you eat, leave a comment linking to it, and we can all join in the merriness that is food. And blogging.

Schedule
Tuesday: Breakfast
Wednesday: Lunch
Thursday: Dinner
Friday: Favorite foods!

Ready, set, EAT. Then BLOG!

Let's Get Physical

2010-05-20T21:50:00.007-04:00

When we are not designing blogs, sleeping or teaching middle school, we are pumping iron. That's pretty much it actually.

Blog.
Sleep.
Teach.
Workout.

And we insist on looking good while working on our fitness--which makes us look even better. Here we "sport" a few of our favorite workout outfits.

Rachel is seen here in her inspiring Patrick Dempsey racing team t-shirt (worn to commemorate the most stressful episode of Grey's EVER) cranking those five pound weights. Victoria is combining leg and arm workouts to burn more calories and makes it look good in her sea foam green crew neck sweatshirt. Everyone loves the crew neck!

Good news--childbearing did not impede Rachel's ability to do the splits. Looks like all those years of cheerleading paid off! (Just kidding.)

Victoria takes a moment in the (insert name of some yoga pose here) position to forget about her worries.

(Bodies by Jillian Michaels.)

Stylin' in our Sleep

2010-05-19T20:57:00.006-04:00

We may be women of style, but we are also women of leisure. We even make pajamas look good.

Victoria takes her sleepwear seriously. That's why she chooses the J. Crew men's department to provide her with the best pajama pants. She prefers the delicate cotton of Banana Republic for her tank.

Rachel knows the value of true style--even in the dark. She wouldn't be caught dead in anything except her Vera Bradley PJ pants. And her custom pink t-shirt (a Victoria original) helps pull her look together. She also forgot to take out her pearl earrings that are probably from Target.

Pictures courtesy of the new 50mm lens and Sol.

Fashion for State Testing.

2010-05-18T09:05:00.004-04:00

This week our students started taking state tests. We have carefully planned our outfits to inspire and reassure our students that not only will the survive, they will do exceptionally well.

It's important to note our hair is styled by the one and only Dominique. No, it's not the same exact haircut, so quit asking. There are slight variances in the stacking on the back of our heads.

Our clothes aren't flashy. They're calm and confident. Just like our students when they take multiple choice test about math, civics, science and English.

We love our Sperrys. We also love life size paintings of teenagers and ninjas that hang in our hallways. This is fashion as we know it.

Fashion Week.

2010-05-17T16:55:00.007-04:00

One of the best parts of our design business is getting to see all the different types of blogs in the blogosphere. Over the next few weeks we would like to expose you to the wonders of the blog world. If you aren't already a blogger, maybe you will be inspired to start.

Or maybe you will just laugh at us. That's okay too.

Our first adventure is FASHION WEEK and all the wonders of style that ooze from some peoples' closets. Certainly not ours.

Victoria makes waiting for school to be out look good in her Columbia rain coat. Significantly enhancing the look are her Sam Edelman sandals.

Rachel ponders discipline and classroom management with a mix of hopeful optimism and J Crew.

The designers making these looks possible.

A Blog for Stylish Shea

2010-05-03T09:28:00.002-04:00

Here's a little ditty we whipped up recently and I'm in love with this design! Shea wanted a more stylish, chic design so we used iStock to find a image that would work for her. I love the bright colors and sleek look!

Shea was the other recipient of our buttons and bookmark giveaway--she got a cute button in the sidebar and traded the other for a signature for her posts. If you are interested in good style and good food, then you need to visit Bon Chic Bon Gastronomique.

A Blog for the (Not So) Newlyweds.

2010-04-29T08:22:00.004-04:00

We've been a little quiet over here at RV Designs, but not because we haven't been busy! Over the next week or so we have several finished blogs to show you.

This blog makeover for Kathryn is perfect for spring, and we're glad to share it with you today. Kathryn wanted a cheerful update and lots of titles to match. We added a custom signature to her posts, her two free buttons from the giveaway and voila - blog brightened.

We think that est. 3-31-07 is an adorable name for a blog. A lot of couples include a date on their blog header, but it makes for a cute title too. Stop by and say hi - we're so glad she found us!

Bookmarks, Buttons, Blogs, and Bonus.

2010-04-17T14:07:00.006-04:00

Hey friends! The garden is in the ground in the backyard, the days are longer, and Rachel's marathon season is almost done. We've got time to brighten your blog!

With each new blog order, we are going to throw in two free buttons and a Paper Source bookmark. We're talking about the internet/blog kind of buttons and the real paper kind of bookmarks that will arrive in the mail.

Buttons could be framed photos, profile pics, contact buttons or signatures. Here are some of our work samples from brightened blogs.

And here are the bookmarks we'll mail using USPS! They are lovely letterpress bookmarks.
Order soon - supplies are limited. But the value is awesome with over $10 worth of free goodies!

A Blog for a Butler Bulldog.

2010-04-05T08:38:00.004-04:00

When we met Laura Ann over at "The Beginning of Forever," she was just a nice blogger who needed a makeover. Now we've got her in our google reader, and she's got us cheering for her alma mater in tonight's championship game!

Go check out her blog and say hello. We're excited about how the three columns came together with custom labels and a snappy color scheme. She's got a custom photo bar on the side and the debut of the "e-mail me" button. And her bulldogs are adorable!

You should get your blog brightened too - maybe next year your favorite basketball team could hoop it up in the championship game too!

Font Viewer

2010-04-04T19:48:00.002-04:00

Here's a nifty little application I found recently...

AMP Font Viewer

If you are a font snob like us, you probably have more fonts than you know what to do with. The Font Viewer is a quick way to see your text written in every font to make choosing one a little easier. I get frustrated in Photoshop when I have to actually change the font a zillion times to see what my text would look like. Font Viewer also lets you sort and organize your fonts--but I haven't gotten that savvy yet.

It's a free download--go get it and enjoy!

Spring Break - A Perfect Time for a Blog Makeover!

2010-03-28T09:45:00.000-04:00

Rachel and I usually within 100 yards of each other. It's a sweet deal because we are always bouncing ideas off each other, trading new things we have learned in photoshop, and talking blog shop. But now, we're separated. This far apart actually...

With all these states and miles between us, we need you to help keep us together. Our work at RV Designs is what unites us during these eight days we are apart. So click over and place an order. We're ready to brighten your blog - wherever you are and wherever we are.

A Blog for a Family

2010-03-24T14:54:00.003-04:00

This family of 6 was looking for a way to stay in touch with each other--and decided a family blog was their solution. The members of the Reynolds Family (get it? Reynolds WRAP???) are all authors on this blog and can post little updates on themselves.

My favorite feature of this blog are the bios down the sidebar--we designed little polaroids that take you to a page about each family member. Totally cute and so fun!

A Blog about Beef

2010-03-17T08:00:00.002-04:00

This was a fun blog to design! Lance decided he wanted to start a blog where people could gather to have a discussion about farming and food--so our goal was to provide him a layout that made people feel like they were visiting his farm.

Lance provided us with the beautiful red barn wood and photo of the cute Angus cow. This was the first time we used a photo as a background and had the body of the blog scroll over it--and I really like the effect. I loved the rugged edges of the body and font for the title.

A Not-So-Scrapbooky Blog

2010-03-15T16:06:00.002-04:00

While Rachel was out exploring the font world, I pulled together a blog for a friend of RV Designs. We designed Lindsey's three-column beauty near the beginning of RV Designs. She wrote last week and wanted an update look that reflected a new blog title. Her design idea included branches and birds on a branch.

Could this graphic be any more perfect? We didn't design it ourselves but found it over at iStock Photo and customized it to match the existing colors in her three column layout. It updated the look and gave us an excuse to play with beautiful graphics.

Go check it out and say hello to Lindsey. If you have been considering a blog but would like something that has a less "scrapbook" feel, we can help you out! We'd be glad to brighten a blog using customized graphics or photos from the web.

Typophile

2010-03-13T23:02:00.003-05:00

Hey there font friends!

We just stumbled across this fun site--Typophile! This is a great sites for font enthusiasts to gather and geek out about fonts.

I recently used it because I saw a font on an invitation I really liked and needed help identifying it. They have a forum devoted to IDing mystery fonts. And there are some serious font snobs out there--they put us to shame. We're going to have to consider ourselves recreational font lovers from here on out.

Office Space

2010-03-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

Every legitimate business need a space to do their work.

Luckily, your designers live in the same abode. A lovely staircase separates our two places of residence. Obviously, this was the perfect place for us to set up our office.

What's that? You'd like a tour? We'd be happy to show you around!

This is us in our office. As you can see, we have tried to make the most with the little space we have. The chairs fold up and so do our computers! Our laps serve as very portable desks. Luckily we have no need for paper or pencils, because there is nowhere to put them.

Here is our pirate calendar, a gift from our best college pal, Alison. So long ago, we discovered that Alison could not talk in a pirate dialect and that our pirate voices made Victoria very mad. We have clearly matured quite a bit. The calendar is great because it helps us keep track of our strenuously busy schedule.

Here is our main form of communication. We can leave each other messages whenever we want! (We also occasionally use our gmail, school email, gchat, Blackberry messenger, twitter and cell phones to talk to each other. We are, like, really tech savvy.)

So, that's our office! Now you can picture what we look like when we are busy brightening your blog. Don't forget, whenever you are ready for a little pick-me-up, the order form is up top, ready for you to fill out.

We'll be waiting.

A Blog for College Sweethearts.

2010-03-03T09:59:00.003-05:00

We both can remember when Caroline and Grant started dating. It was sweet, and we would snoop on them in the foyer at our sorority house.

We've always been a little bit about getting our nose in other people's business. That's why blog design is a good fit for R & me.

Here's their new little blog with a clean vintage feel. Pop over and say hello. It's always nice to see what Caroline and Grant are up to at "Life on Charlotte."

A Blog For Samantha

2010-02-24T08:48:00.002-05:00

Samantha is an aspiring Young Adult writer and it was a delight to design a blog for her. She needed a look that appealed to her teen girl readers and to her peers in the writing world--and I think this captures it! I love the glitzy title, bright colors and fun pink swirl.

Pop over and read Samantha's musings--she's a fabulous writer and has so many fun things to say!

Google Reader

2010-02-19T13:44:00.000-05:00

Google Reader is one of the best ways to catch up on blogs that you frequently read. You can easily subscribe to all your fave blogs (like this one!) and get all your updates in one place. Here's how to set up Reader and a new fun trick I recently discovered.

Setting up Reader
1. You need a Google account--it will make you cool and will make your life easier.

2. When you are in Gmail (or any Google ap) click READER.

3. To add all your favorite blogs, click ADD A SUBSCRIPTION.

4. Every time you check your email, just click reader to view all your fabulous blogs. Your life will never be the same, I promise.

And now for you Advanced Google Reader-ers. Here's my new fancy trick that I love... the NEXT button. As a blog design aficionado, it's a little sad to just see the text of a blog and miss out on the pretty designs. And you can't leave a comment through reader which also makes me sad. So here's your quick way to get to visit all updated blogs at their actual sites...

The Next Button
1. In Google Reader, click SETTINGS then READER SETTINGS.

2. Click GOODIES.

3. Drag that NEXT button to your toolbar.

4. At any moment in your internet-ing, click on the next button that is now in your toolbar, and it will take you to your first unread blog. Then when you click it again, it will go to the next unread site. And when there are no more unread sites, there is a funny surprise. I'm not going to tell you, because its kinda fun. Ok... I'll tell you. You twisted my arm. It says, "You have reached the end of the internet." HA HA HA, Google!

Fonts Snobs and Addicts.

2010-02-18T09:26:00.004-05:00

Rachel and I are self-admitted font snobs. We like fonts to look "just so" on our blog designs. We also despise Comic Sans. As I have mentioned before, I have a very strict two font rule on things I design. Usually one font is a serif and one a sans serif. Too many fonts looks cluttered, and it is distracting to the viewer's eye.

However, choosing those two fonts for a design is a really tough job. As soon as I find a font I love, I find twelve more that I love just as much. Rachel wrote about where to find free and awesome fonts on the internet, but she should have warned you that you can have too many fonts.

This morning I was searching for a new typewriter style at dafont and then had to decide between over 90 different options. That is too many options!

I should stop looking on the internet for more fonts. Confession: I have over 500 fonts on my computer at home. I don't need any more fonts today or ever. But that hasn't stopped me yet.

Because besides being a font snob, I am a font addict.

A Blog for Our Family

2010-02-15T07:47:00.000-05:00

We had a lot of fun designing blog for family members recently. We LOVE introducing people to the blogging community and its even more fun when it's people we already love.

Laura is R's sister and is in medical school at Brown. Her blog chronicles her journey to running a marathon and her insights into the medical world. The highlight so far has been some HILARIOUS cartoons she drew--seriously, you should go check them out!

Sasha is V's cousin and her background is in journalism so we can't wait to read her spin on her fabulous life (even though she is a jayhawk). Pull up a chair and get a "Front Roe Seat" to her life. Vic installed a custom title font for this blog also, it's our new favorite extra!

A Blog to Talk About.

2010-02-13T11:10:00.002-05:00

When we designed this blog for AMS, we knew that it needed to be extremely visitor friendly. We went with clean lines and relaxing fonts, because at Three Salvations it is more about the words than a flashy design. The site hosts open and honest conversations about education today.

Both of your cheerful designers, R & V, are middle school teachers with backgrounds in urban education. We admire AMS for starting conversations about the things close to our heart. Stop by and share your own education wisdom.

A Blog for Marie

2010-02-11T08:27:00.006-05:00

We're happy to welcome Marie back to the world of blogging!

Marie started blogging years ago but was unreliable about keeping up with it--her new design is sure to help inspire her to write. She's fully of witty commentary on her world, and we can't wait to read about her adventures in Boston.

My favorite feature of this design is the post titles--we customized the font so that she wasn't stuck with one of basic ones in blogger. It was definitely worth the time to install it; I think the font ties it all together! I love this look--so clean and put together. Welcome back, Marie!

Also, we've updated some of our pricing options... head over and check it out. We'd be happy to design your blog now as we are snowed in for the forseeable future!!!

A Blog with Three Columns

2010-02-09T08:09:00.004-05:00

Whew--we've been busy!

We keep adding nifty html tricks to our arsenal--our current fave? Adding a third column! Two of our recent designs were perfect for adding an additional sidebar. These girls are blogging aficionados and have a lot to say. These designs also included a signature for posts and the "Stylish Sidebar" option. If you want to see our work at its finest--go on over and say hi!

Our First Giveaway Winners!

2010-02-07T22:17:00.002-05:00

We were so thankful for the turnout here at RV Designs for our first giveaway! It made us want to give away more prizes...and soon! Thanks for all the love. We've also been busy at work brightening blogs, so come back and look for some new designs throughout the week.

Let me explain the process of picking the winners. It involved all of my brothers before the kickoff of the Super Bowl.

First, we put all the numbers 0-9 on popsicle sticks.

Then my brothers picked the sticks one at a time.

They formed two digit numbers with the sticks according to the order they were drawn, and we had our winners. Cooper helped me count all the comments up to find out who the lucky winners were!

5-7: Erica
2-2: Aleta
7-5: Megan

Please e-mail us rvblogdesigns @ gmail . com, and we'll send your prizes to you. Thanks everyone for participating, and we'll see you back here again soon!

Hurray for our giveaway!

Our First Giveaway

2010-01-31T23:17:00.002-05:00

Hello and welcome to RV Designs--we're here to make the blog world a brighter place. If it's your first, (or tenth) time here, feel free to have a look around! The buttons up top will tell you a little about us, show you some of our recent designs, and most importantly, you can learn all about how you can have your very own RV designed blog.

Since you're here, it would brighten our day if you would enter our inaugural giveaway. We have three great prizes (the baby is not one of them).

We are giving away:

A Pioneer Woman Cookbook, signed by PW herself (our blogging hero). And tested by my sweet baby--all the pages turn quite well.
A bag and coin purse from our friends at Knitty Bitties.
A $15 Shutterfly gift certificate, our favorite photo store on the web.

It's easy to enter--and you can enter to win up to THREE times. You can leave up to three comments in the following way:

Leave us a comment saying hello. That brightens our day.
Become a follower. Then leave a comment saying you are following RV Designs. Already a follower? Leave a comment saying that you are already one of the cool kids.
BLOG about it. Post it on your FACEBOOK page. Or TWITTER about the giveaway. Leave a comment telling us where we can find it on the web for a third entry.

So... basic probability implies that if you leave all THREE comments, you stand a better chance of winning than if you leave one.

Winners will be randomly selected for each prize and announced Sunday evening. Good luck and, again, thanks for stopping by!

Changes for Blogger.

2010-01-31T09:37:00.001-05:00

At the risk of losing business, we wanted to let you know that blogger now has a non-html way for you to install a horizontal navigation bar. We were charging 15 bucks for it... we will now be selling a navigation bar with images rather than text because blogger can't do that yet.

When you are writing a post, there is an option that says "edit pages" at the top. This allows you to make permanent pages with important info. It is similar to what we have at the top of the screen--a button for home, for pricing, for font tips... Cool, huh? This is a great way to make your blog more interactive. Readers love to click on stuff, so giving them a place with FAQs or other interesting tidbits is always a great idea.

Let us know if you need any help adding that widget (you can choose for it to be in the sidebar too). Or if you'd like a fancier version, we'd be happy to design images as your buttons!

A Blog for the Wengers

2010-01-26T09:14:00.000-05:00

Our friend Katie has been blogging for awhile but had slowed down with the busy life that comes with raising two kids. Katie came to us for a little pick me up--sometimes a blog makeover is just the kick in the pants you need to get your blog going. Katie is a busy mama, and we're happy her new design is inspiring her to share her life with her family and friends.

Katie's blog is bright and bubbly--just like her two kiddos. We experimented with underlining the post titles with dots in this layout, and I really like it (see our SNAZZY sidebar option)! We can't wait to update her blog when her third baby arrives.

Good luck, Katie, we're loving the new look and following your family. Don't stop ~~believing~~ blogging.

Subscribing to Comments

2010-01-25T10:07:00.000-05:00

There's nothing better than receiving comments on a blog post. It feels great to know that someone has identified with your writing and wants to share their thoughts with you. When a visitor to your blog puts forth the extra effort to leave you a comment, it's important to recognize their contribution quickly. Subscribing to comments allows you to have comments to your blog instantly sent to your email.

Go to CUSTOMIZE>>SETTINGS>>COMMENTS then scroll allllll the way down and enter your email address in the last box (comment notification email).

The other side of the coin is for visitors who leave comments on blogs. If you are a visitor and you leave a comment, its always fun to see what people comment on after you. Before you submit your comment, there is a check box to click that will email all follow up comments to you. Click that, and you will be totally on top of the game. (It's like in facebook when you get all of the comments after yours automatically.)

There you go! Comment away, friends.

A Blog for Stephanie

2010-01-24T12:32:00.000-05:00

Meet Stephanie:

Mrs. Grey House's blog chronicles her adventures in the world featuring her friends, family and you guessed it, a red dog. We had a blast putting together her blog because we're sort of into running in our world too. Rach runs a bunch of marathons, and I watch a bunch of marathons. One time I ran a 5K. True story.

Steph's blog features a simple design and lots of quote bubbles that is a good fit for her musings on the world. We experimented with no border and like the balance for the clean white background for the body of the page.

Thanks Steph - it was great to meet you in the blogging world! We loved brightening your blog.

Bigger Pictures

2010-01-24T10:20:00.000-05:00

One of the things that bummed me out when I first started blogging was the size of the pictures. When you upload a picture and pick "large", it's still pretty small.

It takes a few seconds longer to customize the size of your picture, but it's worth it.

Here's what to do:

1. Resize your photo to the correct width of your main wrapper. Here are some options:
---Using Photobucket (I have never used this, but if you don't have software to resize photos on your computer, this will allow you to do it online)
---Using Photoshop (CTRL-ALT-I)
---Using iPhoto

2. Upload your picture somewhere.
---Tinypic (picture must be correct size)

---Picasa (best if your photos are already in Picasa)3. Copy the url of your photo into the right hand portion of the photo uploader in blogger.

Easy, right? You too can have lovely pictures that are bigger than the blogspot default. If you have any tricks that work for you, please post them below.

Funny Font Videos

2010-01-24T09:24:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, College Humor won't let me embed these clips, so you'll have to actually go to the website to view them. They are pretty funny. If you agree with our views on Comic Sans, Curlz and Jokerman, you will enjoy these. They make some funny font jokes.

Font Conference
Font Fight

Silly, right?

Fontifier

2010-01-24T09:04:00.001-05:00

Do you love your handwriting?
Do you always volunteer to take notes at meetings or be the one to record group ideas on the whiteboard?
Do you secretly judge people who have sub-par handwriting?
Do you wish that you could type all your documents in your own lovely penmanship?

(I do.)

Well, lucky for you, there is a website that allows you to upload a writing sample and have it transformed into your very own font. I'm not sure what kind of black magic they use to do it--but its cool. Be careful when you are writing your writing sample--your letters need to be the same size and centered in the boxes, otherwise they will look crazy when the font is assembled.

Happy fonting!

Where To Find Free Fonts

2010-01-24T08:24:00.002-05:00

If you are looking for new fonts to download to spicy up your text, here are a few of our favorites:

It's great to have some non-standard fonts loaded into your computer for invitation making. Please do not use any of these fonts when trying to make something look fancy:

Jokerman

Curlz

They are overused. If I see another cutesy boutique use Curlz as their font or Jokerman on a party invitation, I will puke. There are too many cute fonts out there to waste your time on a standard one from the microsoft library. Or, you can even spend a few dollars and get a really fabulous font. Getting a unique font shows your viewer/customer that you really care about the presentation of your material--and to some people, that really is important.

Free Handwriting Fonts

2010-01-24T08:20:00.000-05:00

If you are looking for cute handwriting fonts, head over to this website where you can download TONS for free.

I'm not sure how she does it, but there are two sections of pretty fonts that she has made and are available for FREE download.

Please, just don't type your term paper using them--they are for decorative use only!

Twitter

2010-01-23T21:07:00.000-05:00

We were TORN on whether or not we wanted to participate in the Twitter craze... but eventually I cajoled Victoria into joining with me. Because I refuse to do anything alone.

Twitter has been a fun addition to the blog. Here are my three main selling points:

Twitter is like "micro-blogging". It gives your visitors a bit of fresh content every time they visit, even when you haven't updated in awhile.
It's a great way to share a detail of your day that isn't enough to constitute a whole blog post, but is important enough that you want to put it out in the blogosphere.
You can follow fabulous celebs. Who doesn't want to know what Ryan Seacrest had for lunch, because I DO!

Go check out Twitter. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised.

Then follow us... solandrachel and vluhrs. We're, like, hilariously awesome.

Google Analytics.

2010-01-23T20:52:00.000-05:00

If you haven't already figured it out, I am a nerd. I really really like data and html, which makes Google Analytics the best thing I've seen since I started watching LOST. True story.

If you have a blog and you are interested in who is visiting your site (out of curiosity or because you are committed to being the next blogging star) then you need to set yourself up with Google Analytics. It gives you a new report every day that gives you tons of information about your visitors... so much information that it is creepy.

My favorite features to look at are these:

Map Overlay--I love to see what countries, states and cities people are visiting from!
Bounce Rate--This lets you know what percentage of your visitors are "bouncing" as soon as the get there. Your goal is to keep your percentage low and have lots of things for visitors to interact with on your blog.
Unique Visitors--This is just fun to see how many distinct people stop by every day.
Time on Site--This just plain interesting.
Referrals--I love to see where people are coming from! If you have other blogging friends, you can see how many people are visiting your site from theirs.
Search--It's highly entertaining to see what people search for that direct them to your site.

I promise, its fun.

I hope I'm not going to disappoint too many of you, but I am NOT going post directions on how to get Google Analytics. The folks at google to a great job of writing directions. If you go to the site, you will sign up and then add some code to your html. It isn't too tough--but if you need help, feel free to email (rvblogdesigns @ gmail . com) and I can help you out.

Wait List

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Angela
Lindsey
Dane
Laura
Stephanie

Blurb.

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While there are several different companies who make it possible to see your blog in print, we only have experience with one. And because the experience was so positive, we wanted to share it with you.

January 1st I ordered a book with all of my blog posts from 2009. It came very quickly and is beautiful. I could customize the cover, the spine, and all of the pages within the book.

I loved designing the inside. I used to be a faithful scrapbooker, and I have almost scrapbooked single significant event and many ex-boyfriends. That's a lot of scrapbooks.

This serves much the same purpose, except that it took a lot less time and is already complete for last year. It was also significantly cheaper than buying paper, adhesive and lots of other scrapbooking supplies. (My book, with shipping, cost about $70.)

Head over to Blurb and check out their book options. I think you will be impressed at how great your book looks in print. If you have used another company and had great (or not so great) results, leave us a comment. We'd love to see how they turned out!

A Blog for Anne

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Meet Anne:

Anne is a friend from college who was ready to venture into the world of blogging. She requested a purple and brown blog featuring her two adorable Boston Terriers. Stop by Anne's blog and welcome her to the blogosphere!

Blog Tips

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It's a tough blogging world out there. Lucky for you, you can get the help you need right here at RV Designs.

Use those links below to set the blogging world on fire.

Serif vs. Sans Serif

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Did you know that we can group fonts into two distinct categories? Most people don't, but if they did it would help the world to be a prettier place.

First, you have very sturdy serif fonts. They are grounded by the little lines at the top and bottom of each letter that tie it together and give it a purpose. Serif fonts, like Times New Roman and Georgia, the one this post is written in, are purposeful and professional. They belong in newspapers and term papers. A basic rule of the publishing industry is to print large blocks of text in serif texts. Some scientists in a lab determined that it is better for your eyes to read serif text. Or easier. Or I made this up. It's important to know that when you have a lot of words, you need a serif font to improve your flow.

Serif's fun loving cousins are the sans serif fonts. Sans obviously means without, or without the little lines at the end of each letter. The buttons and title of this blog are all written in sans serif fonts, and you see them frequently places where you need to look clean and neat without the fuss. Think of sans serif fonts as your "out to dinner" fonts and serif fonts as your "Sunday best." There's a time and a place for each outfit, but you don't want to get caught turning in a ten page term paper written in Arial. Or at Five Guys in your tuxedo. These fonts are less uniform in width and professors hate them for their deceptive size. And you'll hate yourself if you wear a tux to Five Guys. You'll need to get it dry cleaned.

There is a precarious balance between these two font families. A classically trained graphic artist could give you more detail about the whole feud, but what you need to know is this: please mix and match appropriately. A basic rule for blogs, middle school worksheets and the design world is to balance one serif with one sans serif font.

Please follow this rule. It's up to you to make the world a better place for fonts and design.

Font Snobs

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At RV Designs, we pride ourselves in our discerning taste in fonts. The links below are for your font education--because no one should use a tacky font.

You're welcome.

Email us at rvblogdesigns@gmail.com if you ever have any fun font finds to share!

Labels.

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Please. I beg of you. Label your blog posts.

There are benefits to the writer and the reader. I'll discuss both and hopefully convince you of the merits of labeling.

First, labeling is good for you, the writer. Consider it part of your daily nutrition, right after calcium, fiber, and iron. When months later you are looking for a post about the family cat "Barney," you can click "Barney" to find all stories about that rascally cat. I use labels to keep track of stories about my family, my good friends and Rachel's baby. It saves time when I am looking for older posts, especially when I want to link to it in a new post.

Second, labeling is good for the reader. When Rachel misses her baby at work, she can click on the label and find all the adorable pictures of him. When my friends want a laugh, they can click on "Only Victoria" and laugh AT me. Labels allows the reader to find recipes, stories of encouragement, crafts or whatever your blog specialty is. It is like a menu of topics you write about. See? That's good for the reader.

Now a word of caution. Labels can be overused. Rach had a lot of labels, and it made it confusing to find things. Was it labeled "Finley?" Or "baby's breath?" Or "best baby in the world?" She has simplified and keeps it to an easy to navigate list. Feel free to stop by on our blogs and see how we use labels. It's important for your health (and blog).

Order Form

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Design Process

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Pick out your digikit. Depending on the designer, some kits come with extra fees. Let us know which you like so we can check the terms of use of the designer. Visit Sweet Shoppe Designs and Scrap Orchard to look for designs you like. (The price of the kit will be added to your bill.)

Fill out the order form! We'll get back to you soon and send you a paypal request for payment. The more detail you give us about your style, the more we can make your blog reflect YOU!

After you approve your new design, we'll need admin status to install your design. This requires being added as an author, then an admin. Here are the steps. When the blog is all ready to go, we will remove ourselves and the blog is all yours.

Any questions? We love to help! Send us a line at rvblogdesigns @ gmail . com.

First Blog Tip

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Have RV Designs design your blog. It's a surefire way to become a web sensation.

Making RV the Admin

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After you've approved the sample blog, we'll need access to your blog to install the header and code. (Don't worry, we're trustworthy.)

Here's the steps to giving us access:

Design>>Settings>>Permissions>>Add Authors. The email address to add is: rvblogdesigns@gmail.com.
After we have accepted the invitation to be an author, we'll email you and ask you to add us an admin. Design>>Settings>>Permissions>>Grant Admin Privileges.

Then we will be all ready to beautify your blog. After you have approved everything one last time, we'll remove ourselves and be on our merry way.

Your Designers

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The first thing that people notice about Victoria is that she is tall. Thankfully this doesn't impede her design skills, in fact her height gives her a unique view on the world. For the next year or so Victoria will be in Virginia, living in Rachel's house, teaching at Rachel's school and playing with Rachel's baby. Victoria spends her time teaching middle schoolers how to get along, studying how to make the world a better place at George Mason, playing with her rascally dog and meddling in the lives of her many friends. Somehow, she also manages to spend an embarrassing amount of time watching tv and blogging.

Victoria always has her creative juices flowing--and loves to funnel them into designing imaginative work here. She got her start in graphic design in high school in Overland Park, Kansas and has been forcing people to wear t-shirts she has designed ever since.

Read all about Victoria's antics at www.victoriainvirginia.com and follow her every thought at http://twitter.com/vluhrs.

Rach is the html genius behind RV Designs. She draws design inspiration from J. Crew, Vera Bradley, and Diet Coke.

Follow the adventures of Rach, Sol and Finley over at www.solandrachel.com and at www.twitter.com/solandrachel.

Portfolio

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Meet Victoria.

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Meet Rachel.

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As her friend Barney Stinson would say, Rachel is "awesome." She is the mother of Finley and wife of Sol, and she is very good at caring for both of them. In her spare time, Rachel runs marathons, teaches middle school math, watches a lot of tv and reads. Her love of photography and the birth of her first baby brought her to blogging. She also wanted to keep up with Victoria--because of their lifetime desire to compete at being awesome they have joined facebook, gmail, blogger and now twitter.

Rach is the html genius behind RV Designs. She draws design inspiration from J. Crew, Vera Bradley, and Diet Coke.

Follow the adventures of Rach, Sol and Finley over at www.solandrachel.com and at www.twitter.com/solandrachel.

Comic Sans

2009-01-14T16:16:00.000-05:00

Why would you use it?

The End.

Just kidding, its not the end. There is a time and place for Comic Sans. And I'm here to help you understand when it is appropriate to use this highly controversial font.

The facts are these:
1. Comic Sans was developed for use in comic books, according to wikipedia.
2. DO NOT USE COMIC SANS IF YOU ARE NOT MAKING A COMIC BOOK.

Here are some recent sightings of Comic Sans.

It is NOT OK to use Comic Sans as your logo on your tour bus. Not ok. It is ok to use Comic Sans on a Beanie Baby tag. They are for children. It is kind of ok to use Comic Sans as your font at California Tortilla--because they used the font as the writing in text bubbles. But you really shouldn't print your hours in it. They only semi-fail.

When in doubt, refer to this handy chart to help you decide if you should use Comic Sans. It's pretty foolproof.I really hope that helped.

Pricing

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Basic Price:
Our blog designs cost start at $70. They include a lovely header, matching background and coordinating colors for text.

Depending on the digikit you choose for your design, there may be extra fees associated with its use. Get in contact with us (rvblogdesigns @ gmail . com) to determine the exact price of the digikit you have chosen.

Turnaround Time:
Because we are obsessed with designing blogs, we are currently completing blogs in a week or two! Try getting a deal like that anywhere else. Get 'em while they're cheap and fast.

Extras:
If you would like any "extras" on your blog, that will cost you a little extra too. Just let us know what you'd like and we'll come up with the perfect plan for you. Here are the extras we can provide:

Rotating Header: $20 per header design
Custom Font: $10
Navigation Bar: $15
Image Navigation Bar: $30
Extra Sidebar: $15
Name Signature for Posts: $5
Widebar with Extra Sidebar: $30
Three Sidebars at Bottom: $30
Button with HTML: $15
Framed Picture for Sidebar: $5 a piece
Post Divider: $10
Storage Fee (for future changes or backup): $10
Header Update (must be stored in order to update): $10

Sidebar Options:
***Stylish Sidebar includes 5 custom titles. Any additional titles will be $2 a piece.

Payment:
Payment is accepted through PayPal.

After an order form has been received, you should get a PayPal request emailed to you!

And as soon as we receive your payment, we will get started brightening your blog!

Features

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Process

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