A weekend of web design

Well, so much for crafting all weekend. Instead, I spent 90% of the time in front of my computer working on designing my new online shop. Wow, was it both time consuming and frustrating. I really have to give props to those of you who are web designers. It is not an easy thing to do!

A few months ago I bought Microsoft Expression Web. I just can’t afford any of the really cool web design programs out there, and this one looked like it would be pretty easy to understand. I was wrong. It is really confusing, but so was Paint Shop Pro when I first bought it and now I am a whiz. So, I am giving it a shot. I found a book at the library for a previous version, but that too was a little hard to follow. Then I stumbled upon a website with video instructions. Woo Hoo! Though it is for a previous version, I have been able to follow along and begin to build my web template.

I made it through 2 of the 5 videos, but can already see my website coming together. I think the hardest part was choosing the background and website colors. I always have a hard time with that. After hours of debating, I decided to go with green stripes, which I find easy to look at. Some of the brighter colors were too much.

Once that was done, I moved onto designing my header. That is really what took the most time. I tried different colors, frames, and cat pictures, since the shop is called Hooks and Whiskers. I finally came up with one that, I think, will look nice against the green striped background. I forgot to do a screen capture of it, sorry. 


I also made an Etsy banner, though I am really debating about doing an Etsy shop too. I have had so many craft ideas stolen from me through Etsy, which is why I am setting up an online shop now. But, I thought while my creative juices were flowing, I’d go ahead and do an Etsy banner and avatar too. I did take a screen capture of those.

Pretty simple, but I like it that way. The web header is very similar, but it has the cat on top of the shop name and then my tagline underneath.

I also decided to set up a Facebook and Twitter account for my shop.

The Twitter account was easy to do, and I changed the background and colors to match the shop’s new colors. I am listed as Hooksnwhiskers if you want to follow me. Nothing will really be happening on there until the new year, but thought I’d give you the new link anyway.

The Facebook was a little bit more tricky, especially getting the right size avatar. I came across another website that showed how to make a larger Facebook picture (I lost the link, so I can’t share it with you, sorry). So, again I tweaked it to my shop colors.

I like it, and I think it looks nice on my Hooks and Whiskers Facebook page.

Yesterday, we also celebrated Drusilla’s 7th birthday with a very quiet Halloween (I didn’t give out candy this year due to my lack of funds) and a baked potato, which is Drusilla’s favorite little treat!

So, that was my very productive weekend. I hope yours was more exciting than mine. 🙂