A Fantastic New Look from Rockaboo Designs!

When I first started my blog, almost a year ago now, I had no idea how important the appearance of my little spot on the internet was. Not a clue.

I visit a lot of blogs, quite regularly to read about others' lives, see their reviews, and enter some of their giveaways. It quickly became more and more apparent to me how much different my site looked from theirs, and how much better I felt navigating through their pages than my own.

By now, I'm sure some of you know that I have a slight obsession with Etsy, and supporting small businesses. Of course that was the first place I checked, and sure enough, I found both pre-made Blogger, and Wordpress templates!! One shop stood out the most, full of a mixture of everything I love in a design. All were clean, easy to read, no harsh bright colours that hurt my eyes, and each had its' own style to them.

Rockaboo Designs is run by Kayla, a busy mom to twin boys who started making pre-made blogger templates out of her love for creating with graphics. She has been coding since she was a teenager, and is completely self-taught through different forums/tutorials and of course, a little practice. After tucking years of experience under her belt, she enjoys using her eye for design to bring a new sense of life to people's sites.

It has been wonderful working with Kayla. She is extremely professional, and more helpful than I could have asked for. I chose the Lindy Blogger Template for review. The muted flower graphic called out to the simple, and girly side of me. I am not one for bright things in general, so I was happy to see the colour scheme was a match to the kind of layout I was looking for.

Included in the template download was a zipped file, containing a header image with my tagline and blog name, my blog signature, social media icons, a custom favicon and easy to follow instructions for installation. Also, there was an editable header and sidebar image that I was able to customize myself. I was given the option to have a custom sidebar image created but since I don't quite have the perfect picture yet, I wanted to save that for a little later.  Another option I thought was really helpful for those who might be in a rush and have a bit more know-how than I do, is an instant download available that contains just the customizable images for you to edit at your convenience.

What I loved the most were the super easy, step-by-step instructions. They were broken down into extremely simple terms, and she walked you through everything, starting with backing up your current template, installation of your new template, the widgets, everything...from start to finish. For example, I had a couple of things I wanted tweaked after looking through everything. I noticed if I made my titles too long they would overlap on top of each other, and my social media buttons were in two lines instead of one. She addressed this right away, walking me through it line by line.

Overall, it was two corrections that took less than two minutes, and I think the finished look is perfect! The font is very pretty. Though I think the capital S looks a little like an L, I still feel it is elegant and I've grown to love it, as well as the layout and how the design fit together. The attention that Kayla showed my blog and I made me feel comfortable, even when I was a nervous wreck about changing things (anxious people don't do so well with change most of the time). She was very pleasant, and made sure that I was happy with the way things came out.

I would gladly choose one of her designs next time I revamp my site. For just under $28, I would say that her templates and her services are well worth it. Keep checking back at the Rockaboo Designs blog for upcoming tutorials aimed towards helping us bloggers. Goodness knows I can use all the help I can get, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. :)

You can find Rockaboo Designs on Etsy and Facebook to stay up to date with new designs, future giveaways and discounts! 

***Giveaway***

Kayla has kindly offered a great prize to one lucky winner. Use the Rafflecopter below to get your entries in. Good luck!

Prize: One lucky winner will receive a Pre-Made Blogger Template from Rockaboo Designs ($27.99 ARV) **Please note these are Blogger templates, not Wordpress**

Eligibility: Worldwide (excluding Quebec) to those with a valid email address, 18+.

Entry Period: April 17, 2014 - May 1, 2014 11:59pm EST

Rules: See Rafflecopter for full terms and conditions. By entering you agree to these terms.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A winner will be chosen at random, and will be contacted by email. You will have 48 hours to respond to the notification email before another winner will be selected at random. The winner will be announced in the rafflecopter form once they have confirmed/responded to my email.   

Be sure to check out these other fantastic giveaways to enter! 

Would you like to see your products featured in a review/giveaway similar to this one? I would love to work with you! Please feel free to email me: oddball2003@hotmail.com .

I received sample products in order to conduct my review. As always, opinions are 100% honest and my own.