Image by Danni of oh, hello friend

I hate blogger apologies. I know all blog readers do. But I can’t help it – I’ve been away for a week and I need to explain myself!

Sometimes life goes smoothly. Everything finds time to get done, every assignment gets handed in on time, the dishes are (mostly) clean.

Sometimes life goes better than smoothly! Life hands you challenges and you accept them! The animals get fed and walked, the blog gets updated, dinner gets cooked, and it’s actually good! Do all the things!

But there’s always a tipping point, right? The laundry starts piling up, and that is when life hands you news. And, in the moment, it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. That’s the point when it’s just too much.

So. In summary, I got some news and kind of crumbled under the pressure. It’s good news, I promise. I’m very lucky and very happy, but it’s going to mean a lot of big life changes for me and everyone around me. To save my sanity, something had to give, so I decided to let the blog take a little blog-cation and try not to feel guilty about it.

Now I’m back, I’m sane, I have a super supportive boyfriend and family who are truly the best. You all know I strive to keep it real around these parts so I share things like this in hopes that someone else can relate.

Here are some snaps from the past few weeks:

Pink toenails and some street art (literally), M’s uncle’s dog that I took care of during my “do all the things” week, some palm trees.

Can’t have a dog pic without a cat pic – Scout sleeping in with me. Yesterday Marc and I went to Santa Monica and ate gelato.

Saturday we went to the beach with some friends. I’m weirdly proud of my flip flop tan lines – it’s the only place on my body I actually tan instead of burn! Here I am looking forward to the future (in my Tumbleweeds shades)!

So, welcome back everyone, thanks for bearing with me, I love you all!

A few weeks ago, the Coachella Music Festival was here in California. Afterwards, I loved looking at photos of Coachella-goer fashion – they look so effortless and rock & roll! I have been meaning to post some new t-shirt makeovers and Coachella fashion is the perfect inspiration!

This tutorial uses the same technique that was seen in my braided neck t-shirt makeover from a few months ago (fun fact, that is my most popular post ever and has been viewed almost twenty thousand times!). This is a great example of how you can take one idea or technique and create an entirely new project. The end result is a complicated, lace-like look, but the process is super quick and simple.

Cut off the neck and the bottom hem of your shirt – shape the neckline wider or lower if you want. Then start cutting slits across the back of your shirt, about 1 – 1 1/2 inches apart. Here’s a diagram of where to make your cuts – there’s no need to be precise! I decided to make my V point toward the right side but you can do it straight down if you want.

Once you’re done cutting, grab the sides of your shirt to stretch the strips out.

Now it’s time to weave! This is one of those projects that is hard to describe and photograph but I promise it’s easy to do. Grab your second fabric strip and weave it up and under the first strip, then pull it down.

Then take the third strip, weave it under and through the loop (created by the second strip) and pull that one down. Keep going until you get to the bottom, then secure the last loop with a safety pin, or sew a few stitches, if you’re an overachiever : ) (I only did a few strips here to demonstrate.)

Now rock your shirt like you’re at Coachella!

A few weeks ago, Marcus took me on a bike ride through Marina del Rey – we bought bikes last year and we’ve only used them a handful of times… Oops. The problem is that I’m still not that comfortable riding a bike, and most days here the bike path along the beach is super crowded with tons of tourists who are also unsteady on their bikes! It makes me nervous and I don’t want to wipe out in front of hundreds of people on the boardwalk.

So, we decided to ride this smaller bike path that is a bit further from the beach but equally as picturesque; it runs from Washington Blvd along Admiralty Way down to the marina, if any fellow locals would like to check it out. On our way, we stopped at one of our favorite cafes for some sandwiches for our picnic.

The bike path leads to a beautiful, grassy park that is right on the water – it was so nice to watch the boats floating by! It was a lovely afternoon with no bicycle mishaps to speak of. ; )

Chace Park
13650 Mindanao Way, Marina del Rey

Mendocino Farms
4724 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey

Happy Freebie Friday everyone! Today I have a lovely set of ten social media icons in five different colors for you! If you need help installing them, you can check out my Primp My Blog post on how to add social media buttons to your sidebar. This set includes buttons for Facebook, Twitter, RSS, Pinterest, Tumblr, Flickr, Etsy, Email, Bloglovin’, and Instagram!

These buttons are square shaped with rounded corners and available in five colors: glacier, clementine, butter, ocean, and cobalt. They are 40 x 40 px, which should fit well in most blog sidebars, and they are transparent PNGs so they will work on any background.

These buttons are free for personal use only, so you can use them on all of your sites and blogs, but you may not sell them or use them in anything you plan to sell. There’s no need to credit me, but if you would like to link back, you can grab a code for a Primp My Blog button. If you would like to share these on your own blog, please do not host the zipped files on your own server and instead link back to this post. I would love if you left a comment telling me where you used them so I can see them in action!

If you want buttons in other shapes, sizes, colors, or patterns, or if you need a button for a social network not shown here, please visit the brand new Primp My Blog Custom Graphics Shop! You want doily-shaped buttons? How about gold glitter? I’ve been preparing for my shop launch for the past few weeks, and I’ve already started to work with a few awesome clients that I can’t wait to tell you about. If you’ve been wanting to freshen up your blog, get in contact with me!

CLEMENTINE • BUTTER • OCEAN • GLACIER • COBALT

 You can also get two more colors, poppy and sherbet, if you “Like” Her New Leaf on Facebook! (Click on the pink “Free Icons” tab on the top right)

Enjoy, and have a fabulous weekend!

Like everything else in fashion, every season brings new trends and styles for sunglasses I am dying to try. But I am always losing my sunglasses – are you? So, as a rule, I generally don’t spend more than $10-$12 on any pair of sunglasses. So I’m left with the collection of last-season shades that I’m no longer crazy about but don’t want to get rid of just in case I lose my new ones. Surely you can relate!

Here’s a cute method to give your sunglasses a quick makeover.

You will need:

• sunglasses
• various shades of nail polish
• blue painters tape

Begin by masking off a pattern on your glasses. I chose stripes but you can use your imagination! If your sunglasses have wider arms, you could even use stickers to make a polka dot or heart pattern.

Paint your sunglasses using nail polish. You might need to apply a few coats for full coverage.

Let dry 20-30 minutes, then peel off the tape.

Now you’re ready to soak up the sun! This method will work great on both metal and plastic frames.

Big things are happening here at Her New Leaf! I am so, so thankful for the recent success that my blog has been having, I hope that you’re all enjoying the content here. As always, I welcome any suggestions, questions, or ideas you may have for how to make Her New Leaf an even bigger and better community.

That said, I am proud to announce that I will now be accepting sponsors! To celebrate this new venture, if you purchase an ad before the end of the month, it will be displayed for the remainder of May, as well as the entire month of June. This is a great opportunity to try out advertising for your blog or business and see what benefits it brings!

I want to stress that this was a big decision for me and one that I did not take lightly. I will only be accepting advertisers that I personally determine to be of the spirit of Her New Leaf, which is why I chose to work one-on-one with small businesses and bloggers rather than join a corporate ad network. Your experience as a reader will not change, save for the addition of a few small ads in my sidebar and the possibility of several sponsored posts/giveaways per month. And definitely rest assured that I am not “getting rich” off of you, my readers – running my blog costs me money, and I only seek to recoup some of the costs I incur for my hosting, domain, and supplies for my projects.

I hope that working with advertisers will allow me to grow and expand Her New Leaf, as I have a lot of exciting, new things to share with you. Thank you to all of my followers, new and old, for sharing my journey – I love all of you!

When I asked for suggestions for new Primp My Blog topics, I got a lot of requests for graphics tutorials. I use Photoshop for my photos and images, but in order to make this tutorial accessible to everyone, I decided to utilize a free image editing program, GIMP.

This tutorial will teach you how to created a signature image, like the one that appears at the bottom of each of my posts. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at creating images for your blog or website, this is a great starter project to begin introducing you to the tools for creating and editing graphics.

To being, open GIMP and create a new image. I suggest 300 x 100 px, but you can go larger than that because we will later crop out any excess white space.

In the toolbox, select the type tool, represented by the letter A. Then select your font, font size, and color. If you need suggestions, go check out some of my favorite free fonts and how to install them.

Click anywhere in your blank canvas and type in your text, then adjust it in the toolbox as needed. Then move it to the top of your canvas.

Select the rectangle selector tool from the toolbox and draw a rectangle around your text. Then go to Image > Crop to Selection to crop out any excess white space.

Before saving, you need to flatten your image. In the Layers and Channels window, select Layers by clicking the button that looks like several sheets of white paper. Then click the triangle on the right and select Layers Menu > Flatten Image.

Finally, save your image as a PNG. If you’re a Primp My Blog follower, you already know the importance of using the correct image file type. If you don’t, go read that post right now! You could also choose to save your image as a GIF for this project, but the image will be very small, so file size and loading time really doesn’t matter much in this case.

Your signature image should be all set to be inserted into your posts! Just place it the same way you upload any image into your blog posts.

Please let me know how this tutorial worked for you! This was my first time using GIMP, so I’m learning right along with you. Feedback is always welcome! If you use this tutorial to make your own signature image, feel free to post a link in the comments so I can go check it out!

Do you create your own graphics? What would you like to learn next?

Can I admit something to you guys? When I first started blogging, I tried to imitate my favorite bloggers’ voices. It wasn’t that I was trying to copy them, I just loved how I felt when reading their blogs; they were thoughtful and funny and self-reflective. I wanted people who read my blog to relate to me in the same way I felt connected to my favorite bloggers.

But you know what? It didn’t work. I struggled to write every single word. It was so difficult to string sentences together because it wasn’t my voice. I have been blogging for almost two years now, and I truly feel that I have only just recently begun to discover my voice. Do you ever feel like you know what you want to say but not how to say it? You need to find your voice!

I firmly believe that a blogging voice, or the tone and style of your writing, is not something you create – it is something you find. You can try to sound however you want, but if it is not truly your voice, it won’t seem genuine, and that can keep you from connecting with your readers. But the beauty of blogging is that there are millions of bloggers with millions of voices, and even more people who want to read blogs. And everyone likes something a little different!

Today I am sharing some tips for finding your blogging voice over on Noisette Academy. While you’re there, be sure to check out Isa’s lastest venture, The Empowerment Project, to benefit women in Rwanda. Thank you for having me, Isa!

How do you find your own blogging voice?

Image courtesy of Isa Maria of Noisette Academy

Inspired by my new blog design, I made this watercolor desktop wallpaper to share with you! This is a zipped file that includes wallpaper for every size desktop I could think of, as well as wallpaper for both iPad and iPhone – enjoy!

• Download May desktop calendar wallpaper •

Resources:
• Paper texture from Fuzzimo
• Watercolor brushes from My Photoshop Brushes
• Dawning of a New Day font from DaFont
• 1942 Report font from Font Squirrel

In January, just a few short months ago, I gave my little blog a makeover. I committed some serious time and effort to blogging often and regularly. I took classes and joined discussions, and I started reaching out to other bloggers. And what do you know, a few months later, my little blog has started to pick up steam! I am so thankful for all of the readers and genuine friends that writing this blog has brought me. It makes me so happy to read comments and emails from people all over the world who enjoy reading and sharing what I write.

So, my little blog was starting to outgrow its old home on WordPress.com. I’ve written about how I love WordPress – and I do! – I just think that becoming self-hosted will be the best way for me to keep growing this space and bring you more and better things!

After I got myself hosted, I needed a fabulous new design (please click over to see it if you’re in Google Reader!). These graphics were all hand-painted by amazing designer and illustrator, Katie Gavenda. Katie and I went to college together, and a few weeks ago, she posted some of her beautiful watercolors on Facebook. I immediately messaged her to ask if she would be interested in working with me on a new blog design. Lucky for me, she said yes! Katie is working on getting her online shop up and running so that you can all purchase prints of her work, but in the meantime, you can check out her blog, Blueberry English, for some awesome inspiration!

I created the actual layout of the blog using The Thesis Theme for WordPress*. I plan to write a full review once I’ve had some more time to really dive into using it, but so far I love Thesis! I also need to include a shout out to the very sweet Kaelah of Little Chief Honeybee who helped me out with a tricky bit of code – thank you, Kaelah! And per usual, none of this would have happened with my in-house IT specialist/photographer/boyfriend Marcus.

You can still find Her New Leaf at hernewleaf.com, so if you subscribe via email, Google Reader, or Bloglovin’, nothing should change. If you subscribe via WordPress, I think that you will need to add my feed to another reader service.

Once again, thank you all so much for reading! As always, feel free to contact me with questions, suggestions, or ideas for what you’d like to see more of here!

*This is an affiliate link. Please note that if you click this and choose to purchase the Thesis theme, I will be compensated. Also note that I will only ever promote products on Her New Leaf that I believe in 100%.