8 blogs that rock and why

I am taking a fabulous e-course led by Holly Becker of Decor8 blog.  Holly is an American best selling author, freelance journalist, interiors stylist and workshop leader who lives in Germany.  Her work is inspiring on so many levels and I am so loving this class!  It’s been truly wonderful connecting with creative and talented women from all over the world (that is to say, I haven’t met or seen any men in the class yet!). My homework assignment this week was to list the blogs that I like (or, that totally ‘rock’) and why.  This was slightly challenging for me, because I have my favorite reads for different reasons, obviously. Only about half of this particular list actually contain ones that are on my current read list. The remaining are blogs that I know and appreciate for their unique layout and content to the extent of inspiration for the future of this blog, which is the requisite of the assignment.

Here we go:

I love everything about this blog:  from the beautifully simple white background, soft fonts and amazing images that are formatted all of the same perfect size.  The layout is clean, crisp and this allows her drool worthy photos to take center stage.  I’m a big fan of less is more and this is the perfect example.

Poppytalk is a regular read for me and what I like most about this blog layout, aside from (again) gorgeous images all in the same size and format, is the image slideshow, the simple and small fonts and the menu mouse over drop downs are really great because you get a sneak peek of what’s new and interesting in that category.

So incredible.  What’s even more amazing are the recipe card tabs at the bottom of each post that you can download and keep.  Easily one of my favorite cooking blogs of all time.  Outstanding photography and I like how they post their classes/upcoming events in the location where there is usually an ‘about me’ section, and again, sharing blog links that are inspiring is always a great way to give back to those that help to inspire them.

The title alone is very catching, not to mention the beautiful mix of color in the header which is the total opposite of the other blogs I’ve mentioned.  This blog has a very positive vibe to it, with the writer sitting pretty in raining confetti, colorful attire, grinning ear to ear.  She also includes a small picture with each post she writes.  Again, great use of picture buttons and a ‘please and thank you’ reminding readers to give credit where it’s due.

I am happy to say that Merissa is a classmate of mine from Hawaii.  Of the eight blogs we were to select, two of them were to be blogs we favored from the class.  I absolutely love Merissa’s use of script fonts within her beautiful photographs, while keeping a simple font on the easy to find side bar.  I love the use of watercolor and the faded look to the layout so as to truly showcase her artistic talent in her drawings and paintings.  She takes beautiful pictures as well.  Very lovely and feminine!

This lovely woman is named Charlotte Franklin and she is from New Zealand.   I love her blog because the layout is simple and lovely, clean lines, beautiful images, and her writing is very approachable and comforting as though she’s reading me the story.  Reminding me to mention that the layout appears very book like, which I also enjoy.

This was a great assignment that truly pushed me to do some serious research this week, but so glad to have looked at some of my favorite blogs in a new way.  Thank you for reading and hopefully you found some inspiration from these blogs as well.

xo

Paula