New face of shyscout

If you haven't noticed...ShyScout had a facelift/total makeover last night. I have been working on the layout for the past week and a half and finally like where it is at. I considered not using the cat/dog illustration in the header but he was just too cute!!



I felt like the old ShyScout layout was becoming too cluttered and busy which detracted from the posts. I hope the cleaner look will help solve those problems.

Incase you forgot what the old layout looked like (or you are a new reader - in that case hello there!) here it is:



While I liked bits and pieces of it, it was time for a change. What do you think of the new layout? Anything you would like to see changed? I am open to constructive criticism. Is there anyway to add another column on google friend connect since they discontinued it? I also need to work on updating my buttons...but that is a project for another day.

I will have to put Thrifted Thursday on hold until I get my camera back. In the mean time I will work on some more thrifting, haha, you don't have to twist my arm!

Wardrobe Wednesdays: Polka & Plaid

Last weekend my roommate and I went to some antique/thrift stores in Galesburg, Illinois. I have never been to Galesburg before and it was a cutesy little town with what seemed like and antique shop on every corner - some were shady however. The first store we entered I was surrounded by vintage toys and clothing - needless to say I was in heaven. I picked up the cutest light green plaid coat this side of the Mississippi!



Allison, why are your photo colors all whacky today? Well...yesterday when I shot these photos it was raining so I took them inside. The indoor lighting was super off so I decided to push it to the extreme rather than trying to fix em. Anywho, I will take more photos of the coat in the future :]



I love the details on the coat. The cute white and blue plaid stripes, white color, and tiny square brass buttons. I paid a bit more that I would have liked to on any thrift outing - $40 - butttt it is vintage, fit like a dream, and was too cute to pass up.



Incase you are curious what I am wearing underneath - I am wearing a blouse from my trip to Japan. The blouse is one of my new favorites. It is light pink and sheer with cream polka dots. I also love that it has a peter pan color, bow tie, cute flower buttons, and lace cut out in the back. Thank you Japan!! Haha.

Outfit Details: Coat - thrifted | Top - Japan | Jeans - Urban Outfitters | Bag - Kohls | Flats - Rampage.

Hope you are having a great day. Mid way through the week - wahooo!

Blog Design 101 - Links

Hi all! Hope you are enjoying the first day of May. Shyscout hit 200 followers last night!! *Doing the happy dance* Thank you so much for the support. I really love getting to know all of you and checking out your blogs. What an incredible way to start the month! I also thought it was only appropriate to kick start the month with a new feature on the blog – Blog design 101 – tutorials to help bloggers beautify their blogs. I will be breaking tutorials up in to two groups – html and graphics. Here goes nothing...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last week I asked you to submit any design problems you would like solved. For my first set of tutorials I plan to answer your questions in the order they were submitted, therefore, today I am going to tell you a bit about html hyperlinks - aka - links.


Links are used all over the web to connect one webpage to another. Links use a word, phrase, or image to connect you to another document. Knowing how to properly write a link is beneficial to bloggers because it allows you to:

1. Connect your pages to previous posts.
2. Connect your content/images to their original source.
3. Allows you to connect a button to your page.

Thankfully links are one of the easiest and most straight forward codes out there.

LINK SYNTAX
<a href="URL">Insert link text here</a>

EXAMPLE:
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Blogger</a>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINKING IMAGES
For linking images - such as creating a functional button for your blog - you simply insert the image code in place of the link's text.

EXAMPLE:
<a href="URL"><img src="MyButton.jpg"></a>

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTIVE LINK WITHIN BLOG POST
In order to create an active link within your blog's post simply place the link within your text.

EXAMPLE:
I had such a great day today. To see photos from my instagram click <a href="URL">HERE</a>.

Depending on your blogs layout you may want to bold the link so that the link stands out within the text like so:

EXAMPLE:
I had such a great day today. To see photos from my instagram click <b><a href="URL">HERE</a></b>.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BLOG TAG LINKS
Last but not least - to create a link for specific blog tags simply use the following link

EXAMPLE:
<a href="http://YourBlogNameHere.blogspot.com/search/label/YourTagName">Insert Desired Link Name</a>.

*If your tag has multiple words place a %20 where the space would be.
For example: .../label/Wardrobe%20Wednesday

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this was helpful to some of you. I realize we are all on different pages when it comes to blog design and coding. I was asked to explain this, so here it is. The tutorials will range in difficulty from here on out. Feel free to ask any design questions you would like answered in the comments below and I will cover them in a tutorial as soon as possible :]

Most Wanted Mondays - Swimwear

While pinning on pinterest last night I couldn't help but notice some very cute bathing suits for this season. Wanting a new swim suit myself I found myself drooling over multiple styles. Here are some of my top picks.

1. Freepeople - Floral Smocked Bandeau.

2. Anthropologie - Isometric Maillot.

3. Anthropologie - Retro Poppy Bikini.

4. Urban Outfitters - UO Mix & Match Bikini.

5. Pink Bow City - White & Mint Bow Bikini.

6. ShopBop - Dolly Bandeau.

7. ShopBop - Stud One Piece.

8. ShopBop - Blue Bell Bikini.

9. ShopBop - Zunzal Bungee Reversible Bikini.

10. NastyGal - Twisted Cutout Swimsuit.

I am pretty sure the last one from NastyGal is my favorite, however, I don't have that much $$$ to drop on a swimsuit. *sighhh. Oh well. Are you ready for swim season?

Instagram

Hi everyone! Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!! My weekend has been lovely. Friday my mom, sweetpea, and I drove up to Milwaukee to pick up free books for her clients children. We passed up the Jelly Belly factory though due to time constraints. We did, however, stop at the Cheese Castle and picked up some cheese curds :] Later that night my boyfriend's band had a show back in town. Yesterday my room mate and I went to some antique/thrift stores and found some excellent finds - I can't wait to show everything off later this week! Anywho, today I am busy looking for jobs...wooo.

A few weekends back my mom and I took goofy pictures of sweetpea in hopes of getting her on t.v. I also recently downloaded the instagram app for my android. Here are some of the out takes via instagram :]



Tailgate gear



Fact!



Sweetpea's Wardrobe Wednesday look



Haha. I think you get the PICTURE ;) I can only imagine what my future children will have to endure... Do you dress your pets up in ridiculous get up?

Thrifted Thursday - Illustrated

Hi all! I am attempting to get back on my regular blogging schedule. I am currently in the process of moving though so I have to make do with what I have. Last night I began working on my new blog design! I must say I am pretty excited about it. While sitting in my room pondering what I should do for a header I saw my cute cat/dog/creature bank sitting on the shelf...



Remember him from a Thrifted Thursday a few months back?


Well, I decided to illustrate him. While I am not sure he will make the cut when it comes to my header I had fun drawing him anyway :] He still needs to be refined a bit, and I think he could use some glasses. Do any of you like to doodle?

I have been sans my camera the past week. I will be back to a regular schedule next week! Tomorrow my mom and I are driving up to Wisconsin to pick up some books for her work and we mayyyyy stop at the Jell Belly factory :] While I hate jelly beans it is still a fun place to visit. Hope you all are having a great day!!