Those of you who have followed my various web incarnations for a while know that I have dabbled in blog design. Like many bloggers,  I started blogging on Blogger and used a default design. Eventually I followed the tug of WordPress and experimented with creating my own designs. I liked what I came up with but I ultimately wanted a more polished and professional look than I was able to create on my own. So I decided to hire a professional … someone who would be willing to work with my OCD tendencies and allow me to be VERY involved in the design process. Because I had seen a lot of her work, and liked what I saw (samples here in the header), I decided to go with Jacqui Layne of Wacky Jacqui’s Designs. Okay … I had an additional reason for choosing Jacqui … her prices are amazing!

Here’s a quick intro to Jacqui, and Wacky Jacqui’s Designs,  in her own words:

Hi my name is Jacqui, I started designing websites and blogs about 2 years ago and I love every minute of it. I have no professional training except for researching everything I can to learn how to make myself a better designer and to learn new techniques to make your site load faster, to help you get the most out of your site and express yourself the way you want to through your site. I try to keep my prices at decent prices so that everyone can afford to have the site of their dreams without emptying their pocket book.

Wacky Jacqui’s Designs specializes in website and blog design for Blogger and WordPress sites. Each custom design at Wacky Jacqui’s Designs is created to reflect the style and personality of the client which is why every custom design created will always be tailor-made and 100% unique. I like to clean up your site to make it function more efficiently and look more professional.

Now back to a review of my experience:

I hired Jacqui, in early June, thinking that I wanted a redo of both Beth: A Work in Progress and Looking for Tigger. I wanted the designs to be complimentary and have a coordinating design for my Facebook and Twitter pages. Sounds expensive,  doesn’t it? I was absolutely floored by how affordable it was to work with Jacqui! But then … my life became complicated and I asked Jacqui to put my design on a back burner for a while. She was wonderfully cooperative although she may have wanted to be done with me a time or two over the next 3 months as I sent her endless design, logo, font, and color ideas! Not to mention the fact that I changed my blog address, name, tagline and Facebook page a couple of times in the process! AND … I went from the Genesis Prose theme to Genesis Georgia and ultimately to Genesis Glitter and Lace (which Jacqui had never used before). I was NOT a dream client! But Jacqui was so patient and sweet … working to make sure that my ultimate design was exactly what I wanted!

The night that Jacqui and I finally coordinated our schedules to finish my complete install, I hung out online and she checked with me on each step of the process. I don’t know if she always works that way or if I was a special case (remember the OCD thing) but it was wonderful! I felt very involved and even put my foot down a couple of times when she suggested something that I just wasn’t feeling. In each case she would explain to me why she made the suggestion but ultimately went with what made me happy! My final design … rocks my world!

Want your own Wacky Jacqui design?

You can check her out on Facebook, her website, or her ETSY Shop. She is worth every cent that you would pay for one of her wonderful designs.

BUT WAIT!!!! (Do I sound like an infomercial?)

Jacqui is giving away a $500 Blog Design! I didn’t even come close to $500 so I can’t wait to see what this entails. (If I happen to win I am using it for a complete redo over on my someday author blog.) At this moment there aren’t a whole lot of entries in the Giveaway so you have a good chance of winning an awesome design. So … what are you hanging around here for … GO! And tell her that Beth sent you!