As a business owner, the idea of maternity leave is a tricky situation. Finding the balance between work and family, that unending internal battle that we all struggle with, becomes even more of a puzzle now that your family is growing. Taking a true break from work when your company depends on you is likely not an option; read on to see choices I have made and decisions I have struggled with in this new chapter of life.

First of all, having the option and ability to work from home is such a blessing and not one that I take for granted. The idea has always been that I will continue to work from home, running this web design business, and also staying at home with our children as they grow up. With the birth of our first son in April, I have implemented a few changes in my routine to accommodate both work and family.

Plan Ahead
In the middle of my pregnancy, I took advantage of my high energy levels and worked overtime. Having the opportunity to get more work done than usual made me feel a lot better about taking some time off later. Financially the company had our best few months ever during this time, which means I had a nice cushion going into April and May when the baby was taking up the majority of my time. Knowing that I could continue to draw a paycheck for many months without any additional income was a relief, and worth the extra effort that I put in ahead of time.

Be Flexible
Newborns run on their own schedule, and no amount of effort on your part is going to successfully change that. While we have gotten into a decent routine, there is no telling what time the baby will be feeding or napping each day. I take advantage of every free moment to get even little tasks done. Replying to emails on my phone while holding the baby, making quick updates for clients during nap time, etc. have all been crucial to my continued productivity. I made the mistake early on of thinking that I knew when he would be awake or asleep, but banking on that only left me frazzled when I was wrong.

Rely on Others
My husband works nearby and is an equal partner in raising our kids. I try to squeeze in a bit of work during “normal” business hours, but when he gets home it is his time with our son while I catch up in the office. During these first weeks of Isaac’s life, Adam has been able to work part time at home. This has been a HUGE help in the transition to a family of three. His job allows him to be flexible, and he has used saved up vacation time to spend more time at home. Whether he is taking care of Isaac so that I can catch up on sleep/work/everything or getting things done around the house while I have the baby, he is a huge help. We had other family, my mom and sister, visit and help out for a few days as well. But even once you’re past those first few big adjustment days, it is not easy to find time for everything in the day. Use others to free up some of your time for work priorities.

Be Realistic
During the last weeks of my pregnancy, I was very aware of my schedule and work-load. I was careful to coordinate projects so that they would either be done by the time the baby arrived, or could be put on hold for a few weeks at that time. In these first few weeks I have not been taking on new projects, making current clients the priority instead. This ensures that existing sites continue to run smoothly and are up-to-date, without overwhelming my limited time in the office. Now that I have my energy back and am able to get more done, I am talking with potential clients about new projects. I am aware, however, that my availability will not be what it was. Timelines for projects are longer than before, giving me more time to get my work done and avoiding a decrease in quality due to time constraints.

Those are my tips for life (and work!) after baby. Any other working parents out there with some advice to share?

What an amazing few weeks it has been! This group starts at the end of my pregnancy. Distractions from my 42 week gestation included: my sister’s new puppy, an art exhibit in Richmond, baby showers, cats (duh), fixing up the nursery and stocking the freezer, and pretty spring flowers during one of MANY walks. And finally…Isaac Bennett’s arrival! You can expect pretty much all baby photos from here on out. He’s just so sweet and cute! Happy Spring to you all

To see more check out Webstagram, or you can follow me on Instagram at Elise890.

Around the same time that Sarah Bell contacted me to create a website for her law firm, another local attorney reached out to me as well. Thomas Leebrick has been practicing law in Lynchburg and the surrounding areas for more than twenty years. While his practice is well established, his website was out-dated and in need of both new information and a new look. Read on to see the results of this collaboration.

When we got together to discuss the future of his website, Tom had a few ideas in mind. His main request was that we take his well-worn briefcase and incorporate it into the design. So, I had a little photo shoot with the briefcase and we decided on the above image for the Home page of the site. The photo of the office on the Contact page is also the result of our photo shoot. Beyond the photos, Tom and his secretary Judy had in mind some blue tones for the site. I used a deep blue gradient for the background and then pulled some tan tones from the briefcase photo to create the color scheme.

The design is simple and straight-forward, but remains polished and professional. The firm took this opportunity to update their text content, and I implemented Search Engine Optimization tactics in the front- and back-ends of the site. After updating the site with Google and industry directories, Mr. Leebrick was all set with a new, updated website.

During the last two weeks of my pregnancy, weeks 40 and 41, that is, I had some extra time while we waiting on our little one. What does a graphic designer do with two extra weeks of pregnancy? Makes a pregnancy infographic, naturally. Click through to see all of the stats on my pregnancy, arranged prettily in numbers and pictures. Not only did this keep me occupied for a couple hours, but it serves as a nice reminder to look back on those 9+ months. Enjoy!

I use Google Reader on my PC and my phone to keep up with all of my favorite blogs. From work articles to recipes, I get a lot of information from blogs via RSS feeds. I like the convenience of having all of the blogs I read available in the same place, and I use the Folder system to separate my blogs into various categories. Overall it is the simplicity of Reader (and the price tag of $0!) that I appreciate, so I set out to find a replacement with similar qualities.

The first reader I came across was Feedly, which at the current time actually draws from Google Reader to create a more customized reader experience. Since it’s free I gave it a try for a week or so, but ultimately it wasn’t for me. One of my biggest concerns was that although Feedly says they will be launching their own back-end RSS system before July, I have to wonder what changes and bugs will pop up with the switch. To me it just seems like another temporary solution that is likely to change formats in July. Two other features bothered me about Feedly; one is supposed to be an enhancement but didn’t function well enough for my liking. You have various choices when it comes to the layout of your blog articles; unfortunately even when I changed the default setting in my account, the layout was inconsistent in various windows and blogs. I prefer the simple layout of Google Reader, without the extra options and choices. My other issue with Feedly is the ads; they run down the right sidebar and are quite distracting, something we never had to deal with in Reader (with the exception of ads within a blog post; Reader itself did not run any additional ads).

The next reader I decided to try, at the suggestion of my husband, was NewsBlur. This is the RSS reader I am using now, and I’m pretty happy with it. NewsBlur has two account types, Free Standard and Premium ($24/year). I am using the free account, which allows up to 64 site subscriptions and updates 10 stories at a time. In the premium account, both of these features are unlimited, and you have more privacy setting options. NewsBlur is available for web, iPhone/iPad, and Android. Currently I have only tried the web app, but will switch from Reader to NewsBlur on my Droid soon. While the layout of this reader is significantly different than Reader, it has a few aesthetic differences that I appreciate. The folder sorting system is the same as Feedly and Reader, and you get the whole post (including comments) in the main window when you select a blog. Or, should you choose, instead of the whole post you can see the feed as sent by the site, the original site itself, or a text-only version of the article (text-only option is for premium accounts only). The bottom of the screen is dedicated to a panel that lists all recent posts in the selected blog, highlighting those that have not yet been read. There is also an option for tagging posts, though I have not tried this feature out as of yet.

There are two more RSS readers I have seen recommended online in the past few weeks, though I have yet to try either of them. Feedspot is marketed as a Social RSS Reader, with all of the expected features plus an option to follow others to see what they are reading, and a Friend Activity tab much like your Facebook timeline. This reader is also free. Feedbin is not free, at $2/month or $20/year. This reader looks a bit more complex than the original Google Reader, with additional features for those who want them. The layout is a three column design, with your organized feeds on the left, recent articles of the selected feed in the middle, and the full article/feed on the right. There are also tag and multiple feed features.

All of the RSS readers listed here require just a simple import of your Google Reader data to get set up. Have you used any of these readers, or found another that you like? Let me know how you’ll be reading our blog come July!

Today I will be featuring two clients named Sarah. Although they work in completely different industries and even different parts of the country, both Sarahs came to me with their website needs at the end of 2012. Read on to see how these two very different projects turned out!

Sarah W. Bell, P.C., is a fellow Junior League member and also happened to be pregnant with a due date just a week after mine (Congrats, Sarah!). In addition to expanding her family, Sarah was also starting a new law firm. The design that we developed is professional but warm, with a feminine cranberry color paired together with neutral tans and grays. The background of the site has a subtle diamond pattern that is echoed in the bullet notes within the site’s text content. Sarah offers photos and information about her new practice, as well as an impressive list of awards and accomplishments. I visited the new office to get a few headshots, as well as images of the interior and exterior of the building to use within the website. The logo is simple but effective, and looks great outside her new office on Rivermont Avenue. Overall I love the look of this site, with its elegant color palate and simple organization that allows clients to easily find all of Sarah’s available services, details and credentials.

On another note, Sarah Paige came to me with very different ideas for her website than her fellow Sarah. As an acting coach in Brooklyn, New York, Sarah’s clientele is largely aspiring young actors. She wanted a bold look that would stand out, and did not shy away from the bright colors and strong layout that I presented to her. Sarah was a referral through friend and client Vance Barber, and she took inspiration from his site when imagining her own. As an actress Sarah’s name is an important branding element, so I took a modified version of the logo to use as a wallpaper background for the site. The Home page features reviews of Sarah’s work, using a jQuery slider that allows the text to remain selectable for the benefit of both viewers and search engines browsing the site. Check out her acting portfolio here to see this cheerful design in full size!

Here’s the latest on what I’ve been up to in the form of little square photos! This group starts with a trip to Columbia to see the Gamecocks play, followed by some Halloween fun. Next was my birthday in D.C., and some obligatory kitty snuggles.  We took another day trip, this time to Charlottesville, with some crafting for my baby niece thrown in here and there. And that takes us up to the holidays! I miss the pretty glow of the Christmas tree in our living room, but I’m ready for some Spring weather. How did you spend the last days of winter?

To see more check out Webstagram, or you can follow me on Instagram at Elise890.

Alpacaville, LLC is an agricultural farm in Deale, Maryland, featuring, you guessed it, alpaca. Farm owner Beverly Heiberger is also the owner of Quality Calibrations, Inc., another GetCreative designed site. Owning one business and helping her husband run another wasn’t enough to keep her from opening her own alpaca farm, though. In 2012 they started out with four gorgeous alpaca ladies, and have grown in strength and numbers ever since.

The website showcases the beauty of these creatures with rich photography, and the design is simple but effective. The logo design features an alpaca outline, and translates well onto business cards and flyers. The colors of the site coordinate with the natural coloring of the animals. I used a soft feathered background texture to mimic the soft fleece that these pretty animals are known for. An entirely  HTML5 + CSS3 photo gallery allows visitors to get a closer look at the Alpaca, while keeping the site load time down.

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This project was a wonderful collaboration with Susan Richards and the four amazing women behind Bluebird Bath & Beauty. The concept was created by Dayrich Enterprises and I executed the site to include an e-commerce shopping cart platform, as well as a blog and other informational pages. With so many products, organization and layout were key elements of this design. A double navigation bar allows customers to easily find the products they’re looking for. The site is hosted on a secure server for accepting online payments. The client can also modify the site with ease, using a Content Management System (CMS).

A few months after we launched the site, the client came to us with a few aesthetic changes in mind. Based on customer feedback and their own review of the site, they decided to tone down the blues a bit and let soft grays be the main color focus, with blue white acting as accent colors. The first image in this post is the current (re)design, and the one above is the original look. Eliminating the brown allows for less contrast and a softer look. We also incorporated a linen texture into the background of the site, which correlates well with their natural line of products. To see more, visit the site here. Be sure to check out their great bath and beauty products, as well!