Yummy Lolly

Pony Gazette - Free XML Blogger template

2009-07-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

I love a good pixelated pony (ok, technically speaking it's not really pixelated but is stitched) but I still like it! The pretty stitching creates a frame around the main blog area that's quite striking! I really like this one and hope you do to!

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Bicycle, bicycle! - XML blogger template

2009-07-02T00:27:00.000-07:00

Whenever I see a bicycle, I just want to burst into singing that song by Queen. It's very catching, unfortunately.

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

ACORNGLUE.COM SALE!

2009-06-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

click here to visit acornglue.com now!

This Little Piggy - free XML template

2009-06-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

There are so many weight loss blogs out there so I thought I would try and make something to offset that! Haha, so here is a blogger template that embraces my inner piggy :-) This also has a navigation bar (instructions to change these links are within the blog code >> just go to Layout > Edit HTML and scroll down to near the end to change the links). More detailed instructions on what to do can be found here. Enjoy!

Oh, and I have made the nav bar colour changeable from within the Fonts & Colours area. Hoorah.

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Ahoy Hair! - free XML Blogger template

2009-06-11T01:41:00.000-07:00

If anyone wants to make me one of these ship headpieces, I would totally wear it! :-)

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Also.... please note that I love making things customisable so I have made the 'inner' background and main background colour customisable. So basically you can easily alter the look of the blog. Check out some combos below:

Lemon, perhaps?

Or a delightful dark purple!?

To change these colours, all you have to do is go to the Fonts & Colours tab within Blogger and change them to whatever you want. REMEMBER that the stupid colour palette that Blogger provides aren't the only colours you can have!!

You can look up any HEX colour and imput the six digit code into the box and hit "return". A big 'ol list of hex colours can be found {here} or a good colour selector {here}

PS: massive thanks to the delightful pinkonhead.com for the wonderful woman/ship/head Photoshop brush! I love it!

Changing Fonts in your blog title posts! YES, it's possible!

2009-06-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have to share this with you because some people have asked me about it in the past and I wasn't sure if it was possible!

YES, you can change the fonts of your blog entry titles - and sidebar headers too (I mean FANCY fonts and not just boring old generic fonts!). I found a link via Husdon's blog (thanks!!!) which shows how you can use fonts in your blog... kind of Wordpress style (but a bit different)! The tutorial can be found >> here at Kevin & Amanda's website (they also have some GORGEOUS handwriting fonts! WOW!).

BUT.... please be aware of a few things:
1) You will need to be comfortable editing and changing html and code within your blog and this may be quite tricky for a beginner.

2) You will have to have somewhere to host the files (but there are free hosts available)!

3) It does not seem work with IE5.5 or IE6 (that's the case on the computer I tested it on anyhow).

What excellent stuff! I hope some of you may find it useful!

PS: re Internet Explorer - I try not to get sad when I see visitors using IE5.5 and IE6 but c'mon -- if you're using those, you really are missing out! They are up to IE8 now! Or.... you can try Firefox (which is my personal favourite!).

Flowery Kaboom! - Free XML blogger template

2009-06-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, this image (by vectorportal.com) is absolutely delightful! I also placed some little flowers between each post which is also pretty cute! I hope you like this free Blogger template!! xx

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Pinky Pinkerson - XML blogger template

2009-06-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

Oh I hope you like pink, because here's a pink template! This was just a test which happened to work out quite well.... so I will probably make some similar to this in the future (but more intricate!)! This didn't take me very long to make, hence the two templates in one day!

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Winter.Pink.Breath - free XML Template

2009-06-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

The header image is by D Sharon Pruitt - here is the link to her absolutely beautiful Flickr photos! I love it when people share their work, thank you x 10000000!

RazzleDazzle - free blogger XML template

2009-05-26T00:24:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, I love a pretty pattern and here is another gorgeous one from Pixels & Ice Cream (visit the site here). I love this template and hope you do too!

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

I think that the navbar colour of "tan" looks awesome with this template (just like I have in the test blog). To change it just go to LAYOUT >> PAGE ELEMENTS and edit the navbar. I'm soooo sick of seeing that blue navbar! You can change the colour, people!

pun(ch)(in)ello - XML blogger template

2009-05-17T06:40:00.000-07:00

>>>> UPDATE: May 26, 2009: I have no idea why this zip folder was needing a password with Windows unzipper (but able to be opened with WinRAR - WEIRD!) but I have updated the link to a zip folder that is now actually unzippable! Sorry for the weirdness! It seems that I have skills that even I didn't know about!

I love a good damask pattern and the extremely talented Jennifer Furlotte at Pixels and IceCream has made available this beautiful pattern (see live preview below). This is a 3 column template which has two sidebars in the right hand side. As you will know, I like to make my blogs very customisable (I hate it when you download a Blogger template and cannot edit any of the fonts or colours!! URGH!!) and this one can be changed quite a lot: you are able to change both the "inner" blog colour (mid purple) and the sidebar box colour (light purple).

I therefore think that this blog template is pretty cool. If you have a different background image you want to use... why not change that too? (let me know if you need help doing that, but it's not too tricky).

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

PS: I host all the images for my free templates on a premium photobucket account. This is not, unfortunately, free of charge :( I continually pay for this so that the images on your templates will not appear as "broken" and your templates will continue to look awesome. If you would like to help me out with paying for this, why not donate $1? You don't have to, but I would appreciate any help I could get with this, so $1 isn't too much to ask for I hope (if you are horrendously rich and want to donate more, my paypal email is: freebloggerdesigns@gmail.com). If you are horrendously rich, I would also like a pony. A pink one. Thanks!

Paper Dolls - free xml templates! Two options! Woo!

2009-05-07T04:51:00.000-07:00

Here are two pretty paper doll templates (dolls are sans heads I'm afraid). I like them and I had trouble deciding which one to put up, so we have them both.
The #2 template includes the Photoshop - .psd - layered document so you can change the words in the speech bubbles. If you have any questions about this, let me know.

PAPER DOLLS #1:

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

PAPER DOLLS #2:

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

As noted above, I have included the Photoshop doc for those who wish to alter the speech bubbles. If you install the template as is, then they will be saying "Hi!" and "Why, hello!", just like in the test blog above. Confused? Let me know.

You learn something new everyday (apparently)!

2009-05-06T22:34:00.001-07:00

Ok, so here are three little things for you guys:

BLOG BULK - this is an awesome site (seriously!) which gives easy to understand hints on doing various things in Blogger. Go to the "how to" section and be blown away by all the hints and tricks. It's very easy to understand (unlike some sites out there *ahem*) and I only noticed their site because they have a link back to me!
Thanks to one Tamale Chica ;-) for helping me research this one: If you're having troubles identifying your RSS feed, then this is the address:

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
(obviously you have to replace "yourblogname" with your actual blog name :P)
And lastly, there is always the Blogger Help Forum to research any issues you might be having. If you are having any problems or have any questions with your blog, then I would advise you to search for the issue first -- someone else has more than likely experienced it before. The Blogger help forum is very useful but some of the "helpers" there can often be more rude than helpful (especially if you ask a question that's been asked many times before).

xxx

It's Retro Baby! - free xml template

2009-05-01T04:12:00.000-07:00

OK, this is a simple but sweet retro template, perhaps it should be called "minimalist retro" or "simple retro" - anyway, you get the drift I hope. It's just simple and cute... with navigation bar. You can find how to add the links within the code or you can read the info below.

Log into blogger. Click on "EDIT HTML"
Scroll down the large box of code until you see the following (it's near the end)

<li><a href="'/'">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="'#'">Link Here</a></li>
<li><a href="'#'">Link Here</a></li>
<li><a href="'#'">Link Here</a></li>

To add your own links:
replace the "#" symbol with your link URL and then edit the "Link Here" text to be the name of your link (see colour coding below). So if you wanted to put a link back to me, this is what you'd change one of the lines to be:

<li><a href="'http://www.yummylolly.com'">Yummy Lolly</a></li>

You can remove or add any lines as you wish. You just have to add them before the </ul> code.
Let me know if you have any questions.

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

* I HAD THE WRONG ZIP FOLDER LINK! APOLOGIES! IT'S ALL FIXED NOW!*

Background image made by me :-)

Cat Napper - free XML template

2009-04-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a super cute blog template with your own navigation bar. The "home" link is already working, and there are instructions in the code, but here's how to add your own links:

Log into blogger. Click on "EDIT HTML"
Scroll down the large box of code until you see the following (it's near the end)

<li><a href="'/'">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="'#'">Link Here</a></li>
<li><a href="'#'">Link Here</a></li>
<li><a href="'#'">Link Here</a></li>

You can remove or add any lines as you wish. You just have to add them before the </ul> code.
Let me know if you have any questions.

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Greener Grass - free XML template

2009-04-22T05:09:00.000-07:00

I don't often use photographs in my header images, but I found this one and liked it. You can also change a lot of the colours - the background, the "inner" blog colour and, of course, all the fonts and colours. Enjoy.

click for a larger preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Powder Puff - free blogger design XML

2009-04-17T07:43:00.001-07:00

I love this image (by Colorpiano Illustration via Flickr)! There's something about wearing a big puffy pink dress that appeals - maybe because I'll never actually do it? But I would love to... *sigh*

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Welcome to yummylolly.com!!!

2009-04-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to yummylolly.com - free blogger .xml templates!

I have moved here from suckmylolly.com! I plan on focusing on making some awesome blogger designs so please bookmark this site, subscribe to the feed via Feedburner, or favorite this blogger blog because there will be some nice Blogger templates coming soon!! Of course there are already quite a few on this site >> visit the "Design Gallery" page now to have a browse!

This also may be one of the only times I ask for suggestions, but if there's a kind of template you'd like (I do not mean a celebrity or anime character blogger template!!!!!!) then let me know in the comments to this post and I might just take your advice ;-)

This will not apply to 99% of readers, but please remember that my templates are released under Creative Commons 3.0 license (you can use them commercially and they may be adapted) you may NEVER upload any of these templates to another Blogger template site!

xx

Friendly Forest - Free Blogger Design XML template

2009-04-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Enjoy :)))

Olive Martini - Free XML blogger template

2009-03-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a cute olive-retro theme. I like it!

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

acornglue.com giveaway via Quilting on a Budget!

2009-03-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Hello! I cannot believe it's been about a month since my last post. It's crazy hard work looking after babies and I haven't had much time to myself but I haven't forgotten about SML I promise! I have so many ideas waiting to come out as Blog templates!

I would however like to interrupt my silence to announce the give-away of an acornglue.com template!

I realise there are lots of crafty folk out there who love Quilting so this is the ideal opportunity for me to introduce you to a fabulous site! So, for my regular readers who may not know -- there is a $10-15US acornglue.com template up for grabs from the above site - Quilting on a Budget. Click here to visit the site and enter.

Entries must be left in the comments section of that site, not this one so get clicking and enter now!

The competition closes 12 Noon (EST) of Saturday, March 28, 2009!

Having problems installing a Blogger xml template? READ THIS

2009-02-21T02:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, when you try and change your template, errors unfortunately occur.

There may be a few reasons for getting this error. I have done my best to outline (below) popular causes for getting an error when trying to install my templates.

1) CHECK YOU HAVE UNZIPPED THE FOLDER YOU DOWNLOADED:

I offer my templates as zipped (.zip) folders. The zip folder you download from suckmylolly.com contains a few files that have been compressed, to reduce their file size. Usually this folder will contain the blogger template - template.xml for example - my terms and conditions and an extra folder which contains the images. You cannot expect to upload this .zip folder and have it work - why?: because it's a compressed folder and not a blogger template. Uploading the .xml file will NOT (USUALLY) CAUSE ANY ERRORS but uploading the .zip file will not work. You must UNZIP this folder before installing the template.
If you don't know how to unzip files then I advise you to read this or this. I do not use Windows all the time but I believe that for Vista and XP - all you need do is to double click the file to unzip it (or right click).

2) TRY ANOTHER BROWSER:

I too get an unexplained error message sometimes when I test my templates. I have no idea why this happens but either waiting a little while or trying another web browser often fixes things.

3) ERRORS WITH WIDGET LABELLING:

If you can *almost* install the template (ie: it asks you to confirm that you're about to delete your widgets but then when you click "OK" you get an error) - then you might need to change something in the code. This error occurs because the widgets are labelled incorrectly and Blogger gets confused when you try and change the template. I have no idea why this happens to some people and not to others but it's really quite simple to fix:

1. Before making any change, you should backup your current template. This can be done by going to "LAYOUT" >> "EDIT HTML" and then clicking on "Download Full Template".

2. Make sure you have some sidebar elements - eg: Profile, Blog Archive, Followers - before trying to upload the new template (this is so that you get the 'Widgets are about to be deleted warning').

3. Go to LAYOUT >> EDIT HTML and attempt to upload the new .xml template again. This will then bring up a page which lists the widgets about to be deleted - this is normal when installing a new template. You are then asked to confirm this step. Instead of confirming, follow the steps below:

4. Press Control+F (find function) and search for this phrase within the big box of code:

You should find some code such as these:

5. Change the number "1" in the code to be a "2".
ie: so it would now look like this:

Repeat this step for all these that you find in the code (change all the 1s to be 2s)

6. Confirm and save. This worked for me. I realise that it's quite scary to change your blog html if you're not experienced with html code, but it's quite a simple change and this is also the reason I recommend backing up your template before making any changes. Unfortunately things do sometimes go wrong so you should be prepared.

Of course I only recommend trying this last method if you feel comfortable altering the html. You may have trouble uploading any customised template unless this is altered.

Problems with your Blogger comments?

2009-02-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

I've had a few questions from people with their Blogger blog comments not working (ie you click on the "post a comment" link but nothing happens. We have to check what kind of comments you have your blog set to.

Log into your Blogger account.
Go to SETTINGS >> COMMENTS

You'll see a variety of options on this page. The one we need to check is the "Comment Form Placement". There are three choices:

Full Page: this is where your comments/comment box are on the one page
Pop-Up: this is when you click on "post a comment" and the comments open in a small pop-up window
Embedded below post: this is where the comment loads/displays under the blog post being commented on.

If you have selected "Embedded below post" and yet, your comments do not seem to be working - follow these instructions to ensure they work.

1) Go to LAYOUT >> EDIT HTML

2) Back up your current template by clicking on "Download Full Template" (you should always back up your template/widgets before making any changes).

3) Under the big box of html code, you will see a link which says "Revert widget templates to default". Click this link. A pop up will appear which says
"This will discard all changes to widget templates. Your widget data will remain unchanged. Continue?"

Click "OK"

Refresh your blog and you will now see that the comments form is now embedded within your blog like this, underneath the corresponding blog post (it's a lot more streamlined and doesn't have the "Blogger" appearance that the pop-up and "whole page" comments forms do ie: they're not bright orange).

This will fix the issue.
Good luck.

Froggie - XML blogger template

2009-02-13T23:21:00.000-08:00

click for a live preview

The design works with "new" blogger - ie: it's an XML template. Please ensure that you backup your widget data, as installing a new template will wipe/erase your current widget content.

To download the xml template: click here (zip folder)
Preview the site here
Need help installing this? Click here

Happy New Year! (yes, it's a little late!)

2009-01-30T21:19:00.000-08:00

This isn't a personal blog, so excuse the personal nature of this post.... but I know some of my readers wanted an update....

YES, I had two babies (oh my goodness, almost a month ago now, where has time gone?) - George and Julius - and we are all doing well - except of course I will probably never ever sleep again! Seriously!

I have not forgotten about suckmylolly.com - but it hasn't been possible for me to make any templates lately due to the two little men I have to feed! Wow, everyone says that having a baby is hard work, but you really have no idea how hard it's going to be until they actually arrive! And to have two at once! Wowsers.

I will be making some more templates in the coming weeks - apologies for taking a bit of time out. If you want get get notified when I make more templates, then you should join the email subscription or subscribe to this site >> here.

xx