Jan 09 2008
I won in the ‘Jingle all the way contest’!
No, I didn’t win the grand prize, and I didn’t win the second nor third prize either. My luck isn’t really that great… but good enough to win me a runner up. There are 3 winners of the runner up, and each of us got $25 design credit.
Well, I’m talking about the contest which I joined last month, and the result has just been announced this morning (or last night US).
I was really drooling for the grand prize, coz I am THAT thrifty (or stingy?), not willing to pay extra/ top up. Hey, though the prices charged by Lara is considered cheap, it is in USD, which means 3.5 times more for us!
I can’t decide what I can do with the $25. I wonder if I can continue to take on another contest until I get to win the grand prize, or should I just forget it and use this design credit straight away??
I have been wanting to re-design my blog, and change it to 3 column theme, i.e. 2 sidebars. With that in mind, the packages Lara offers are $90, $80, $70 and $60. That means, I have to top up $65, $55, $45 or $35, depends on which I select.
The key differences (meaningful to me) in the packages are:
In the $90 package, it has a 468×60 banner, which is not included in others. An example of a 468×60 banner, as designed by Lara is attached:
Whilst the $80 and $70 packages do not have the above banner, it has a small 120×60 banner:
The $90 and $80 packages also provide one 80×15 button, which I can’t find example to gauge how it looks like. This is not available for the other 2 cheaper packages.
The $90 package has two additional 125×125 buttons that looks like below:
Apart from the images above, the cheapest package ($60) doesn’t come with decorative background. My current theme doesn’t have a decorative background, and I’m not sure whether it is that important or not.
So difficult to decide. Can anyone give me some advice whether the aboves are needed or not? I can’t think of the usage… and I am very thrifty (ahem, that’s a good way to describe a stingy person). 
Congrats Suzette. First you must ask yourself whether it is necessary to have a decorative background and whether YOU yourself can accept a blog without decorative background cos at the end of the day, it is YOU who must like your blog. Do it for yourself and not for others. You can’t please everybody.
For me, the deco is less important compared to the content.
All the best to you.
Congratulations! I wanted to enter the contest too, but then I decided that I wasn’t ready to change the theme of my site yet…but all the best for a new theme! If you ask me, the $90 package definitely looks nice… see if you can get it for cheaper?
Jo-N: Thanks for the advice. I am just wonder whether the banners are useful or not. Hmm…
giddy tiger: I am definitely drooled over the $90 package, but spending so much on theme design where there are many free ones available… I am very stingy ler… Maybe I’ll just go with the cheapest one. LOL!
Think your site is fine the way it is
EMYYL: Thanks!
I used the default WP theme, changed the header image and did quite a few revisions before getting this one. I need a facelift for this, based on a few needs. I want a 3-column theme but can’t find one that I really like, coz I do have a few criteria that I looked for, in terms of the side bar. I also dislike the butterfly image, as it is not quite relevant. 