On Saving Something's New Look

I have been trying for a while now to develop a 'look' for this blog that a) I really feel comfortable with and b) is fairly easy to replicate over and over with each post.  I've tried to make this blog look 'homemade' and 'cute' and 'gritty/hip' and 'academic', but none of those really appealed to me (I'm still working within the confines of templates, though, which doesn't help.)  So, finally, I decided to get rid off all the colors and work up a palette I wanted.  I was quite surprised to find I really liked the black and white.  I liked the touch of scrapbook swirls with the sophisticated gradients.  Someday, I may even figure out how to make the Post Title and Post Text automatically white! I do know though, I am keeping this 'black is the new black' look.  If the reading is too difficult, please let me know in comments so I know to hurry up and modify it.

With a new look, I wanted an online photo edit program that I could easily run all my photos through to make them 'Pin' worthy and more professional, so I didn't have to open 3 editing programs for every low-quality phone photo I'd want to use.  4 hours later, I finally found Photobanda.com, a nice, uncomplicated photo effects program that doesn't require me to sign up, doesn't use watermarks, and has really awesome filter options.  I found my 'combination' of filters that I can put to all my photos for this blog.  Do you like?  Any opinions on if my photos are 'too busy'?

Finally, I'm reviewing how I've written different articles.  I want this blog to be fun and inspiring, but I also believe saving our resources deserves serious consideration.  With that in mind, I'm going to write most articles in entertaining fashion like I'm talking to myself (because I usually am.)  I may include some sketches or notes of things like cost breakdown or comparisons, but I will try to keep things light.  I will then post Caution: signs on posts that get me on a soap box, where I have a lot of information I want to report.  I hope people still enjoy reading my soap box posts, because they will still learn to save something, but I don't want people in the mood for 'light' reads to have to wade through thick text.

That about sums up my thoughts on this blog and how I'm cementing this blog's look to function the way I want it to.  If you have any suggestions, thoughts, or warnings for me, let me know in the comments!