I built an Amazon store and stocked it with the latest WordPress and blogging books - check it out! I didn’t use a plugin, but instead made a modified template file and included my aStore in an iframe. I’ll make a video or screencast tutorial soon on how to do it - it was super easy!

I am also getting VERY CLOSE on completing the Tickled Pink theme - you should expect an announcement in the next few days. I don’t know if I”ll submit it to the Theme Codex or not - or even whether they will accept it, but I’ll have it available for download soon. I have to finish the accompanying Simple:Press theme, Pinkish, as it will be part of the package.

I’ve also got another theme in the works that uses NextGEN Gallery - right now it’s just a bare outline in Photoshop and I’ll have to flesh it out but it won’t be long before it’s a nice theme for a gallery or portfolio site!

And - nothing to do with WordPress or with the Gardens, but: Congratulations to Senator Barack Obama on winning the Democratic nomination!

SimplePress is faster and better now with the 3.1.1 build. This release was mostly about optimization, and the crew at Yellow Swordfish did a great job with the back end. Still there are a few new features that make SP even better than before!

I’ll be shutting down during the upgrade. I’ve finished upgrading my other WordPress sites, and ran into minor problems with my server config that might mean display oddities in the forum, but stay tuned, we shall be beautiful again soon!

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Put Spring in your forum! That sounds corny, I know, but I live in crazy Oregon, who can’t make up her mind if it’s spring or not. Right now I am freezing my Georgia peach butt off and huddled inside. Lucky for you - because I made buttons!

These buttons are called Spring Green, made with CC and GPL icons and Photoshop. Included are two layered Photoshop files so you can make your own custom buttons or changes.

Spring Green Buttons downloaded 282 times.

I’ve been in a happy daze all week that’s only partly due to the Vicodin I got from the clinic on Monday, when I nearly broke my hand while wrestling with the dog. Since I discovered SimplePress™ by Andy at Yellow Swordfish, I’ve been on a mission, hunting down CC and GPL icons to use in the Garden’s forum skin. In the process I created a couple of GDKs to speed up the process for future buttons, and am offering them for download here, along with a finished set.

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I’ve upgraded the Gardens to the new versions of WordPress and bbPress. While WP 2.5 rocks my world, bbPress does not. I want a much tighter integration, so I’m pitching the hours I spent making this theme for bbPress, and retiring those forums. For now. I may change my mind later.

Onward and upward! I used SimplePress from Stuff at Yellow Swordfish. I’ve already installed it at BK2K Web Design and it’s quite nifty!

Soon to come - a new theme release, and tutorial movies! Stay tuned…