Amour Chaleur

Hi, I'm Bim Bim

Initial rough sketch of the house

Yes, finally a new layout. Please say hello to Bim Bim. He’s the panda in this new layout and the current mascot of Amour Chaleur. I finally manage to finish drawing and coding this layout after a whole month. Kawaiiness has been up for nearly 4 months and I think it’s time for a change. This entry will be dedicated to my little one. It went through lots of changes before finalising on this design. In this final version, he’s wearing an artist cap and holding onto a paintbrush. Originally, he’s wearing a blue wholly hat and holding onto his bamboo stick. I can’t find the PSD file which has the old design, I might have override it. So why the name Bim Bim? No particular reason though. I suddenly thought of it while I was studying for my exams and find it quite adorable and suitable for this little panda. I must confess that his house, also known as the “House of Panda” is slightly distorted. I draw it over from a photo of a Japanese tea house even though it look more like a traditional Chinese house. Well, technically speaking, pandas are from China.

Version 1 of Bim Bim

The above is the idea I had in mind originally but I find that I didn’t liked it that much and it’s too empty and not homely enough for Bim Bim hence I added in a house (the idea is for him to hide when the weather is cold ). I love him too much to let him sleep outdoors. Before I forget, I would like to thank everyone who have helped make this layout possible. Thanks Sharon and Ben for testing and going through the pages for layout errors, @teddyrised, @respiri and @akinodorama for giving me ideas, suggestions and opinions about the design and coding. And lastly Ivy of nanyate.com, the lanterns of House of Panda are actually inspired by her layout. If I’ve miss out your name, please let me know.

I feel that there’s a more solid concept and idea behind this layout. I’m a fan of panda hence this I would actually like to express everything I love in this layout. Earthy tones were used in this layout, I think everyone might have enough of the bright and loud colours of Kawaiiness hence I toned it down with this one. It’s easier on the eyes and more cozy. I find it more kiddish than the previous but some might disagree. I’ve nothing much to credit other than the few people listed above and of course, my trust Photoshop. Brushes were default from Photoshop and all graphics are hand drawn (with the mouse).

This layout has been tested only in Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera in resolutions of 1024×768 and 1440×900. If there’s anything wrong with the images, for example, images of the previous layout showing up please refresh or clear your cache. If you have tested it in other browsers and resolutions other than the above, please let me know if it’s working correctly or if there are any problems or errors. Lastly, I have added the rainbow icons used in the previous Kawaiiness layout for download. I still have some matching avatars and wallpapers to put up and I hadn’t put up the RSS link on the header image yet. Maybe next week. I’m lazy and tired now.