Not to be confused with Cillian Murphy….

January 18th, 2011 we launched the Cillian Rail Service through Cardboard Monet Studio.

“The World Wide Web provides a blank slate, a first impression, and the ability to set one business apart from the rest. The importance of aesthetics carries across genres; what goes inside the design becomes just as important as the design itself. It doesn’t take long for a visitor to click-off a web page, making the displayed information your second chance at a first impression.”

We’re randomly picking projects to include the Cillian Rail service for free.
Check out more, and contact us on the official page, HERE.

Happy New Year!
♥ Cardboard Monet Studio

ONE | You can either leave a comment on this post {be sure to provide us with a way to contact you!}, or…
TWO | Comment on the designated facebook status on our page.
BONUS, have your friends “like” your comment for additional entries & you’ll be granted one additional entry for each “like”.

The giveaway ends December 28th, and the winner will be announced in the new year!

Thinking of entering, but need inspiration for a business card design?
Here are some from our portfolio to get the brainstorming juices flowing:

More ideas on our portfolio!

♥ Cardboard Monet Studio

The zip file below has all the files, as well as comments, to help you create your own *WordPress website, semi-homemade.

DOWNLOAD SEMI-HOMEMADE WORDPRESS WEBSITE TEMPLATE

Step-by-step Instructions

Step One | Code your design 100% as a regular HTML/CSS website in your editor of choice. We prefer Adobe Dreamweaver, however there are a plethora of other options out there for you to use.

Step Two | Once you’re website is established as a regular HTML/CSS design, you need to use those elements created to populate the template files in the zip document. The only files you will need to edit are header.php, index.php, footer.php & page.php. In each of those files are instructions on where to put the specific parts of your design.

Step Three | After you save these files, move the theme “Default Template” into your WP theme folder {located: **directoryfile/wp-content/theme/), and upload it through your FTP connection}.

Step Four | Login to your WP account {www.yourwebsitehere.com/directoryfile/wp-admin/}, from the left-side bar choose “Appearance”, and “Activate” the “Default Template” theme.  This will apply your new design to your WP website.

Step Five | Once all your pages are created through WP, you will need to go back and edit your header.php file {or wherever your navigation is found in the “Default Template” pages}, and update the links with the new WP page links.

Step Six |
Your homepage is going to be driven by posts, so to give off the appearance of a regular website, change the default post provided by WP to a blank subject, and insert all your main page information here.
Your pages are going to be driven by the WP pages you create.

Find this tutorial and template helpful? Buy us a cup of coffee, or a shot, it’s up to you  (:

♥ Cardboard Monet Studio

Note:

*This template does not have the sidebar function, or comments enabled on any of the pages/posts, as this isn’t meant o be used as a blog, but a CMS system for web designers.

**If this is appearing on your main website, i.e. www.yourwebsitehere.com, the WP files should all be saved to your root folder. If you have chosen to house it in a sub-folder, i.e. www.yourwebsitehere.com/blog/, your WP files should all be saved to the folder “blog” in your root folder.

Coming January 2011, Cardboard Monet Studio is offering a new service {Cillian Rail} for businesses and their websites.

To gain exclusive access before January, and to learn a little more about what we’re exactly offering, sign up to experience our service free-of-charge– email us at studio@cardboardmonet.com, or leave us a comment below with your email address, and we’ll contact you! Offer applies to first 15 businesses… first come, first serve.

Cillian Rail– [sill-ee-in | reyl] n.

♥ Cardboard Monet Studio

We’ve recently finished a business card design for David Kim Photography; a crisp, clean design with only a touch of color. As a group, we’re fond of the square business card design, opposed to the standard rectangle. These cards at 2.5×2.5″, however the standard for square tends to be 2×2″– regardless, they turned out great!

{www.DavidKim-Photography.com | Designed 100% in Illustrator CS5}

♥ Cardboard Monet Studio