I have just come back to skyrim to prepare for the ps3 dragonborn dlc but have found out that it's extremely hard to level smithing now.. What I would like to know are some ways to level up smithing with this new system , thanks in advance.

Leveling up Smithing is very simple and very easy in Skyrim. You just have to smith things. You get more experience by making more expensive items, or by adding more value when you improve items.

http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/35541/what-is-an-effective-way-to-level-smithing

Exactly. Before one of the patches, you could just 'iron-dagger' your way to 100 easy. They updated it so that your skill increases depending on the value of the items you smith.

Part of me likes this because it makes it feel a bit less cheap, BUT at the same time, it now feels like the ONLY WAY to really level up smithing is by Power-Leveling like crazy

And I HATE power-leveling...

The Smithing skill is stupid, the only way that really works is spamming Iron Daggers. It's impossible to level it up on just things you need yourself, and high-level things sold for money often have really expensive crafting materials.