Have you seen my other pages? Lists of tutorials, just waiting for your spare time...
DIY Jewelry & Tutorials
DIY Sewing & Tutorials
Miscellaneous Crafts
Digital Scrapbooking
More! Including photography information & technique, organization & cleaning help and other printables
I'll post here when I update these pages... If you know of a tutorial I don't, please leave me a comment or send me an email- I'd love to include it. Do you write tutorials? Want a review? I want to do it! Get in touch & we'll work out the details...
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Blog Design Help
You know, part of what's been keeping my posts in the draft folder is I'm not happy with my (completely non-existent) blog design skills... I don't want y'all to see it looking like this (hopefully it won't anymore when you read this), but I'm not really happy about having a "canned" look... I searched free blog design templates & found Shabby Blogs, with tons of free stuff- and WICKED pretty, too! I don't care if someone else has exactly the same thing, I'll share for a while. Maybe having a way cute blog will encourage me to post what I write more often... I have a new plan for blog organization (you can read about it at 1000 Trains, I'll edit to include the link soon) including pages & boring updates & mobile blogging... Aren't I sooo tech-savvy... :)
Right now, though, I want to chat about building a blog. I mentioned that I don't have design skills- I should add that I don't have color coordination skills either. Blogger is flexible about what colors we can use for almost everything- I like that when you pick a color for your background, or for post headings, the Design page offers a color swatch of matching/complementary colors for the one you picked. I got bogged down in wanting my post headings to be clearly different from sidebar tags, and new/visited links highlighted, but still as a cohesive (and attractive) palette. This is why they pay (other) people the big bucks- I made a mucky mess of it. If I decide not to change my background, I'll probably leave most of my text (posts & headings) black. Then I can take some time to look at blogs I like for palette inspirations. Note: it's totally poor form to copy someone else's design (and illegal if it's copyrighted work), but inspiration is ok. (I've even read some beginner blogger tips suggesting it.)
Shabby Blogs has a full website, including a blog, tutorials (!!), free downloads & designs and more. It's certainly not the only site out there, but I really like their work. I only added a background tonight, but downloaded some sidebar tags & header bars. I managed to hide my plain text header from myself, but when I figure out where it went, I have a nifty one to put up. Shabby Blogs has blinkies (which lean toward the overly cheery/cutesy, but that's just me), sidebar tags, backgrounds & header bars, as mentioned, as well as pretty images to use in your posts (think giveaway announcements), buttons and post dividers. They've got a category for all the freebies from the blog and another for custom work.
For backgrounds, I really like:
Damask Don't Tell (pink):
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#308
Hootie Cuties:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#345
Owl Family Reunion: (you're looking at it...)
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#461
(I have a serious owl obsession... See my Pinterest.)
Jane:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#534
(Jane Austen, anyone?)
Meandering:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#593
Owl Be There:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#386
I had to stop looking, there's like 12 more I really like and I'm only 2/3 through the list. (Love the thumbnails- I don't have to open each to see it!)
And they have tutorials!! More on them later, but the link for the tut page is below... And here's a quickie awesome one for resizing & sharpening an image for internet use.
http://shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/photography-with-jessica-resizing-and.html
All Shabby Blog tutorials:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=9
You can tell from the button on the sidebar that I really like this site- 5 out of 5 wet fingernails up!! Thank you so much, ladies!
Right now, though, I want to chat about building a blog. I mentioned that I don't have design skills- I should add that I don't have color coordination skills either. Blogger is flexible about what colors we can use for almost everything- I like that when you pick a color for your background, or for post headings, the Design page offers a color swatch of matching/complementary colors for the one you picked. I got bogged down in wanting my post headings to be clearly different from sidebar tags, and new/visited links highlighted, but still as a cohesive (and attractive) palette. This is why they pay (other) people the big bucks- I made a mucky mess of it. If I decide not to change my background, I'll probably leave most of my text (posts & headings) black. Then I can take some time to look at blogs I like for palette inspirations. Note: it's totally poor form to copy someone else's design (and illegal if it's copyrighted work), but inspiration is ok. (I've even read some beginner blogger tips suggesting it.)
Shabby Blogs has a full website, including a blog, tutorials (!!), free downloads & designs and more. It's certainly not the only site out there, but I really like their work. I only added a background tonight, but downloaded some sidebar tags & header bars. I managed to hide my plain text header from myself, but when I figure out where it went, I have a nifty one to put up. Shabby Blogs has blinkies (which lean toward the overly cheery/cutesy, but that's just me), sidebar tags, backgrounds & header bars, as mentioned, as well as pretty images to use in your posts (think giveaway announcements), buttons and post dividers. They've got a category for all the freebies from the blog and another for custom work.
For backgrounds, I really like:
Damask Don't Tell (pink):
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#308
Hootie Cuties:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#345
Owl Family Reunion: (you're looking at it...)
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#461
(I have a serious owl obsession... See my Pinterest.)
Jane:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#534
(Jane Austen, anyone?)
Meandering:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#593
Owl Be There:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=108#386
I had to stop looking, there's like 12 more I really like and I'm only 2/3 through the list. (Love the thumbnails- I don't have to open each to see it!)
And they have tutorials!! More on them later, but the link for the tut page is below... And here's a quickie awesome one for resizing & sharpening an image for internet use.
http://shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/photography-with-jessica-resizing-and.html
All Shabby Blog tutorials:
http://shabbyblogs.com/?page_id=9
You can tell from the button on the sidebar that I really like this site- 5 out of 5 wet fingernails up!! Thank you so much, ladies!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Why We're Here...
Tutorials. How-tos. DIYs. I adore them. Other people do too, because I've found several lists of links, but these! These are my favorite- I want to make them all. Maybe someday I'll get through the list, but only if no one writes a new (wicked cool) tutorial for a while. I have spent a ridiculous amount of time compiling my grand hoard, because I haven't found one as complete anywhere else. I'll review them as I go, depending on what I feel like sharing and whether I've finished it or not. Sewing, jewelry making (including beading, wirework, dimensional glaze, amateur blacksmithing & forging, electroforming, etc...), and interesting tidbits on various other topics. Enjoy! Post pics or a link to what you make, I wanna see it! And new-to-me tutorials? Yours? Your favorites? Something you want reviewed? I want them all! Email, link in a comment, just send'em over, there are never too many.
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