Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Editing Woes and Advice



Sometimes the internet is a wealth of information, helping even the most ignorant person accomplish amazing things. But sometimes, the evil side of the internet rears its ugly head and you feel like the dumbest person in the world. Making a blog button in five easy steps sounds great in theory, but the reality of these complex steps leaves me disappointing and frustrated. Which is maybe why the accomplishments feel that much better.

I have been trying for about a week now to crack into they mystical world of clip art and coding, and am still utterly lost. I was able to change my blogger background and make links in posts, but nothing beyond that. I was trying to add some flair, but I am too stubborn and broke to pay for a blog design. Adobe is out of the question right now, so I was messing around with Powerpoint, but you can't make PNG images on there, so my pictures all had white backgrounds. While searching Pinterest, I clicked a link for an art project on Everyday Mom Ideas and found gold.  She had used a program called paint.net, which is a free editing program similar to a basic old version of Adobe.


I immediately downloaded the program and used it to edit my sweet Blog Header (thanks LeeLou!) It is a very basic program compared to something like Adobe, but I love that you can do layers and make PNG images. I am so excited to continue to work with this program and develop my blog! 

Do you have any more advice? I could use some suggestions, especially about clip art. 




5 comments:

  1. I have found the easiest thing to work with is PowerPoint and Publisher. I have created pretty much everything for my blog with those, and then I use a program like Photoshop to save the file as a PDF, jpeg, etc. I'm impressed that you were able to create your button! I still haven't done that yet. Where did you find the tutorial for that? I'd love to hear how you did it!

    Samantha :)
    Making Lemonade in Second Grade

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    1. I haven't tried using publisher, I will have to look into that. I used these three tutorials as well as just messing around to make mine! The background was part of a sock monkey paper pack I bought. I created the image on paint.net and uploaded it into my Picasa web album.
      http://www.mypregnancybaby.com/how-to-make-blog-button-code/
      http://bloggingwithamy.com/how-to-make-a-blog-button/
      http://teacherbloggingbasics.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-make-blog-button.html

      I spent forever working on it then was having trouble getting the coding to appear right on my blog. If that happens to you, try erasing and retyping all of the quotation marks. Sounds odd, but it worked!

      Hope that helps! :)

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  2. Thanks, Kate! I will try that! I also have a little tip for you too that another blogger just shared with me. It creates a direct link to your blog by clicking on your blog name in your comment. Makes it much easier for people to hop over to your blog! http://www.ladybugsteacherfiles.com/2011/02/more-code-funleaving-your-link-in.html

    Also - I am reading "Sweet Sea" in second grade on your blog title (banner). Just thought I'd let you know!

    :) Samantha
    Making Lemonade in Second Grade

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  3. Wow, how did I miss that?!? Thanks, I fixed the banner.

    When I click on your link from a comment, it brings up a 404 page...not sure why though.

    Sweet Tea and Second Grade

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    1. Arggh! LOL! Thanks so much. I'm having some technical difficulties. Glad you figured it out! :)

      Let me try again...

      Making Lemonade in Second Grade

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