How to Make A Blog Background

Heyza! So. I bet a bunch of you have noticed my new background. Mwahaha. Let's just say that background took a lot of work. :P
And I'll probably be changing it soon anyway... Something whose materials I actually made (yeah, I got the materials from this...) Anyway. Very cool, and I am very thankful to the maker of the materials. :)
Alright. But on to the tutorial. Alright? First of all, you're going to need some type of photo image thingy a jig. I use Photoshop. But that's just me. :)
First of all, you're going to make a new document.



So, I've heard that making the width "14.5" works best for most people, but since we have a very wide monitor here, and I'm actually planning on maybe using this one, I have to set it at 20. For all of you with normal ones... 14.5 might be the best way to go. :)

Next, you have to get your materials. There's tons of Free Digital Scrapbooking sites all over the internet... I have found this one to be very helpful.
You download whatever papers/embellishments/etc. you want to use, then save them in a file you will be able to remember, then open them in your image/picture thingy. :)


To make the background, all you have to do is take your background design (I'm using the stripes), and make it fit into your blank document.

To make the center (which has to be around 7.5 inches wide), I usually make a new (blank) area, with the height of 11, and the width of 7.5. Then you can make your middle color (I'm using the plain green) and make it fit there. Then drag it over onto your background, center it, and there's that bit. Add your embellishments, drop shadows, writing, etc., etc., etc...



then flatten all layers. Save the file (remember to make it large) then go to your blog. put a new post, and add the background as a photo.



Then, you're going to "view picture".



This will bring up your picture (really background) in the window. There will be an url at the top of the page- the link to your picture. Copy this link!!!

Now go to your blog's "Design" tab, and click "edit HTML". Then click ctrl-F, to bring up your find box. put in this bit of cooding "body { background" and find it.



See the bit that says

body {
background:$bgcolor

? I mean, on your HTML. Mine has the link to my background in it. ;) Delete that bit of script. Then put in this bit:

body {
background: url(INSERT YOUR BACKGROUND LINK HERE) no-repeat center fixed #FFFFFF;

in the INSERT YOUR BACKGROUND LINK HERE, you are going to put the link to your background which I told you to copy. When you opened up your picture in "view image"? That's the link to put here. Put it in. Click "Save Template" and then preview it to make sure it looks good.

Oh, and if anyone has any problems seeing my background, please, PLEASE let me know. If it's too wide, tell me, as well, because, like I said, we have a super wide monitor so the screen that fits here might not fit anywhere else.
...
In which case I will change the width so it'll fit basically anywhere. :)

If you have any problems or if you need help with anything, or if my instructions were not clear, you can put a comment here and I'll put the help up in this post.


~Angela

Blogger... Fifteen reasons it stinks.

1. It deleted the comments I got from Sandy and from Cat two and three days ago, without me telling it to.
2. Half the time it tells me it can't post my posts because of some tag error, when all I've done is type.
3. It makes tag errors when all I do is type.
4. Sometimes, when I put on pictures, what Blogger does is make them go invisible when I'm on the "compose" tag, so I upload them twice, and only realize it when I post.
5. It's really tricky for me to figure out where my followers' blogs are located when I click on their pictures.
6. Most times when I try to post, I have to try twice because it says that it saved it at the same time I was posting it, and I should just try again.
7. When I go to sign in, it sometimes makes me type my email address and password about fifteen times before it will register that I have signed in.
8. It's tricky to find my dashboard.
9. It's stupid when I try to put up a new background.
10. It goes all wonky on me when I put up a custom header.
11. It's so fussy about what your domain name is.
12. It won't let me use different font sizes within one post.
13. It makes changing the color of my letters really hard.
14. It never tells me what my original font is, so I have to go through all of them if I want to change a copy paste section into the same font as the rest of the post.
15. It has a really, REALLY bad search engine. (I search "Rachel Carson" and it'll pull up something about Girl Scout Camp. *headdesk*)

That's all for now. :)

My Summer Plans

Hello, everyone!

I realize I haven't posted much recently, breaking from my "complete and total blogging addiction" as I say. :D But.
This is going to change.
Eventually.

Right now, I'm super busy.. You can thank Philip (one "L", not two... geesh), a ton of homework, a crabby computer, a crabby sewing machine, my other hobbies (refashioning, sewing, writing, planning-things-that-will-never-happen, cleaning my room, doing homework, talking, being on the computer, etc., etc., etc.), and just generally my lack of subject matter to write about.

I guess you can also blame it on the fact that after writing one or two really funny posts, I now feel pressured to be funny in all my posts, which is really, REALLY hard for me, since half the time the only thing funny about me is my tone of voice.
Which you can't hear over the internet.

But anyway, the point of THIS non-funny post, is basically to write up all my excuses why I won't be posting a ton over the summer.
I know it's lame.
Give me a break.

So, here are my reasons.

1. Girl Scout Camp. Again, I will be attending a Girl Scout camp. Woot! This time as a Senior Girl Scout... I'm so freaked out! It's going to be really fun, but it also takes up an entire week (the ending one of June, to be exact.)
2. Junior Life Saving Lessons. Well. My mom hasn't signed us up yet. But she is going to, soon. These are going to be in the morning, almost every day for about four weeks. But the fact is, I'm going to come home with only two goals in mind: Eat. Sleep.
3. Literature Class. I'm taking a literature class (Ha! It's much more like a book club) at my friends Catt and Mikel's house. The books are going to be quite a bit harder than the ones I did over the fall/winter, and I'm going to be spending a ton of time trying to get through them.
   
4. Book Challenge. Must I say more?
5. Piano Lessons. Not only am I probably taking summer lessons, I am also going to start teaching my younger brother, Kenneth, how to play piano. Possibly even Veela, although I don't know whether she'd actually listen to me. *eyeroll*
6. Letterboxing: This year is going to be my letterboxing year... Though that's something I tell myself every summer. But really, this year I mean it! I'm going to actually try to up my F (find) count this year! Yay go Garden Elf!
7. Farm Trips. I am planning to go to Wisconsin at least once this year, possibly for an extended (Read: two weeks or so) visit with my family, this summer. One can hope, anyway.
8. Refashioning. If I'm not already obsessed, I don't know what I am. Besides, with teaching Ken (read: my mom paying me) I might actually have some money to go and buy stuff to refashion! :D
9. Gardening. I am actually going to take care of my garden. (Go ahead. You can call me on that lie.)

That's about all I can think up... Unfortunately. I do like to have nice, even, "ten reasons" posts... oh well.
Maybe number ten just went invisible?
;)

Phillip and Kenneth (and a poll announcement)

Hiyza y'all. So, I haven't put anything up here about my brother, Phillip.. But yeah. I have a new brother! He was born yesterday, in the wee hours of the morning. We visited him yesterday, and again today. He and my mommy (geesh I sound like I'm six...) are coming home tomorrow. Here's a picture of Phil and Kenneth. (Sorry for the cruddy quality... taken with my phone.)


Also, if you've noticed, I've put a poll up on the side of my blog... About which book I should read first... If you would take the few minutes it takes to just choose which title you think I should read (sorry, no synopsis' yet... :P ) That would be fantastic. :)