I've been playing

Honor was sick with a bug on Sunday so I avoided housework took the opportunity to tweak the old blog while she fried her brain on Backyardigans rested peacefully. In case you like any of these changes, I thought I'd share the things that made it possible.

First resource is a background pattern creator. I used Pattern Cooler, which is insanely easy to use. It took me a minute to see past the colors in the patterns listed. Once you choose your pattern, you can tweak the colors to exactly what you want with the click of a button. After choosing your favorite pattern and colors, click download and save it to your computer.

To put this on your blog, upload to a free hosting service, such as PhotoBucket. After creating an account, all you have to do is click on the "upload" button and choose the file you downloaded to your computer. Once it is uploaded, you can resize it if you'd like. I click on "resize" and then choose the box that says "percentages". I shrank this pattern to 35% and then saved it. Photobucket gives different linking options, but click on "direct link" to add to your blog code.

Here is the only part that requires HTML, but you only need to click and paste. No new nerd languages required. Using Blogger's new Simple Template, go into "Template" and click on "Edit HTML". A note will pop up telling you that this is a bad idea. It probably is. But you don't have to save anything you do if you don't like it. It will be okay. Click "Proceed".  Now, click anywhere inside that gobbledy-gook. Next, on your keyboard, press the Control (Ctrl) button and the "f" key at the same time. Type in: body {background: (or you can just copy that bit and paste it in the search (find) box. Immediately after that part, there should be a color code, such as #ffffff. Leave one space after this and paste in url(http://yourdirectlinkhere.jpg)  Obviously, the part in the parenthesis needs replaced with the REAL direct link that you have waiting for you at photobucket.  Now, click on Preview to see if you screwed it all up how you like it.  If it's a mess or you change your mind, all you have to do is hit cancel or close the window. Either way, nothing changes unless you click "save".

For my blog button, I used the code from Bloggersentral's advice. To create the blog button, I used the advice from Musings of a Housewife, except I used Gimp instead of Photoshop. Gimp is a free program that is very similar to Photoshop, but much more on the free side. The image came from Shabbyblogs and the fonts came from....I don't know. There are a million free font websites out there and I'm a font junky. Kevin & Amanda (in my sidebar) is a great place to start collecting great fonts.


So...that said, I'm not in love with the new design. I can't see the entire page at once with my monitor, so I'm not sure what the whole end-product looks like. I like one square of the pattern, but fear an entire page of it might be obnoxious. And is it me or is there more turquoise on here than in a 1989 prom? Rest assured, there will be more changes to come.


*Updated: I changed the pattern and lost 80% of the teal. I still don't like it. But it's better than it was!

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