blogging tips — Page 5

Blogging Tips: Some Things I Learned about Photo Editing Yesterday

June 27, 2012 at 7:30 am by Claudia

(The photos have nothing to do with this post; just wanted to add something pretty.)

I’ve been a wee bit obsessed of late with trying to change the font on my banner to something… different. I was never really crazy about the old font. Here was the problem: I had saved the basic banner without text so that I had something to play with should I want to change the font. Every photo editing program has its own group of fonts. I don’t like the basic, sort of ho-hum, fonts, so I was going from program to program trying them all out. If one program had a font I liked, I couldn’t figure out how to add it to the basic banner without the font getting distorted. If I found a program where I could do what I wanted, I didn’t like the fonts. Believe me when I say that I tried out various fonts endlessly. Endlessly. Over the course of several days.

Like a dog with a bone, I do not give up. Along the way, I learned some things.

1. If you’re interested in some nifty handwritten-type fonts, check out Fotoflexer. They have so many cool, original looking fonts. And most of them you will not find on Blogger or PicMonkey. Fotoflexer is a free photo editing site you might really like.

2. If you keep trying, as I did, to add the new text/font as an overlay (which you can do quite easily in PicMonkey), very often you will find a sort of shadow around the text. Very frustrating. I finally went to Pixlr, where I created a new file with just the text in the font I wanted, erased the background and made it transparent. I did the same thing with the birds and lambs when I originally made the banner. It is painstaking work but it’s worth it in the end. Here is the link I discovered that showed me how to do it.

3. I know that graphic designers know this, but I sure didn’t. After adding the new font overlay to the banner, I noticed a distinct difference in the quality of the graphics when I made it a .png file. I tried it both ways: as a .jpeg and as a .png file. Jpegs are great for photos, but a little research told me that .png files are best for graphics. The font in the title of my banner was not distorted in the .png file. It was distorted in the .jpeg file.

4. The font I’m using is one I found at KevinandAmanda. This great site offers lots of free fonts which are easy to download. On my computer, which is a Mac, the fonts are automatically added to my Font Book, and when I went to Pixlr and checked out the fonts there, lo and behold, the program accessed my fonts and I was able to use my favorite for the new banner. KevinandAmanda give very clear instructions for downloading the fonts.

5, And, Picnic lovers, here’s some good news. I can’t take credit for discovering this. I read it yesterday on The House of Smiths in a post about photo editing. There is a new site called Ribbet that is EXACTLY like Picnik. I mean it. Exactly. It clearly was created by a former Picnik person. The collage feature is exactly the same. The fonts are the same. The frames are the same (one of you mentioned the Postage Stamp frame to me in a comment – it’s there!) If you loved Picnik, run there, do not walk, do not pass go…you get the picture.

I hope this information is helpful. I sure like learning something new, don’t you?

Riley is hanging in there. Scout is much better. It’s been just over a week and she’s almost back to her normal, feisty self. I’ve never been so happy to hear her bark or witness her nagging ways.

Have a great Wednesday.

Potpourri: Garden, PicMonkey, Etsy & Parsons

June 16, 2012 at 7:30 am by Claudia

Okay. The time for frolicking is over, Claudia. Your friends have departed. Back to work.

You know what’s pathetic? After the four of us spent our first day together on Wednesday, I couldn’t get to sleep. I was just like a kid that has been overstimulated. That gives you an idea of how exciting my life is on a daily basis. Two friends come to visit and I get overexcited.

Yikes.

Have you noticed that my Etsy widget isn’t up? Meredith and I are taking a break for the summer. There’s not much happening at the moment and we figure the break will give us some time to make new inventory. And rest our aching wrists and hands. And in my case, feet. But that’s from too much mowing with not enough arch support. I have to do something about that, pronto.

By the way, I took the above photo at our local nursery with my iPhone. This gorgeous butterfly was hovering over a hanging plant and I had to get a picture. What a beauty! And do you see the way it’s framed? I noticed that PicMonkey has a new frame available and I had some fun with it. It’s called Craft Scissors. There are a lot of different options. Here’s one:

That’s our shed, framed with one of the Craft Scissors options. The window boxes are planted with impatiens and vinca. The climbing plant is a Climbing Hydrangea. I’ve had it in that bed for over 4 years – maybe five – and while it grows like the dickens, it has never bloomed. I read somewhere that it takes 3 or 4 years to bloom, but I suspect it simply doesn’t get enough sun. I added some baby hostas this year in the bed on the right. Clearly, the shed needs a new paint job, but it’s not on my priority list. I sort of like the weathered look.

Every year some of that vinca that’s growing in the window box on the left gets so long that it seeds itself in the ground.

This year it bloomed. Thank you vinca! This photo has been given another Craft Scissors frame.

And this yarrow that has started to self-seed all over the property (this one is between the big planting bed and the funky patio) is framed in another Craft Scissors cutie-pie frame.

Go check it out. PicMonkey is adding new options fairly frequently.

We’ve had some beautiful weather the past 3 days and it looks as if (crossing fingers) it’s not going to rain for several days. I know many of you would give anything for some rain and I wish I could send some your way. Nonetheless, we’ve had quite a bit of it lately and a wee break is welcome.

By the way, next week Don and I are going to see my former student and good friend Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) perform on Broadway in Harvey. Jim and I have been chatting back and forth via email and I can’t wait to see him again. I have an enormous soft spot for Jim. Okay, I’ll be honest: I adore him. It should be fun!

Peonies, Pink Saturday & PicMonkey’s Collage

May 26, 2012 at 7:30 am by Claudia

Hello, gorgeous flower! Hello little green bug. I’m so glad you’re finally here.

And you…you look awfully pretty in my little McCoy vase.

Dear readers, I wish that you could lean right into this photo and smell these beauties.

On this Saturday, I have good news for all of you collage makers. PicMonkey’s collage feature is up. I happened to go to PicMonkey to edit these photos and boom! There it was! It’s very easy, very user-friendly.

I made two collages: