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Blogging Tips

January 22, 2012 at 9:00 am by Claudia

Hello, everyone. Just wanted to share a couple of tips with you today.

Tip Number 1:

I was shocked on Friday evening when I went to edit some photos in Picnik (which I use daily) and a message on the home page informed me that Picnik would be no more as of April 2012.

What??? My head started spinning.

Google bought Picnik a while back and they’re getting rid of it. The message from Picnik is rather vague, but it looks as if Google+ will have some of Picnik’s features available. Of course, in my obsessive way I searched all over the web for alternatives. I messed around with Google+ and edited a photo but, for the life of me, didn’t know how to get the edited photo back on my desktop. And I don’t especially want to get too involved with Google+. Facebook is quite enough, thank you.

Then I downloaded a free 30 day trial of Photoshop Elements. After about an hour I was ready to slit my wrists. I’d love to figure it out and haven’t given up hope, but the learning curve is rather steep.

But here’s the thing: Picnik was easy, fast, accessible and great for those of us who aren’t quite ready to handle the Photoshop learning curve. And it had the collage feature, which is how I made my banner and my sister’s banner.

Why does Google have to mess with something that has so many fans? There are already petitions on the web asking Google to keep Picnik going. I somehow doubt Google is going to pay much attention to them.

Today I found a site called BeFunky, via a list on Diane’s blog, that works in much the same way as Picnik. And like Picnik, it’s free. You can pay a bit of money for the premium package and get more features – also like Picnik. The one thing I didn’t see there was the Collage feature. Here’s the photo I used to test the site:

A barely okay photo – there’s a lot of light and shadow and some light orbs, as well. Here’s the edited version:

I resized it, did a bit with color saturation and contrast, used the drop shadow frame, watermarked it with the name of the blog and used my favorite feature on this site, Vintage Colors. Pretty cool, wouldn’t you say?

I usually don’t use effects on my photos. I edit and sharpen and clarify. But I do like this little feature – it made an okay photo rather artsy and cool. Still have the problem with the orbs but somehow it works this way.

I’ll keep trying other sites and will let you know what I find. But for now, you might consider using BeFunky when Picnik ends its run in April.

Tip Number 2:

I know many people have been having problems leaving comments, viewing blogs, and having blogs disappear in the middle of a visit. Every time I research one of these problems, I find that many of the people having the problem use Internet Explorer. Remember when I was going to start using Threaded Commenting earlier in the week? I ended up reverting back to the Pop-up Box because I read that those readers who used Internet Explorer couldn’t leave comments when a blogger had implemented Threaded Comments.

Internet Explorer seems to have a lot of problems. I personally don’t use it and haven’t used it in many years. My suggestion is this: If you use Internet Explorer, consider downloading another browser. It’s pretty easy to do and takes very little time. If you’re nervous about downloading, have someone more computer-savvy do it for you. At the very least, it will give you more options for viewing blogs. You won’t run into these problems nearly as much and you’ll have the option of having another browser to try if one acts up. And they do. I have 3 different browsers on my computer for that very reason.

Every browser can have its little quirks, but I’ve found that Chrome and Firefox work very well for me.

Google Chrome – the browser that Blogger favors because it’s Google, of course. There are versions for Macs and Windows/PC.

Firefox – this link may show Firefox for Mac, as I have a Mac and that’s what keeps coming up when I search, but you can easily change that to Windows/PC.

If you have a Mac, you already have Safari, which is Apple’s browser.

There may be more out there, but these are the browsers I know and feel comfortable recommending.

Any questions? Feel free to email me.

One of Our Favorite Places

January 21, 2012 at 9:00 am by Claudia

Yesterday, we went on a little drive.

It had snowed a little overnight. There will be a lot more on the ground today – we’re expecting 6 inches.

We crossed the Hudson River.

Truly beautiful.

We ended up at our final destination:

Pardon our excitement but we found a Trader Joe’s just a bit closer to our house (it’s still an hour away) and much easier to get to. And it’s bigger!

The thing is, Trader Joe’s has such great prices, a trip every 2 or 3 weeks is worth it. We save a lot of money. And frugal is the word for 2012.

I also can buy these pretties for a few dollars.

Fresh flowers are simply a necessity in winter. Especially when snow is in the forecast, along with shoveling.

Fresh flowers, a mug of hot chocolate and some crocheting.

That’s the ticket.

Made in…

January 20, 2012 at 9:55 am by Claudia

Good morning on this wintry Friday. We got a little snow last night, about half an inch or so, with a bit more to come tonight. No big storm yesterday – just a quiet, pretty snowfall in the evening.

So far, so good.

We’re a sleepy bunch this morning. Riley has yet to get up to attend to business. I’m in my flannel pajamas, wrapped in a shawl, drinking my morning Peet’s. Scout’s in the ‘tunnel.’

Note pink flannel pajamas on the left.

I wore those pajamas all day yesterday, except for when I returned the rental car. I figured it might not be a good idea to arrive at the rental counter in pink flannel.

The trip to New Haven went well, but oh, was I exhausted! Not enough sleep the night before, lots of driving and a very late arrival back home at the cottage. I arrived in New Haven about an hour and a half before curtain, so I went to IKEA. It’s right next door and I needed some dinner and the food is good, but more importantly, it’s cheap. I called Don to say I arrived safely, played around with my iPhone and, after dinner, took a quick walk through the store.

I bought these:

The cost was about a dollar per glass. The pale colors drew me in and they’re nice and tall. We’ve managed to break every tall glass around here, leaving us with something close to a juice-style glass in size (also from IKEA) and some plastic crap. I figured these were a good investment. Why only 3?

I don’t know. I truly don’t know what I was thinking.

But here’s an interesting discovery:

IKEA of Sweden.

Made in China.

Is everything being made in China now? It sure seems that way.

Call me crazy, but perhaps the lack of jobs in this country and other countries might be greatly improved if we started manufacturing our products at home. It’s not rocket science. It’s just common sense. Why aren’t we taking care of our own?

You can’t walk through Target or the dreaded Walmart or any other store without seeing ‘Made in China’ on most everything.

By the way, this sweet little Nisse from the Danish company, Maileg?

Made in China.

Just think what a difference it would mean to the economic picture of every country if jobs and manufacturing were brought back home. The lines of eager job applicants would stretch for miles. We could get our citizens back to work, help them become independent again. Unemployment payments would greatly decrease.

Why aren’t we doing this? Perhaps the need for cheap labor should be trumped by the needs of our country’s citizens.

I could write a treatise on this, but I won’t. At least for the moment.

I’ll leave you with this shot of the sun rising over our back forty.

Happy Friday!

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