The Idiot's Guide to Creating Blog Buttons

Before i forget: This is August's Good Cheer giveaway, and it ends this Friday, Sept 2nd, so go ahead and enter it!



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Lovely Danielle of Tongue Tied in Awe did a lovely birthday giveaway of a chance for readers to sponsor her page for free! (so much giveaway love in the blogosphere, i likey!)

She has kindly given me a spot on her page to advertise my page, but first i had to make a button she could put on her page. I was stumped and had no idea where to start. Making my Etsy banner was one major roadblock. My images always came out blurry. Now i had to resize things to make an even smaller button?

So after a day or five of fiddling around on my Powerpoint and on Flickr, I came up with a simple and foolproof method to making blog buttons. And now i'd like to share it with you. However, if i'm doing this in a tedious manner and you have 101 other shortcuts, please share some tips! I could use some help and become a little more blog savvy! :)



I like my blog buttons simple. So if you're not into anything fancy, here goes nothing...


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#1
I google the internet for an image of a plain background. That will act as the base color of my buttons. Or you could simply open up Powerpoint (PP) and create a shape and add a color to your liking.

For the sake of visual continuity, i have chosen the same linen background as my blog. I save this image on my desktop.


#2
I figure out the size requirements of the button I will be making.

This is what I think is going on. Most people will ask for a size in pixels. When I opened up PP to create my button size, I found out that it measures images in height and width instead of pixels. So i went to this website Image Size Calculator/ Convertor to convert my pixels into height and width (in inches).

My button has to be 184 x 70 pixels. When i plug in the numbers into the calculator, it gives me


2.45" (width) x 0.93" (height)


#3
I open up PP and insert picture (my linen background) on a new document. Then i double click the image to format it. On the left column, you will see the option 'Size'. Click on that.




Then plug in the numbers you have obtained from the calculator/convertor, in this case 0.93" (height) and 2.45" (width). Click OK and your image would have be resized to the required measurements. Right click and save this image on your desktop.


#4
Now for the fun bit : Designing your button.

I uploaded my button image onto Flickr. Then I click on 'Actions' and scroll down to the option 'Edit photo in Picnik' (third one from bottom)




You will be taken to this page with tabs at the top of the page. Play around with them! To add text, I click on 'Text' tab. For images, I choose 'Stickers'. There are so many options to play around with you can make a million different buttons.

And guess what? These are the simplest buttons you can make. If you are a premium Flickr member and any more tech-savvy than i am, you could probably churn out tons of beautiful buttons in a flash.

P.S. I use a Mac, so the instructions above may differ for non-Mac users. but I don't really think so.


In my excitement, I made a few: which one do you like?

Spreading Good Cheer GIVEAWAY August and Etsy Pick of the Week :: sometimesiswirl

Yes, after the long hiatus, the Etsy Pick is back!

This week, I bring you a wonderfully talented little lady by the name of Sarah Hennessey, who draws and doodles as a first love, but also embroiders her creations (yes, yes, you can tell i have a certain bias affinity towards embroiderers hehe). Her pen ink drawings remind me of a dear childhood friend D. D once doodled (beautifully) all over a photo frame, included a picture of us and gave it to me as a birthday present. I still have it to this day, even though she presented it to me 12 years ago (OMG!)

But back to Sarah, of the Etsy store sometimesiswirl. I looked through her Flickr account and I'm so much more in LOVE with her drawings now. I know i should include more pictures of her ink drawings, but I really love how her designs translate so well into embroidery! See it for yourself in the pictures below. Or you can check out her flickr too!

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1. When and how did you begin drawing / doodling, and what is your background?

I was drawing and doodling ever since I could hold a pencil, it seems. As a young child, I loved coloring books (always tried to rope a parent into coloring with me), and in elementary school, I was constantly doodling little abstract designs in my notebooks, on the back of my left hand, in sketch books at home, everywhere. I did also take art classes in grade school and high school, and in college, I majored in Art History. For my major, I was required to take a handful of studio courses, so I do have experience with drawing, design, painting, and fibers from college.





2. You sell prints of your illustrations, but also embroider them as well. Why do you choose embroidery over other methods of presenting your illustrations?

I just decided to try embroidery one day, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I didn't even have a set idea or object in mind, and naturally, the composition that started to take shape resembled one of my illustrations - while it wasn't perfect, I was surprised by the fact that the piece turned out halfway decent, so I just continued to sew my designs. Through a lot of trial and error, I've found that I absolutely love embroidering. It's incredibly relaxing, and I think my designs translate naturally to fabric and thread. I'm still able to capture quite a bit of detail by separating out a smaller number of strands from the embroidery floss, and there are endless possibilities with color, so I think that helps too.


My favorite!


3. What are some your influences and sources of inspiration for your illustrations?

I have always found myself gravitating toward mehndi, floral textile patterns, but at the same time, I love really modern and simple design, too. I absolutely love the early drawings of Paul Klee (anything by him, actually). I also love the automatic drawings of Andre Masson. Other illustrators who inspire me: Heinrich Kley, Kay Nielsen, Hannah Davies, Alphonse Mucha (love art nouveau), Hannah Firmin, Nadia Flower, Yellena James. Oh I could go on forever...



French knots are fun!


4. Do you have a favorite piece, or a special story about an illustration to share?

I will always have a soft spot for this drawing (see below), as it's the first thing I listed in my etsy shop when I first opened it, and it very much inspired most of my other "swirl" drawings that came after it. I have really loved coming up with different variations of the weird, abstract garden scenes I draw - they all kind of derive from this one.





5. Do you have a day job, or do you do this full-time? Can you share a few tips towards your success?

I do have a full-time day job at a university, so I must do all-things-etsy after hours. I recently did a blog post imparting my most important advice, and you can find that here. If I had to pick some really quick tips, I'd say take photography very seriously, and have an established/experienced seller critique your photos and shop listings. Also, network network network - In person AND throughout the etsy community (or, in whatever artistic/creative community you belong). As soon as I joined some incredible teams on Etsy, I really challenged myself to improve my shop. Also, being on a team provides an incredible support system.


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And here is the giveaway for the month of August! One lucky reader will win a set of 5 Abstract Flower blank notecards (pictured above) if you:

1. Leave a comment below
2. Go to Sarah Hennessey's Facebook page and 'Like' it
3. Tweet (@punkychewster) about the giveaway
4. Follow my page

Leave a separate comment for each of the above. PLEASE include your email address when leaving an entry below so I have a way of contacting the winner. Giveaway ends Friday, Sept 2nd, 2011, 11:59PM EDT. International readers are welcome as usual, and a random winner will be picked!

Alrighty! Have fun and happy weekend!

Introducting the Fall / Winter Collection

Source: fuckyeahfashionn.tumblr.com via Liz on Pinterest

The J-man just walked into the room and commented on how sexy my legs look in those tiny shorts that I had on.

Now, before you close this page for its R-rated contents, please read on. Because what he said next made me want to clonk him on his big fat head.

"...compared to how unattractive you look in your long johns in the winter, when we were in Shanghai. I hated those things."

To clarify. I am a tropical girl. I have lived 24 years of my life on the sunny island of Singapore, where it is summer all. year. round. So when i moved to China (where i met the J-man), it was my very first time living and dealing with winter. I hated it. I hated the bone-chilling cold and the biting winds. I hated the idea of piling on layers that made me feel fat and claustrophobic (i had zilch winter fashion sense). Chinese apartments had NO central heating, so in order to keep our place relatively warm, we had to blast the heaters and radiators in every room. To save on electricity, i pile on layers at home (which explains walking around in unglamorous long johns). But I'm AT HOME! *whines*

Thankfully, I've upped the winter fashion sense a little. And praise the heavens for central heating, i have since ditched those unsightly long johns.

Source: None via Lara on Pinterest

Source: weheartit.com via Cassandra on Pinterest

This winter, I am ONLY going to wear oversized knitted sweaters and leggings. I am loving the look! But also, maybe the leggings will give him nightmares of the long johns past.

What are you wearing this winter?

You say Rain Boots, I say Wellies/ Gumboots/ Galoshes

Just as I read Katie (of HazelandMare)'s haiku about rainboots,

Gilt Groupe sends an email with rain boot sales!!!



Some cute pink quilted ones...


And cute English plaid ones


Mustard colored lace-up boots! Gotta love the color mustard...


This was my very first pair. I got them from Target years ago, before I ever stepped foot in the US of A. I was living in China then, and a friend was going back to the States for a vacation. She asked if she could bring me anything, and this was what i asked for! I still can't believe how kind it was of her to bring it back for me! I wore them all around the streets of Shanghai, rain or shine. I remember the locals casting side glances and smirks at me on sunny days. But when it rained, I got the last laugh!

I miss them. Time to shop for a new pair! (*waits impatiently for payday*)

Bonjour mademoiselles!

This is from the Flight of the Conchords and it's hilarious! My friend P showed it to me before i was introduced to the series and i've loved it ever since. It's the kind of series I can watch over and over.

I showed the video to the J-man last night as he is taking French lessons in school this semester. He makes me sit with him to go through the lessons. I figured he'd need someone to practice with conversationally, but I had no idea it was going to be tough. It's like the blind leading the blind.

Learning how to speak is fun but the conjugation is killing me!

I took basic Japanese in college, and it was easy as it is very similar to Chinese. It makes words and phrases a breeze to remember and sentence structure easy to form. Although I must say i'd probably forgotten most of the stuff, except for counting numbers, telling time and telephone numbers and my name. :)

I guess it all boils down to practice, and the start is always the toughest. Oh well, he's only been to one class. So let's just see how we progress...

à bientôt, mon amie! (hope i said it right! *eeps*)