PINK SATURDAY - A CHILD'S PRAYER

I just found this little piece again, and just had to share! (I tore this out of an old magazine and had it in my collage stash).

So perfect...

This gave me the inspiration to have a go at a digital piece - in pink, as it's Pink Saturday. This picture is full sized (so just left-click to open at full size, then right-click to copy):

... and here it is again, as a button (sized to go in a sidebar if anyone would like it - just copy and paste the code into an html box):




<center><a href="http://1stfloorflat.co.uk/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="1stFloorFlat" src="http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu313/1stFloorFlatComputery/ff746ece.jpg"/></center></a>


This week my Blog Of The Week is Create with TLC: Paulette creates wonderful word art, and this is where I found the little Prayer quotation. The picture is a copryright-free image Tina (Beansie Babbles) sent me, and I thought they made a perfect fit.

Hope you enjoy it!




Finally, don’t forget to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see all the other wonderful Pink Saturday posts!

PROBLEMS WITH BLOGGER? COMMENTS? SPAM?

 Black&white copyright free images from Tack-o-Rama

Has anyone been having problems with Blogger - trying to leave comments etc? Also, lots of trouble with spam? I'm hoping my post will help you.

Anne of El Milagro Studio just left a comment on my post (2nd below this one re Beansie's new blog)

She says:
Have you been having issues with Blogger or know of anything going on that might be causing it? One of my friends lost her background (I'm thinking it was a freebie) and the rest of us have gone thru blogging HELL trying to comment, load pix etc.....
Since you are the girl in the know....thought I would ask if you had encountered any anomolies.

Funny you should ask me that - I had a panic email from Joey at Antiquemajik, who has had REAL problems - lost all her comments, emails etc - since Thursday!

Now it just happens that I went into Joey's blog to take a look around - and saw over 20 comments (which are lost at her end) awaiting moderation. I just clicked to Moderate, and they loaded with no problem at all. From MY end...

So why are some people having trouble, and I didn't? 

My only conclusion is that it's because I am using Firefox as my web browser. I have tried Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer, and in my opinion Firefox is the best there is. The latest version has increased browser security - twice, it's flagged a blog as unsafe and has a Get Me Out Of Here panic button. It also stops pop-ups.

It also has widgets - I adore Colorful Tabs. Which means each web page I open will open up in the same window on a different tab, coloured, so I can see at a glance which is which. MUCH easier to navigate than IE with all the tabs in the bottom toolbar!

Firefox will also remember your passwords for you, which is handy. Plus there's a little star in the url section - just click on that if you want to bookmark something. Talking of bookmarks, you can also install De-lic-ious, which is a (free) external bookmarking site. Public links if you want to share: set to private if you don't. As my computer has crashed a couple of times, and I had to install a new hard drive, I now use this (and Yahoo's Bookmarks) so I don't lose them ever again.

I also advise that you install Yahoo's toolbar for Firefox - it has AntiSpy which is really helpful. Sign up for a Yahoo email address, and use that for your blog - so if you have trouble with Blogger (and Google) you'll still get your comments as they are on a different service.

Spam

It seems to be the season for spammers again. Can I plead with you to go to your Dashboard > Settings > Comments and set your Who Can Comment section to Registered Users. This means their ID is traceable, which helps to act as a deterrent. No more anonymous users, thanks very much!

Next, deal with the actual comments settings.

1. Set Comment Moderation to Always
2. Enter your Yahoo email address (don't use your private one - keep that for friends and family)
3. Word verification: you don't need this if you have set Comment Moderation to Always, as nothing can get past you! You'll get an email with a comment, which you can publish or reject before it even gets to your blog! Or go to your Moderation page and deal with it from there. But if you are having a ton of spam at the moment, put the Word Verification on (you can remove it later when the spam dies down).
4. Repeat your email address in the bottom box if you want the comment sent to your email account.

Contrary to popular belief, having the Word Verification alone does NOT stop spam. 

Spammers simply type in the word and the spam goes straight to your blog! Please PLEASE PLEASE put Moderate Comments: Always on immediately!

Another favourite trick of spammers is to post to older posts  - did you notice the Moderate Comments has a default of moderating only if over 14 days - which has to be ticked?  These get past a lot of unwary people. So tick the Moderate Comments: Always box. Doesn't matter how old the post is that they comment on - it won't get through.

Backgrounds etc

Now, to deal with the other part of Anne's query re backgrounds & images disappearing - it's either a  Blogger problem which should sort itself out - OR it could be the person offering the free background has run out of bandwidth on her account. Her background will be hosted on her own bandwith, so if it's a popular one there could be a few hundred using it.  I notice Google now only gives 1gb free image storage capacity - and you now have to pay for every 1mg extra storage. So that could be why.


Change to Photobucket! You get 8gb for free.


I hope this helps!

HOW TO ADJUST SCREEN RESOLUTION ON YOUR COMPUTER

 Copyright-free image from Tack-o-Rama

I've had a couple of emails (Tina at Beansie's Blessings just sent one) telling me some of you can't see all of your blog backgrounds.

Tina hadn't realised how much background there was until she saw the screenshot (in the post below).

This is because of the screen resolution your computer is set at - so I've completely rewritten my tutorial on this, and expanded it. I've also included screenshots on exactly what to do - it's now on my Computery page for anyone who needs it.

I've also included how to adjust the size of fonts and icons, and also how to increase the size of your emails so you can read them a little easier.

Hope this helps. If there's anything that sounds confusing, or anything I've missed, just let me know!

BEANSIE'S NEW BLOG

I adore to do blog makeovers, and Tina of Beansie Babbles has commissioned me to do a makeover of her other new blog as well (just launched): Beansie's Blessings. To say I was absolutely delighted to accept is an understatement - this lady is wonderful to work for! Apart from the brief : "make it colourful" & "it has a sewing theme" I pretty much got free reign. 

Here's the BEFORE (basic, boring but Oh! so customisable Minima):

And here's the AFTER, with 3 columns, email buttons, nav bar and all the bells and whistles:

I had great fun with this one! It's all finished now, just the signature and grab button to do (which I'll finish tonight).

If you want me to do one for you, contact me via my email button, Esty shop (button under header) or leave a comment.

PINK SATURDAY - IN PINK

Happy Pink Saturday, everyone. I hope you're feeling in the pink this weekend!

Today's offering is a pictorial celebration of all things pink that I love....as every picture tells its own story.

All images from WeHeartIt

My Blog of the Week this week is Marie's Freebies. I know so many of you love vintage pix, and I just discovered this blog - so just had to share! She has some lovely images, which I know you are going to adore.




Finally, don’t forget to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see all the other wonderful Pink Saturday posts!

A BLOGGING DILETTANTE

I've decided I must be a dilettante -I seem to flit from subject to subject, as it catches my eye. Does this make me fickle? Disorganised? Confused?

Copright-free creative commons pix, source unknown

The reason the subject has come up is because someone sent me an email, asking me what my blog is about! 

Well, it started off with just the one - the one you are reading now.  Then I read a tutorial somewhere that suggested you had a practice blog - so I figured if one could do that, that I could actually have extra blogs and link them up to my main one, like extra pages - something like a website.

As I was new to blogging (and completely self-taught re all this computer stuff anyway ) I didn't realise at the time that I needed to take the blogs off my Profile as well as adjust in Settings, to keep them private. So the upshot was that I had people following the other blogs as well! Therefore, instead of the one nicely organised blog I had envisaged, I ended up with multiple blogs to cover the various subjects I'm interested in. (Much as I'd love to reorganise, I feel it's too late now (and would be totally rude) to reorganise everything at this stage, and delete a load of faithful followers).

However, back to the subject in hand... I tend to post about whatever comes to mind, being a bit of a magpie. Links I think people will enjoy; new tutorials, and sometimes the odd bit of art work. Perhaps I should be posting MORE artwork? I have to say I've strayed rather toward the digital stuff lately - I'm very much enjoying creating blog backgrounds, headers etc, and it all takes time... I'm learning Photoshop as fast as I can!

But does this make me a dilettante, and is it a bad thing to be? And does a blog have to have fixed subject matter anyway? To reform... or conform... that is the conundrum!

The Oxford Dictionary definition

dilettante

/dillitanti/
  • noun (pl. dilettanti /dillitanti/ or dilettantes) a person who dabbles in a subject for enjoyment but without serious study.
  — DERIVATIVES dilettantish adjective dilettantism noun.
  — ORIGIN Italian, ‘person loving the arts’.

TRISH HAS A NEW BLOG

Anyone who is anyone (in the UK, anyway) knows Trish Bee - listmom for New Generation Stampers yahoo group, and who has a tremendous blog with tons and tons of techniques. Plus an older one.

Trish now has a brand new blog: The Techniques Zone, and has transferred ALL her techniques and archives here. So this is one site you need to bookmark, and refer to again and again.

Well done Trish - it's wonderful!

PINK SATURDAY - KISS FROM A ROSE

It's Pink Saturday again! Hurrah! My weather is sunny and my outlook is fine: I've had a phenomenal week! 

I just got three blog awards from darling CC from Lace'n'Ribbon Roses (see the next post below) and I just got my 300th follower - Kathleen from Shiraz and French Blue (who has a site with jewellery To Die For - official!)

So, to celebrate I've made a new background and header set (pink of course) which I'm calling A Kiss From A Rose.

If you would like to use these on your blog, go here to download the codes.

Here's the latest background I finished - for Joey Ledlie at Antiquemajik, which is my Blog of the Week.

Joey has just joined the Pink Saturday gang, and although it's new, it's a fascinating blog already. She makes dolls, fridge magnets (I have one!) her own soaps, perfumes, all sorts of goodies! Go take a look.




Finally, don’t forget to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see all the other wonderful Pink Saturday posts!

GREAT TIP FOR CLEANING STAMPS & BRUSHES

I found this great tip by Elizabeth on The Last Door Down The Hall (in the sidebar) on cleaning up filthy brushes and rubber stamps: 

Do you have some crusty brushes you can't use laying around? or how about stamps with dried acrylic paint on them?  A little Murphy's Oil soap will do wonders.

Soak your brushes in Murphy's Oil Soap. You will see the paint or gel medium start to dissolve. Rinse with cool water. Repeat if necessary.

For stamps pour soap into a flat tray or dish, set stamp in tray. Let soak. Use a tooth brush to gently dislodge paint and rinse. Good as new. Also, the soap helps keep your wood mount from drying out.

Note from me:

If you can't find Murphy's Oil Soap Cleaner for wood, then try Pledge Soapy Cleaner for Wood

And here's a tip from The Happy Slob

Soak those gunky paintbrushes in pure white vinegar for a few minutes. The acid will help to loosen the bristles and make that old yucky paint far easier to remove once and for all.

Then, just wash the paintbrushes in warm soapy water, and you'll have a paintbrush that's as good as new! 

Isn't this brilliant?

3 BLOG AWARDS!

It’s always lovely to receive an award (which means someone likes your blog and wants to give it to you) but to receive three at once is amazing – so huge thanks to CC of Lace’n’Ribbon Roses for these.

View Full Album

I’m passing the awards on –  so these go to the following people who can accept them - or not - as they wish (some bloggers prefer not to have awards). I’m sending them with love anyway:

1. Nancy at Linens & Laurels
2. Dymphie at Papieren Avonturen
3. Lori at Lori’s Freebie List
4. Kari at U Create
5. Anne at El Milagro Studio
6. Marie-France at Marie’s Freebies
7. Godelieve at StampingMatilda
8. Jennie at The Artistic Stamper
9. Vicki at Faint Heart Art
10. Helen at Goudenregen

I’ll be putting these awards into my scrolling marquee right away. I have to tell you 10 things you may not know about me … and it’s very difficult to think of anything! Anyhow, here goes:

1. I’ve had 5 operations on my left eye due to a blocked tear duct – and now have Dry Eye Syndrome in both eyes ! Go figure…
2. I rarely get more than 3 hours sleep in one go, but at least I can crash out again (usually).
3. Thanks to the eye thing, I can’t wear makeup any more! Which is a real bummer – but at least I can still wear lipstick.
4. I’ve had to let my hair go grey – roots needed touching up every 2-3 weeks! Alas – I loved it RED.
5. I’ve gotten really hooked on digital art, to the detriment of any other art!
6. I’ve completely neglected my own website, and now need to rewrite it from scratch, it looks so rubbish. Not a good advert!
7. My husband has discovered he love to cook – and is pretty good at plain cooking. He wants to take a course, learn how to make sauces etc. He’s also discovered spices – and is lethal with dried chillis…
8. My own interest in cooking has virtually disappeared (is this a coincidence?). I’m cooked out… considering I used to bake every week, etc, everything is cook-in sauces now if I can get away with it.
9. I adore sci-fi, fantasy, horror and special effects movies, eg: 30 Days of Night, Godzilla, Independence Day, Jurassic Park, the Matrix series, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings… and cartoonies! I can watch these over and over: Toy Story, Ice Age, Madagascar… My husband isn’t into the sci fi so much, but he’s just as bad re the horror and cartoons.
10. Neither of us has any willpower: we’re supposed to be trying to lose weight, not put it on! But we both have a chronic sweet tooth, so when one of us weakens…

Off to pass the awards on now. Please do visit these blogs: each one is exceptional.

MORE ABOUT BLOGGER-IN-DRAFT

Celebrate with me! I have managed to work out how to put a customised background into the new Blogger in Draft templates! So if you aren't satisfied with the hundreds of choices on offer and have a background that you paid for, there is a way to save it.

You need to go to this link in Computery to read all about how to apply it, as it does mean meddling with your html!

DIGEUS REGISTRY CLEANER - REVIEW

 Copyright-free photo from Artefacts

I've been having yet more problems with my poor computer (just over 5 years old) and several unexplained crashes. All who know me are aware I'm more than paranoid re viruses etc, and am very good about using my DiskClean and Defragmenting programmes regularly.

So having had another crash on Friday - for no reason that I could see - right in the middle of my writing my Pink Saturday  post (which really made me scream) there's been nothing for it but to get a registery cleaner. What this does is clear out all the unused stuff that accumulates, plus old and out of date stuff, all of which stops a computer running properly.

I dowloaded a Registry Cleaner and found I had more than 1600 errors: odd bits of programme that hadn't deleted etc. To say I'm shocked is an understatement. However, I am very happy to report the Digeus programme I finally decided on has cleaned all this mess up for me. This is one area I am no expert on, and don't even want to know about, thanks. Like driving a car, I really don't want to know what goes on under the hood.

By the way, this works for all computers from Windows 95 (has anyone got one still working?) through Windows XP (mine) to Windows 7 (I'm hoping I may be able to afford this sooner or later... ) . I'll also be posting this onto my Computery site, for future reference.

So I'm a happy bunny again!

PINK SATURDAY - TIME

My theme this week is TIME. I can't believe it's Saturday again. The weeks seem to pass faster and faster - does time speed up as you get older?

I remember at school, the time seemed endless until the holidays... and these seemed to last forever until the last week, which sped by so fast I could hardly draw breath!

One minute I'm here... then turn around and I'm here...

Hardly time to turn around and draw breath, then I'm here...

Spin around again, more time passes...dances, parties...

And then I found myself here...except he wasn't the perfect man. So I divorced him...

Then I met and married the Perfect Man... we're still married...

...who gives me time for myself... loves seeing what I create... doesn't complain too much about the mess, and is happy to do more than his share cooking...

...never complains about the amount I spend on books and magazines...or the time spent online (although he does moan a little bit) which is where I found this fabulous quirky old house... the perfect place to be...if we ever win the lottery...

All images copyright free, found online

Finally, please visit Tina at Beansie Babbles. I just finished her blog makeover, which is Pinkness Personified, and I'm sure she'll be tickled to death to hear what you think!




Don’t forget to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see all the other wonderful Pink Saturday posts!

UPDATE - FREE PHOTO/IMAGE EDITORS & GRAPHICS PROGRAMMES

Digital photo rendered sepia in Live Photo Gallery – copyright Susie Jefferson

For anyone in love with blogging, scrapbooking, photography etc, there is always that point where you realise you need or want to alter your images (whether your own artwork or photos, or copyright-free images from the web).

Which means you need an image editor and/or graphics programme, plus online storage. Preferably simple to use, and free.

Here's my review on Computery with a run through of the new programmes out there. Please go here to read it.

HAPPY PINK EASTER!

Happy Easter everyone!

Image copright Cajoline-Scrap

Don't you just love Easter? Chicks, rabbits, baby lambs.... and Easter Eggs!

Creative Commons copyright-free image

Copyright-free image from Magic Moonlight

Copyright-free image from Art Freebies

Copyright-free image from Art Freebies

 

This egg looks phenomenal... shame I won't be getting it... (it's ONLY $50.00 plus delivery...)

Filled egg from Hotel Chocolat

I think my husband will be buying me something a little more modest (and less fattening) and maybe dark chocolate...

Carved dark chocolate egg from Candy Snob

Again, maybe wishful thinking. Still, never mind the calories, feast your eyes on these:

Photo copyright VM Creation Studio Atelier

My recommended blog for you to visit this week is VM Creation Studio Atelier: Violetta has the most exquisite clothes and her sketches and artwork are to die for! I'm sure I've mentioned her before, but this week her post is especially apt, all about psanky Easter eggs and their history. Amazing isn't the word!




Don’t forget to visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see all the wonderful Easter time Pink Saturday posts!