31 Days: Making a Simple Blog Button using Picmonkey

So, today I'm going to talk about how I made a simple black and white blog button using Picmonkey. I am by no means an expert. In fact I am VERY amateur. I have just started learning how to make blog buttons. There is probably a better way to do this, but this works for me.

Step 1: Go to Picmonkey and upload a photo. I had a blacked out photo on my computer. One of my kids must have taken it. So, since I wanted a simple black and white button I used that. If you do not have a black photo to upload you can upload any photo and go to Step 1A below.




Step 1A: If you want to have a black background, but your kids don't take weird blacked out photos you can turn your regular picture into a black one by clicking on the butterfly button and selecting "Geometric". From there you can select the square and place it over your picture and enlarge it to cover your entire pic. Choose the color you want the background of your pic to be and tadah... a solid colored background for your button.

Step 2: Under "Basic Edits", the top button on the left had side of the screen, click on the "Crop" button and select "100 x 100 avatar".

Step 3: I wanted rounded corners on my button, so under "Frames" I chose "Rounded Corners" and clicked on the button for "Transparent corners". There are many cool frames to choose from, so click around to find one you like.

Step 4: Now that you have selected the size, shape and color of your button it is time for some text. Click on the "Tt" button on the left hand side of the page and select any font you want. As you can see below I used two different fonts for my button.

Step 5: Save your button to your computer. Now you have a cute button to use for linky parties or to place on your sidebar.

Now that is the easiest way that I have found to create a VERY SIMPLE blog button. Now we just need to upload it and code it so it can be used as a button on the sidebar of our blog. Stay tuned for tutorials on those aspects of blog buttons as I continue my 31 Days of Blog Buttons Series.

Feel free to add any tips and tricks you have for making buttons in the comments.

31 Days: Inspiration

OK. So, this is day two of The Nester's challenge to blog about one thing for 31 days in a row. I am blogging about blog buttons. Say that 5 times fast. Ha!

Go HERE for all posts in this series.

I have been perusing some of my favorite blogs to see what kinds of buttons they have on their sites. Here are a few of my faves.

I like this one from TDC. It is a smaller version of the banner at the top of her site, so it you immediately recognize it.




I love love love Jen's bloggy buttons. She uses them to link to individual posts on her blog, send you to her Etsy site, and much more. They are always so cheerful.

 


And then there are simple black and white buttons like this one that The Nester uses for this 31 Days Series. It really catches your eye. So simple, but the contrast of the white on black just pulls you in.

31 Days of Blog Buttons

So, The Nester is hosting a challenge to write about one topic every day for the entire month of October.

Now I have toyed with the idea of writing a blog for a couple of years and have written a few posts in that time, but I have never committed to any particular topic or posting schedule due to fear. What if I'm not good at it? What if I don't like writing about my topic? What if nobody else likes what I write about or how I write? What if I don't have time? blah, blah, blah. Well, I figure I've got nothing to lose. I can do this for 31 days. If I don't like it after 31 days at least I can say I tried it.

So, here goes....

My topic for these 31 days is Blog Buttons. I will warn you that until today I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA HOW TO CREATE A BLOG BUTTON! I just created the button above using Picmonkey. It took me about 45 minutes to do and it is certainly nothing special. My 31 Days will be spent learning about blog buttons and how to create them. I will be using all free software since I do not own any fancy software like Photoshop. I hope that after these 31 days I know a lot more about making blog buttons, what they can be used for, and when they should be used. So, if you are a TOTAL amateur feel free to follow along as I try to teach myself all about blog buttons. See you tomorrow.

SEE BELOW FOR ALL THE POSTS IN THIS SERIES.

Day 2 - Inspiration

Day 3 - Making a Simple Blog Button using Picmonkey

Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

I first found this recipe on Pinterest. Isn't that where everyone finds recipes now?! Anyway, I didn't have all the butter that it called for so I modified it a little. It came out fantastic. Definitely a keeper. We ate it for dessert after dinner and then again for a sweet breakfast. Here is the recipe I ended up with.

Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

Cake
3 C. flour
1/4 t. salt
4 t. baking powder
1 C. sugar
1 1/2 C. milk
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1/2 C. butter, melted

Topping
1/2 C. butter, softened
1 C. brown sugar
2 T. flour
1 T. cinnamon

Glaze
2 C. powdered sugar
5 T. milk
1 t. vanilla

Cake - Heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Add milk, eggs, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Stir in melted butter last. Pour into a 9x13 pan.

Topping - Mix all ingredients together and drop by the spoonful onto the cake and then swirl with a knife.
Bake for ~35 minute or until toothpick comes out clean.

Glaze - Mix all ingredients and pour over warm cake. Enjoy :-)

Lego Organization {Instruction Manuals}

My son received a few sets of Lego Duplos for Christmas. Thankfully they all fit into one container. Unfortunately, the instruction manuals kept getting crushed on the bottom of the container. So, I started brainstorming Lego organization ideas. My first thought was to run to Staples and grab an adhesive binder pocket to stick on the side of the Lego Duplo container. I was thrilled with this solution...my two year old was not. So, I was stuck at home and needed to make do with the supplies I had on hand. In the end I think it turned out better than my original idea.

I ran to my craft closet and emerged with the following items.

Mailing tape, scalloped paper punch, 12"x12" cardstock, paper cutter (ultimately not used), and Martha Stewart Labels (not shown).

I folded the cardstock, placed the label on the front and attached it to the back of the Lego container with the mailing tape.The tape secures the pocket to the container and effectively laminates the front of the pocket to protect it from the two year old who wouldn't let me go to the store in the first place.

Our Lego container went from this.

To this.

Ahhh. Much better.

An Organized Junk Drawer

I was at Homegoods the other day and saw this great drawer organizer. It was only $7.99, so I threw it in my cart.

When I got home I got to work. This is what the drawer looked like when I started.

I guess it wasn't horrendous, but it wasn't great either. I started by pulling everything out of the drawer, setting it on the table, and getting rid of anything that didn't belong in the drawer. Next, I lined the bottom of the drawer with some pretty drawer paper. Also from Homegoods. Finally, my assistant and I put all of the remaining items into the new organizer.

And popped it back into the newly lined drawer.

It has been a few months since I finished this small project and it is still organized. And I still smile every time I open the drawer!

New Years Resolution (NYR) - Days 1 through 3

So far so good. I'm three days into the new year and I have done three things to improve the functionality of this home.

Day 1 - Crayons
We have a craft drawer in our Family Room closet that holds all of my daughter's markers, pens, pencils, and crayons...and a few random glitter pens.

So, I pulled out all of the crayons (broken and intact) and separated them into two containers. The intact crayons ended up in an old containers of Triple Paste diaper rash cream.

The broken crayons now live in an old baby wipes container. I have plans to melt them down into some new funky shaped crayons for the kids. Inspiration thanks to Pinterest.

Day 2 - Wooden Dolls
My daughter has some magnetic wooden dolls that were originally in a tall flexible plastic pouch that was a pain in the you-know-what. It didn't fit in any of our toy cubbies/shelves so it usually got stuck between the couch and the end table. Becuase it was hidden away from the other toys the dolls didn't get played with very much. Out of sight out of mind. So, when we got another set of magnetic wooden dolls for Christmas this year I knew I had to come up with a better solution. Enter another empty container of baby wipes.

I guess it's a good thing I never throw these things away.

Day 3 - Labeling
Since I do not have a label maker or a Silhouette (oh the things I could do with this) I went to Hobby Lobby and got some 40% off stickers. For less than $2 I labeled the crayon container and the wooden doll container.

And after my daughter added her creative touch.



So, 3 down 362 to go. Yikes. Let's hope I can keep it up...the momentum that is.