I've received several questions about how I customize my blog, changing the colors and patterns, making the fonts on my sidebar different from the 'standard' blogger fare. It really is an easy process but as I was reminded when painting my bathroom this week, the preparation takes longer than the actual "painting." So to make it easier on you I'm making this into a series of weekly posts over the next few weeks. That way you have time to make the preparations before actually changing the look of your blog. And since I have painting on my mind I'm going to use paint terms to help in the process.
Step 1: Open an account on Flickr.
It's free so you don't have to worry about spending any dough. This is important because when it comes time to "paint" your blog you need to retrieve your colors or patterns from a web address. Flickr assigns one to each photo AND in different sizes.
Step 2: Gather your "Paint Chips"
There are a variety of sources I like to get my patterns from. When you find what you like you will need to save each image to your computer. Create a special file for this, believe me it will make it a lot easier than trying to hunt all over your computer looking for your images. Ask me how I know. :D
Here are some of my favorite free sites:
Citrus Moon - Click on any of the categories to get samples like these:
Shabby Princess is actually a digital scrapbooking site. Their free download kits provide wonderful scrapbook paper that you can use as your blog background. Because they are digital the files are jpg or gif which make them perfect for our use on blogs. The current polka dots and stripes on my blog are from her Festival Scrapbook Kit.
Step 3: Upload those images to your Flickr account.
It takes time, but remember, preparation is key. That's it for this week. Mr. Ferrero Rocher and I are taking off on Monday and will be gone all week. That gives you time (maybe) to hunt down patterns and colors you might want for your blog. Have fun, collect lots. Next lesson is a beginner's course on HTML code. It won't be scary I promise.
Here are the other posts in this series
Customizing Your Blog - Part 2 html code
Customizing Your Blog - Part 3 Fonts
since 10/5/07
9 cranially charged comments:
I love these bloggy tips posts you do. Can't wait!
Thanks for the sites. I am looking forward to your tips.
A lot of people are really going to benefit from this Cocoa!
Excellent tips. As soon as I get some time I'll pop on over there and take a look
Thank you! This is great!
Oh, I so want to learn this...hope I will get it! (I have already borrowed two 'how to' books from the library, that just left me confused. sigh.
Kimmie
mama to 6
one homemade and 5 adopted
I can't wait. I will do the flicker thing. I have already downloaded a ton of digi stuff off of different sites the last couple of months but didn't know how to put it to work on a blog. Looking forward to more info!
Hey Cocoa, I don't know if you'll read this because this post is older but I have a couple Q's. How can I get the background to stay put when I scroll down? I want the middle part to move, not the whole thing. Like yours. Any tips??? Love your site!
Thanks!!!!!
how do you change just the background where there is no writing (like on your blog)...where you write is white but the side have the pattern?
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