Thursday, June 28

New Blogger Post Signature Tutorial

This is my first posting a tutorial on editing the HTML for you blog.  I am NOT computer HTML savy and yet I somehow managed to design my own blog.  So...  If you are afraid DON'T BE!  
Normally I would leave a tutorial like this to the pros.  But... after searching FOREVER I couldn't find a good post on how to create a signature for ALL of you posts that would work for the new blogger interface.  Blogger tends to change alot, but hopefully this trick will work for a while!

This post is hopefully over explained so that firstiest will be able to do this easy.  If you think you kinda know what to do... simply read the words in bold-itialics and skip my babbling!
 
For this tutorial I AM using the "Simple" template that blogger provides. 

OK... First you are going to need a post signature image to work with.  Most people are fancy and create a custom signature using Photoshop, which I don't have.  If you have a windows computer you can use a program called Paint.net.  I have a Mac and NO photo editing software.  I simply went into Microsoft Word and created a signature using a cute font and the fancy word features there.  When I right click on the image there I just save it to my computer.  I have a white background on my blog so I wasn't worried about removing the background.  If you are super awesome (most people besides me are) then you have Photoshop and you know how to do this picture part better than me!  

Next you are going to need to upload the image to an image hosting site like PhotoBucket.  Keep that page open on your computer cause... you are gunna need it in a minute.

Still reading... Good!  Because here is the part that I KNOW WILL be different!

Now log in to your blog and  head to the dashboard.  It looks something like this!  In the upper right hand corner click on the button that says "Backup/Restore".  Save your blog template to your desktop!  This way if you mess up... no worries!  You can just reload this and no harm no foul!
Now... in the picture above... see where it says "Live on Blog" and then below the picture there is a "Customize" and an "Edit HTML" button...  Be brave and click the "Edit HTML" button!
It will probably come up with a sign that says something like "If you proceed you will be doing something scary and these are my scary words to warn you that you could mess up your blog and them your eyebrows will reach amazing lengths!"  Anyways.. click "Proceed" and then don't worry about the eyebrows.

Now hit Ctrl and F on your keyboard to do a search within the text on your page.  It might be different on different computers...  on my Mac it is "Apple and F".  In the little box that pops up type .post-footer { and then hit ENTER.  This should bring you about halfway down the page if you take a look at the scroll bar to the right.  You screen should look something like this!
Now...  copy and paste the following code just above the spot where it says .post-footer {

.post{
background: url(YOUR URL HERE!!);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: bottom right;
}

See the highlighted portion in the pic below!  Just like that!

Now head back to Photobucket and grab the picture code from there!  Copy and paste the picture code into the spot where it says "YOUR URL HERE!!"  It should now look like the picture below!  But... with your picture code... 
 
 Now... check your eyebrow hair and click Preview!  Now you should get a quick peek at what it will look like for real.  If it comes up with a scary message about eyebrow hair...  I can't help you cause...  Honestly, I am VERY armature at this.  I simply played with the code until it worked!  But if it worked for you then hit that save button!!!

See!  Here is my fake blog that I play with until things look right and feel safe using them on my real blog!  Note the insightful post pictured below has a fun signature!
This should put your signature at the bottom right corner of EVERY post on your blog! 

Now...  I am going to assume that when I mentioned the scary notes from blogger about the eyebrow hair you knew I was being sarcastic.  If the scary not actually says something about your eyebrow hair...  Umm..  I suppose you are either crazy or you are dreaming or... Someone at Blogger is flirting with you in a very strange way.  Switch to wordpress?  LOL


Monday, June 25

Disney Trip Bleached Shirts

Do you remember my Disney Star Wars Weekend Shirts where I was to busy to take real pictures because I had to crank out the shirts?  Well... here is ANOTHER one!  I used almost the same method for these!

I know you have seen those tutorials out there using freezer paper to make amazing shirts right?  You know.. the ones where they take the time to iron down the paper images?  Well...  I did ALMOST the same thing here.
  1. I googled Disney coloring pages.  
  2. Printed one out on regular paper. 
  3.  Cut out the character and laid it flat on the shirt!
  4. Then I filled a spray bottle with a little bleach.
  5. Then I QUICKLY sprayed the shirt 3 times, rushing before the paper got so wet that it curled!
 
See...  I had no freezer paper and no time to iron and it worked!  Hello Princess Aurora!
I think Buzz likes my idea.  He turned out great!
 
Dumbo probably wishes I had used freezer paper.  I over sprayed him and his trunk got a little messed up. (Honestly I did him first cause if anyone's was gonna mess up I wanted it to be mine.  I learned quick!  NO over spray!)
Moglee and Baloo!
Mofasa!  Look at those whiskers!  Crystal clear!
See!  All together!  Even though the shirts were all different colors it made it so much easier to find each other in a crowd! 
 And don't worry.  I found a competent person to take our picture in front of Cinderella Castle later.  Really... if someone asks you to take their picture in front of something... chances are they want ALL of that thing in the picture!  TURN THE CAMERA DUDE!  After asking 3 different people on 3 different days and getting the castle in NONE of those, I began offering to everyone I saw if they wanted me to take their families picture!  I even made a young married couple kiss!  They seemed highly embarrassed, but obeyed and...  the picture turned out so cute!  They loved it!

Friday, June 22

Ruffled Keychain Tutorial {or How Not to Loose Your Keys?}

I keep loosing my keys.  My key chain broke and it was nice and big so that I wouldn't loose them in my purse, or other places!  Anyways,  I decided to step up and finally make myself a key chain so my keys will quit getting lost in my purse, house, car, store... Do I really need to list all the places I keep loosing my keys?  I am lucky I keep finding them!

I started with 2 2.5 inches strips of fabric.  I measured them to be 4 times the width of my wrist...  So maybe half the length of you fabric?  I dunno just wrap it around your wrist.  I also used 1 smaller 2.5 inch strip about 4 inches long (I am VERY sure that I cut it down from what is pictured below!)  
The two longer strips I sewed along 2 edges the with right sides facing to create a long tube.  The shorter piece I folded up 4 times and stitched along one edge...  We will use this later.
Then I flipped the tube right side out and stitched along the edges again to keep it nice and flat!  NOTE TO SELF:  When doing this step... fold the ends IN about 1/4 inch before doing so!
Next I got a peice of elastic and wrapped it around my wrist like so!  This is how I wanted it to hang around my wrist when the key chain was done!
Next I laid the elastic down across the middle of my long fabric piece... just to see how far away from the edges my next stitches were going to be...
I stitched down the whole strip, along both sides, creating a casing in the middle for my elastic.
Above is a pic of the start of this....  SEE!!!  I should have folded my edges in like I mentioned earlier!  Here is where I realized my boo boo and had to unpick.  I think my unpicker would feel lonely if I didn't use it thought.  Best to keep every notion happy when sewing right?
Next I stick a saftey pin to one end of my elastic and started to shove it through.
I stopped a little from the end and...
stuck one end of my skinny piece from earlier into the hole.  Then stitched straight across, making sure to catch elastic, skinny fabric piece AND (since I hadn't done this earlier...) the two folded in ends of my fabric!
In case that was two confusing... check the pic above.  Left is this step!  After this I just kept pulling the elastic through, ruffling the fabric, and then did the same thing on the other side.
Next I matched up my two stitches I just made and ... stitched them together.  This created a loop out of the smaller fabric piece.  Then I threaded the circle key chain thingy-ma-jig onto the loopy!
See!  The extra long fabric and the elastic made a big ruffle!
And my keys look so cute hanging around my wrist right!  Now, hopefully this will help my lost keys problem!  (How much do you want to bet I loose them in my purse tomorrow!)

Wednesday, June 20

Donut Stick Flip Flops


I apologize for the incredibly horrible pictures in this post.  Perhaps they are not completely wretched, but...  Seriously.  This chick needs a DSLR!  Now, will somebody give her one please?  I shall email you my home address.  I am that nice that I would tell you how to get it to me! lol
So... Anyways.  These are some super quick Donut Stick Flip Flops I made for Aurora's class at the end of the year.  It was her turn for the treat and...  I was super busy with all the T-Shirts making for Disney World!  YEAH!  
Needless to say I did NOT get good pics of them.  Can I partially blame the horrible lighting in my house?  Ok.  I will, thank you!
 
To make them I simply purchased 2 boxes of donut sticks from the grocery store.  I then used some yellow T-Shirt paint, because... it was right there on the table from making shirts...  and drew "V's" on them.  The stars are just stickers I plopped on top!  They turned out much cuter than the pic I swear.  AND if I had the time I would have used ribbon to make the a little more realistic, but...Disney had the priorities in my crafty brain that week!

Anyways... thought I would share!  And... I needed to not be so lazy and post SOMETHING while I am in vacation in TX!!!  The kids are chasing chickens, I am attempting to keep my dog from eating live duck and...  sewing in my spare time!  Surprise, surprise... I am working on the Disney Autograph Quilts!

Monday, June 18

Ice Trapped Toys

So this project I KNOW I saw on Pinterest.  There are a TON of  links for it on there, but...  it is seriously so much fun that we just HAD to share with you!

We started with these little disposable tupperware cups.  Right before we started getting ready for bed on night I had then walk around and find little toys.  Then we put in some ice-cubes to help spread the toys around!  Also...  the ice-cubes melt faster.  We left them in overnight and...
This is what we had in the morning!  Poor Simon.  He is trapped!  Don't worry.  We can fix that!
Here are Aurora and Tyton's!
I ran the cups under hot water to get them out.  Then I places each ice chunk in a big bowl.  
I put a towel on the floor and handed each kid a spoon and a butter knife!  While we chipped away we watched a show from the National Geographic on Antarctica.  The kids were strangely into it...  while watching we talked about ice and water and glaciers.
Tyton was the first to get a toy out!  Yeah Pirate coin!  You are free to clutter my house once more!!  This was so much fun.  If you haven't tried this you should NOW!

Friday, June 15

Star Wars Disney Weekend Shirts

Ok... I am a little mad at myself for not taking more pictures of this.  But I WAS in a huge hurry to just book out the T-Shirts before our trip to Disney World!

I decided to do some quick Star Wars T-Shirts since, lucky us, we happened to be going during Star Wars Weekend!  But I had a tiny problem.  I had 2 days left to finish packing and making 2 more sets of shirts!  So... I went with something easy.  A Freezer Paper Stenciled shirt!

It sounds great until I realized that I had no freezer paper and couldn't go to the store because the baby was sleeping.  GRR!!  I wanted to finish the shirts before the kids came home from school and my brain began to wander!

So what to do when you have no freezer paper?

1. Google images you want on your shirt.

2. Import to a Word program and make the pics as big as you can!
3. Cut the image out of the middle.  LEAVE the white part of you paper alone.
4. Lay T-Shirt out flat and place paper with image cut out on top.
5. Spray CAREFULLY with fabric spray paint!  (Stay a good distance away so the sprayer won't blow your paper.  Also make sure you are spraying directly down.)
6.  Pick up paper!

Yeah...  Not my best tutorial.  I may have to make some more shirts this way later just to prove that you don't really have to have Freezer Paper.  
Truthfully...  It would have been nice to have.  I cursed, in my head, when I picked up the paper for this Yoda shirt.  But... as it dried the light saber looked MUCH better.  You can sorta see where the fabric is wet around the image from the paint.  It freaked me out a little!
The Princess Leia image turned out perfect!  I think the key is to NOT over spray.  I was using copper so the contrast was perfect with one light coat.
See!  Even a complicated image like Darth Vader turned out fine!  But... I will admit that for his I used some tape rolled up to make sure the lighter paper pieces wouldn't blow away.  Not a ton though!
We got lots of comments on our shirts AND it made it much easier to find each other in the crowd!  
We even met a few Star Wars characters.  We skipped Vader...  his line was about 2 hours long!


Wednesday, June 13

A&Wesome Dad/Grandad/Teacher

I just had to share THIS POST from Nothing But Country.  I used the printable for our teachers at the end of the year, but...  I didn't post it because I was CRAZY busy preparing for a hastily moved up trip to Disney World.  We left right after the kids got out of school one day.

As you can see her printable comes out smaller.  There are 4 on the sheet I think!
I downloaded her printable and blew it up in WORD!  Yep... I don't have photoshop.  But then two fit perfectly on a paper AND perfectly over a label on a big bottle!
We have the kids paint pots for their teacher every year and I write on the side one reason why they love their teacher.  I usually plant seeds, but...  This year we just stuck them in with some "root" beer.  LOL

Anyways... I figured I could still share her site because... the printable is originally for Father's Day!  Thank you Mary Beth!

Tuesday, June 12

Disney Bags Tutorial

A trip to Disney World can never have to much planning or attempted organization.  (Notice I say "attempted"!)  I knew there were going to be things the kids would want throughout the park (water and Autograph Fabric...) so I decided to make my two oldest some light weight bags to carry those things in!  This way they really only would have to ask me to refill their water bottles!

Of course.. this only added to the list of things I needed to make before our trip, but... apparently I like rushing to get things done!
I started with 2 panels of fabric.  Each about 1/2 yard.  I left them folded as they were cut at the store.  Then I folded this in half lengthwise.

I then cut as pictured above.  The handle side is on the fold.  I started cutting at the top there and made the handle about 1.5 inches.  When opened up it will be about 3.  The body of the bag is about 8 inches from the bottom.  I then rounded the corner over near the bottom left on the fold side.

I used my first cut to make a pattern for my second fabric.  Make sure when you are done you have 4 pieces that look like this when opened up.

I then cut 2 pieces of batting about the same size as the bottom.  I wanted it to be a little more stable.  If I ever do this again I would cut one big piece and pad the handle too, but... I was going for light weight and NOT hot!  LOL

I then layered 2 pieces of fabric with RIGHT sides touching and placed my two battings on either side.
Fabric sandwich!  Just... don't eat it.

I then sewed a straight line up the each side.  I did this for the other fabric also, but... without batting!

The I sewed the ends of the handles together.

Then folded the bag so the curves on each side and the middles seams lined up.   Then I sewed along the bottom for each fabric piece.

Whichever fabric was going to be on the outside of the back I flipped right side out!  And... stuck in inside the other bag so that their right sides were touching.
I then lined up the handles and sewed along ONE side of the bag!  See where my hand is... I stitched the two pieces together along that WHOLE side.  Body AND handle around in a circle.
Then I flipped the bag so the outside pieces was.. outside!
You can see on the bottom where the bag is stitched?  Now... that top part I am holding...
I am going to fold each side in about 1/4 inch and pin together all the way around the handle.
Then I am going to stitch down!  I stitched again along the outside of the other one too, just so they would match.
The I zig-zagged three circles in mickey form to the front part of the bag!  Cute right?  I LOVE the Bambi material!
My kids put their pins on their bags for trading.
It worked out perfect to carry their Autograph Fabric, fabric marker and one bottle of water!
Somehow this is the best pic of my daughters bag in action.  The way she wore it, it hung sorta behind her so it wasn't in any of the pictures.

Really this bag would work for anything, but... we used it for Disney World!  They were a life save.  Except of course when Tyton accidentally left his in Pinocchio's Haus when we ate lunch and we were waiting in line in Adventure Land to see Ariel and Prince Eric.  I got a good run in the heat!  LOL