2008 July | Scraps Of Mind

Archive for July, 2008

Posted by karooch on

July 15, 2008

Texture Tuesday with Wildheart

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Wildheart of Wildheart’s Works brings you Texture Tuesday. Wildheart is a Paintshop Pro expert, but I know you’ll enjoy the tips and tricks even if you’re not a PaintShop Pro user. And you’ll find plenty of ideas to help you work with textures in your own program. In fact in this week’s segment she actually converts a Photoshop tutorial to Paint Shop Pro.

How to Make a Clean Car Look Dirty

I wanted to do something a little different this week.

I wanted to see how I could manipulate a car paint job using Paint Shop Pro to make it look like it hadn’t been washed.

This is really easy to do. You simply find a car image that is free to use on the internet, save it and open it up in Paint Shop Pro and then crop it as tightly as you can so you have the smallest area possible to work with. You don’t want to crop it too much though, so pay close attention to how you use the crop tool.

When you’re done you want to go into your color pallet and choose a light brown or light orange color. Choose a brush to work with. I used a brush I found called Tha Brush Set. You should be able to Google this to find it.

Then I just simply started adding smoke to the paint job, you will need to adjust the brush size accordingly to get into the smaller areas. I briefly want to mention that a brownish orange will also work. Whatever you can find that looks as close to a rust color possible is preferable.

This is the car I used and how it looked before.

And this is the car after I manipulated it.

There are other things that you can do, like use the selection tool to cut out the wheels to make it look like the car has no wheels. You could also take the hood off perhaps. That would take some real close work with an eraser tool. Or maybe use a grunge brush to give the chrome a rusty look.
The possibilities are endless.

The Brilliante Weblog Award

Pat from the Life of LoonyHiker blog has awarded me the Brilliante Weblog award.

Apart from being a very flattering award, I love the bling!

Not a bad little rock, eh?

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated

So now here’s a list of blogs I’m passing the Brilliante Weblog Award on to:

Cen’s Loft: June runs a vibrant, happening blog with lots of scrapbook layouts. And she is generous with her freebies.

Patchscrap: Corina is a great all round crafter and scrapbooker. She’s been a long time reader of Scraps of Mind, almost since I started it. And is a regular commenter.

Scrapbook Ideas: Jess runs a cool blog about all things scrapbooking with lots of tips and tutorials.

Sparky’s Scratches: Antoinette lives in the Netherlands and has a picture of Tower Bridge, London on her blog banner. Go Figure. She’s been a prolific commenter on Scraps of Mind for a long time and when she’s not blogging about scrapbooking (and offering the occasional freebie) she’s writing cool reviews about West End shows.

HummiesWorld: Hummie runs a great digital scrapbooking web site and blog. She has some cool tutorials and is also the mastermind behind the Digital Scrapbooking Blog Carnival

9999 Ways of Scrapbooking: Olga is an accidental scrapbooker accidentally living in Ireland. She scrapbooks and designs using the Gimp and she’s the second most prolific commenter on Scraps of Mind.

The Legacy Lady: Like myself, Kayla loves to teach others the skills of digital scrapbooking and to help them discover the scope of what they can do. She is passionate about leaving a legacy and a strong advocate of journaling on your scrapbook layouts.

Dreamscrapper: Dreamscrapper runs a great digital scrapbooking blog where she shares her layouts, designs and some freebies. She’s been a stalwart commenter on Scraps of Mind for many months.

One blog that I would have liked to add to this list is Tink’s Tribulations. Tink is the most prolific commenter on Scraps of Mind and has been a huge supporter over the last couple of years. I really appreciate that. Let’s face it, it can be a lonely business blogging each day without comments to encourage you. Unfortunately I can’t nominate Tink…because she was the one who nominated Pat.

I’ve enjoyed using this award as an opportunity to say thank you to some of the top supporters of Scraps of Mind. I know there are many more of you out there, And I thank you also for being regular readers and followers of what I write. Without you, there would be no point.

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Posted by karooch on

July 12, 2008

Where Does the RSS Button Go?

Many Scraps of Mind readers have their own blogs.

Some are personal journals, but a large number are written by folk who have a strong desire to build their readership and increase their traffic.

RSS feeds are a seemingly simple way to do this. But there’s more to increasing your readership than just banging an RSS button into your side-bar and forgetting about it.

Jacob Share is a contestant in DailyBlogTips Blogging Idol Competition and he has set up a group writing project on his blog to gather RSS tips from all over the blogosphere. So I thought I’d add my five cents worth.

For those of you who don’t know anything about RSS I suggest you take a moment to read my article Keep Up-to-Date with Your Favourite Blogs Using RSS to learn what it is and how it can help you keep up with all that’s going on with your favourite blogs.

So how do you encourage your readers to subscribe to your RSS feed?

Now we come to the RSS button.

There are RSS buttons that you can use all over the Internet that you can download freely. Some are fancy and some are the classic orange icon such as in my side-bar.

The first thing I would recommend is that if your blog is not aimed at geeky or super blog-savvy readers don’t go fancy.

Most people who know what RSS is recognize the orange icon. And whilst it might not be as cool as an icon that looks like it’s sinking below the virtual waves, or one that’s beautifully colour coordinated with your blog theme, keeping it simple and straightforward is a good thing. It will help your readers to spot it amongst all your blinkies and banners and when they see it, there won’t be any confusion in their minds as to what it is.

So now, where do you stick the button?

Hey! Let’s keep it nice.

Well the prevailing wisdom says that if you want to grow your RSS subscribers you should place the button at the top of your blog. Either in your banner, or right at the top of your sidebar.

But I’m going against the prevailing wisdom.

I had my RSS button sitting right at the top of my side bar for over six months. And during that time my subscriber numbers slowly crept up to 100. It was a long, slow journey (and many thanks to all of you who were part of that journey). And when I reached 100 it was like I had hit a glass ceiling. I hung around 100-110 for about three months. It wasn’t as though my traffic wasn’t increasing because my stats were healthy and were showing a steady upwards trend. But readers weren’t subscribing to my RSS feed.

Finally I decided to stop worrying about building my RSS subscriptions and I moved the button further down on my sidebar. Down to ‘below the fold’ which means that you can’t see it unless you scroll down. And I stopped paying attention to it.

Within a matter of weeks, the number had doubled!

I thought there must be something wrong with the counter widget and I checked it out on Feedburner. Nope, the numbers were correct.

I was gobsmacked! For months I had given my RSS button pride of place on my blog and had limited success. And now that I had all but thrown it away, it was performing like a star attraction.

Is it sort of ‘a watched RSS number never grows’ thing?

Well after some thought, I noticed that where my RSS button was now located, way down in my sidebar, was roughly the same place where most of my posts finished. So readers who had read to the bottom of a post (as you are doing) found the button right there handy as they finished reading.

And that seems to make a lot more sense to me. A new reader is not going to be interested in subscribing to your blog feed until they have read at least one of your posts.

And once you’ve finished reading you look for the next place to click. I know I would rarely scroll back up to the top of the page again.

So when you’re thinking about where to place your RSS button to get the best results. Consider this: if you mainly post short articles and posts then perhaps positioning the button high up on your sidebar will attract the notice of your readers. But if your posts are usually a bit longer, then I suggest you try experimenting with locating it further down your sidebar. So it’s handy for your reader to click on straight after they have just enjoyed your killer article.

The moral of this RSS story:

Don’t always assume the prevailing wisdom is what’s best for you. Check it out for yourself and make your own call.

By the way, if you feel inspired to subscribe to my feed and get Scraps of Mind articles delivered to your Google Reader or Bloglines or even into your email box, my orange button is in the sidebar to the right or you can click on the link just under this article.

Hope this has been helpful.

Five Freebies on Friday - 11 July 2008

Time to share some scrapbooking freebie love again. So let’s get started on this week’s Five Freebies on Friday. There are some terrific Scrapbooking Freebie goodies here so enjoy.

Just don’t forget to leave some love when you download your freebie. Remember a simple thank you comment makes all the difference to the designer who will have put a lot of time and effort into creating your freebie.

Theres a nice little mini kit over at Perfectly Imperfect. I can’t see anything imperfect about it.
Don’t miss out on the super cute frame that June has for you at Cen’s Loft.
And if you’re looking for flowers, VJ’s Scraproom has some great retro ones for you.
Angelica’s Digital Scrap has some interesting sunray inspired papers for you. go have a look.
And click over to Sparky’s Scratches where Antoinette has a really lovely piece of Summer word art for you.

Scrapbook Journaling with Your Handwriting

Last week I wrote about the importance of including journaling on your scrapbook layouts.

Well how about this for a scrapbook idea…

Increase the heritage and nostalgia value of your scrapbook layout by including your own handwriting in your journaling!

Now I can hear all the paper scrapbookers saying ” No no no! My handwriting is terrible. I don’t want to ruin my scrapbook layouts by scrawling all over them. And what if I make a mistake? I’ll be ruining my supplies trying to get my writing to look good.”

Meanwhile all the digital scrapbookers are sitting back smugly saying, ” Well I scrap digitally so I can’t use my handwriting (phew, thank heavens for that). The most I can do is use a handwriting font on my computer.”

Well I have the perfect solution for you, whether you’re a digital scrapbooker or a traditional one. Read on.

Why bother with journaling in your own handwriting?

First of all let’s think about why it’s important to journal in your own handwriting anyway.

If you are seeking to leave a legacy for your children in your scrapbook layouts then examples of your handwriting is an important part of that legacy. Unlike with previous generations, we are no longer a society that does very much letter writing. Especially handwritten letters. When we do write a letter we usually do it on the computer, or more likely we’ll just send an email.

But your handwriting is very much a part of who you are. And your children will cherish the few examples they have of it in years to come.

My Mother passed away nine years ago. I still miss her. She wrote herself a short affirmation on a scrap of notepaper which she kept stuck on the fridge.

As you can see it’s a scrappy piece of paper, the writing is fading fast and they’re not even words that she made up herself. But you know what? It’s one of my most treasured possessions.

And that’s how your kids will view examples of your handwriting, which will probably end up being rarities in their own right.

So here’s a fail-safe method for incorporating your handwriting into your scrapbook layouts.

Scan your journaling

You may remember June’s article on scanning objects to use in your digital and hybrid scrapbook layouts. Well the same thing can apply to your journaling.

And the big advantage to doing this is that you can practice writing what you want to say as many times as you like until you’re satisfied with the look of it.

Just write on a sheet of plain white paper (Tip: If you’re worried about keeping your writing straight, put your

paper on top of a sheet of lined paper so you can see the lines through it. You might need to rule over the lines to make them darker.) Write what you want to say and then scan it into your computer.

For those without photo editing software such as Photoshop Elements, you can import the JPG graphic into your Word program (or equivalent wordprocessor) as a picture and resize it to fit your journal tag then print it out. Cut it to size and glue it in place.

If you have a graphics editing program it’s even better. Scan your handwritten journaling into your software and then remove the background using the Magic Wand tool (or whichever is the equivalent in your own software). You now have your handwritten journaling with a transparent background.

You can layer it on a journal tag and resize it to fit the tag as I’ve done here in my You’re the Best layout of my daughter. Or you can put it straight on your scrapbook layout background.

Whichever method you choose, I hope you’ll give some serious consideration to including some examples of your handwriting in your scrapbook layouts. It adds and extra level of personality to them and I believe that it will increase their value to your kids enormously.

What do you think? Do you include you own handwriting in your scrapbook layouts or do you avoid it because you don’t like the way it looks?

If you don’t like your own handwriting, I think this scrapbook idea is well worth giving a try?

Let us know in the comments below how you go about your own journaling, or even whether you do it or not.

Credits for the elements used in my Your’s the Best go to Cheryl Barber’s Etcetera Kit from Scrap Girls.

Entrecard: Advertise Your Blog for Free!

It’s hard to get exposure for your blog in today’s bubbling melting pot of a blogosphere.

And it’s even harder if you’re a new blogger just starting out. Build it and they will come just doesn’t work.

Well there’s a great little blog advertising scheme that might just help you out.

It’s called Entrecard and it’s been around for about six months or so, although I’ve only just recently cottoned on to it myself.

This is the way it works.

You sign up your blog at the Entrecard site and you upload a 125×125 pixel graphic which is your blog’s advertisement.

It creates a piece of code for you that you copy and past into a text widget and display on your blog. If you look over on my sidebar you can see what I mean.

Now as you hop around the blogosphere, whenever you see an Entrecard widget you click on the bar at the bottom. This is called ‘dropping your card’. It’s the same principle as leaving your calling card with someone. And every time you drop your card you get credits in your account. The more you drop, the more credits you build up.

Other people will drop on you and they will also request advertising on your blog. When that happens, your graphic will be replaced by their graphic for a day. This also earns you more credits. And you have to approve or reject their request before it will appear on your blog. That means you don’t wind up with links to sexy photo sites or other inappropriate ads on your blog.

And what do you do with all these credits you’re accumulating?

Well you find blogs that are also Entrecard members and that you think are likely to have a readership that would be interested in your blog and you request an ad spot with them.

Easy peasy.

Now I’ve only been playing with this for a week so I’m no expert. But one of things I’ve noticed is that a lot of people put the Entrecard widget a long way down on their sidebar. Personally I wouldn’t bother placing an ad where it probably won’t be seen by anyone. So I recommend that if you decide to join, you place your widget in a spot where it gets good exposure. If people don’t want to advertise on your blog then you won’t build your credits as fast.

And if you can accumulate a lot of credits quickly you can start advertising on more prominent blogs (their credit advertising rate will be higher) and that will obviously give you more exposure.

And all of this has cost you nothing.

Plus it’s a bit of fun hunting for the Entrecard Widgets on all the blogs you go to.

So if you’re looking to get some extra exposure for your blog but you don’t have dollars to spend, why not check out Entrecard. You have nothing to lose. Just click on the Gold Bar at the bottom of my Entrecard Widget and you’ll be taken to the registration page.

Texture Tuesday with Wildheart

Wildheart of Wildheart’s Works brings you Texture Tuesday. Wildheart is a Paintshop Pro expert, but I know you’ll enjoy the tips and tricks even if you’re not a PaintShop Pro user. And you’ll find plenty of ideas to help you work with textures in your own program. In fact in this week’s segment she actually converts a Photoshop tutorial to Paint Shop Pro.

Sometimes the best laid plans invariably go wrong.

As I was preparing for this week’s installment, my cat decided to waylay my plans. So today I am going to offer a ‘best of’ block of textures for you that I am extremely proud of.

I had managed to get two real life textures snapped with my new camera until my cat decided she wanted to play with the nice gray string used for carrying on the wrist and my camera took a nose dive and now the digital readout is all messed up. Now I have to wait until August 2nd to get it replaced if I want Kodak to replace it for free. Long story. I spent all day on the phone today explaining what happened and they said they can’t do anything until the service plan I purchased kicks in.

So without further ado I am showcasing what I think are my best textures I have done so far this year.

This is one I did in honor of The Fourth of July here in the United States

I used a board pattern and a darker gray on this one to give it a board texture instead.

These bricks were made using a mask and a gray background.

Some of you may recognize this one from a previous Texture Tuesday.

I tried to mimic a painted wall that has some texture to it.

This one was done using a mask and a white background.

This one has gotten well over 1,200 views over on Flickr

You are free to snag these I would be interested in seeing what you make out of them. As always if you have any tips or tricks that you want me to investigate and present please email me at joecheray@gmail.com