Tutorial Tuesday: Adding an announcement box

This tutorial shows you the basics of creating your own announcements box, like this one.

Step 1: back up your blog
Before we start, back up your blog by logging into your blog and going to the LAYOUT view.

Click on EDIT HTML

Click DOWNLOAD FULL TEMPLATE

Step 2: Prepare your image
This tutorial assumes that you already have an image for your announcements box, but you can use one of these if you haven't got one. To use one of these, just right click and save the image, then upload it to your photo host.

Ready to continue? Right then...

Step 3: Add a widget box to your template
Next, you need to tell your template to accept a new box of code.Still on your HTML code view...check the EXPAND WIDGET TEMPLATES  box.

Type Ctrl+F to bring up the search box and type into that box SHOWADD

You will arrive at this chunk of code...

Change the "1" to a "3" and the "no" to "yes", as shown above. Then click NEXT in the search bar.

In the next piece of code that appears, change the "no" to a "yes" and then save the code. Go back to the LAYOUT view. You will notice several new box have appeared, it is the one highlighted below which we are interested in now. Click on ADD A GADGET within that box shown below.

Select the HTML/Javascript widget.

In your browser, open a new tab or window and add the image to your photo host if you haven't already done so. Then copy the HTML LINK as shown below.

Paste the link into your html/javascript box as sown below.

If you switch to RICH TEXT view, you will see your image appear in the box. Just write your announcement in the box...

...and voila.....you're done!

Note that, as always, your code may look slightly different to mine, especially if you have installed a 3rd party template or highly customised your template. This is the usual cause of my tutorials not working for you, however, you may ask for my help by emailing me. Please be prepared to provide your log in details as there is little I can do without seeing your code.

Pre Made Template: Travel Bug

Anyone who loves travelling will love this luxury travel themed premade template. I have added a menu bar to this template too, so you can have up to 5 links there.

 Cost: £10.00 (approx $16)

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What does the template come with?

• Header - personalised with your blog name and a secondary title, if you’d like one 
• Customised signature 
• Menu bar with up to 5 buttons
• Background 
• Widget labels - featuring the common titles, such as "about me", "archive", "labels", "blogs I read", "followers"  and "links". 
• Image hosting 
• Installation 

sample widget label

 Sample signature

In what sizes is it available? 
The template will fit a 2 or 3 column blog layout

What extras can I have?
For an additional fee, I can make customised widget labels. For matching items, such as grab boxes, you may like to check out my blog extras.

When will you install the template?
I can usually install the template within 48 hours of receiving payment.

How do I order?
Just email me with the name of this premade template. I will then find out more about your requirements and issue you with an invoice.

View my other premade templates

Perfect for the portfolio...

I cannot tell you how much I love this makeover that I just installed at From My Perspective! The purples are just so cosy and relaxing aren't they?

The blog owner got:

• background
• header
• widget labels
• signature

Perfect for the portfolio...

This makeover was created for another Countdown To Christmas winner. The lucky winner gave her prize to her hunny, who has a blog called Thoughts From The Attic. So Donny got a shiny new header, background, widget labels and a signuture. Congrats on the win!

The same winner also won a custom Twitter background...

Perfect for the portfolio...

Little Red Reading Nook is an online childrens bookshop for which I've just made a header and menu bar as well as some other items which the blog owner won in my Countdown To Christmas giveaway. I really, really LOVE this header - check out the firefly light LOL.

Header & menu bar

Grab box

It's that time of the week again...

I've got another big portfolio post for you this week, which I'll start posting in just a minute. I apologise for cluttering your blog feed with seemingly random posts, but I know that some of you enjoy the portfolio posts, and I need to post these somewhere LOL.

I hope you're all having a good weekend :)

Freebie Friday: Valentines 2/3column blog backgrounds and headers

To download the background - copy the text from the box below and paste it into a html/javascript widget box in your sidebar or the bottom of your blog.

To download the header - right click and save the image below

Thanks to Heather for the desktop, which was made using some elements from my Be Mine digital scrapbooking kit.

Background

Get the 2 column background code

<style type="text/css"> body {background-image: url("http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/pimpmyblog/Freebie%20Friday/LoveWords2ColumnBgcopy1.png"); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; } </style></style><div id="tag" style="position:absolute; left:0px; top:30px; z-index:50; width:150px; height:45px;"> <a href=" http://adorigraphics.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> <img border="0" src=" http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/pimpmyblog/Freebie%20Friday/fflink.png"/> </a></div>

Get the 3 column background code
<style type="text/css"> body {background-image: url("hhttp://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/pimpmyblog/Freebie%20Friday/LoveWords3ColumnBgcopy.png"); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; } </style></style><div id="tag" style="position:absolute; left:0px; top:30px; z-index:50; width:150px; height:45px;"> <a href=" http://adorigraphics.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> <img border="0" src=" http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/pimpmyblog/Freebie%20Friday/fflink.png"/> </a></div>

Header

Get the 2 column version

Get the 3 column version

Warning - hotlinking to the headers as posted here may cause your header to suddenly disappear when I archive them (because the link will change). Please save it and upload it to your photo host.

To download the card, just right click and copy it. The card is A5 sized so can be printed on A5 card...or even just emailed to the lucky recipient.

• if you require the header customising with your blog name, please email me for a quote 
• Look here for my other freebies

Blogger Uncovered - an interview with Olivia

Welcome to this week's Blogger uncovered feature, which is on Olivia from Wheezy Tux. If you'd like to take part in one of my Blogger uncovered interviews then please contact me. 

pic stolen from Olivia's blog :)

What is your favourite food?
My favourite food now would have to be my granny’s shortbread. It is the best shortbread I have ever tasted. But my favourite food used to be spaghetti Bolognese but unfortunately now due to a very restricted salicylate free diet I can no longer eat it or any of my other favourite foods.

When and why did you first start blogging? 
I first started blogging as an outlet for my frustrations of living with brittle asthma but also as a way show to other people living with brittle asthma that you can try and live a normal life. I also did it to show alot of my friends what life is like for me living with brittle asthmas I did not like talking about it to them but they would get very frustrated withme when I wouldn’t be able to do something or I would try to go out with them and then end up in hospital. They never quite understood. So through my blog I hoped to show people the in ands outs of living with brittle asthma.

Name one place you would really like to travel. 
I would love to travel to New Zealand to ski there and also to see the spectacular scenery. I have family members who have been there and they fell in love with it and I want to experience that. I would also love to travel back to Canada and to the place where my health troubles really kicked off. I think I would like to go back just to really see where I was. But unfortunately just now I cant travel anywhere I would like as I cant get travel insurance because I have to be five years out of ITU and jsut now I have only managed 2 months.

How did you first get into blogging? 
I first started blogging because I had jsut got my life back and what i thought my asthma under control but it didn’t last long so my blog turned into what it is like to live life with brittle asthma try and play sport and go to uni. My blog now shows the ups and downs of the condition and the walls I have hit and how doors are opened and closed.

How old are you? 
Im 24. I just turned 24 last week and spent my first birthday out of hospital in five years.

Since you had to give up sports due to asthma, what have your replaced it with? 
I still play golf so that takes up alot of time. But now I do alot of reading and have replaced sport with studying for my degree. I am quite focused from doing years of competitive sport so that has paid off and I can fill my time with studying. I have also found I like reading and have more patience for reading since becoming less able to do somethings.

What has been the most difficult ajustment to living with brittle asthma? 
The most difficult adjustment I had to make was giving up my one passion which was my sport especially as I was doing so well at it. Giving up sport meant I had to also give up uni as my degree was sports science and not being able to do sport meant I was not able to complete my degree. So that was a huge adjustment. Also moving back home and being looked after and losing my independence was a really hard thing to deal with. I wasn’t able to do things my friends did without planning it all out and making sure i rested before hand which for a teenager is really hard to accept.

You say that you have new dreams? Could you share a couple? and what are you doing to fulfill them? 
I want to raise awareness of brittle asthma as there is not very much out there. I work with Asthma UK to try and promote this. On a more personal front I want to be able to become a registered nurse and specialise in respiratory medicine. I dedicate all my time I can to studying so I do well. I also dream to be able to play football again. To try and do this I take each day as it comes and try and keep myself as healthy as I can and go out and about and walk as much as I can. I know that one day I will be back on the pitch (I still have my boots all cleaned in my cupboard with my kit ready in my kit bag).

About "This is me" picture on your blog, where were you and what were you thinking when that picture was taken? 
This picture was taken while I was away skiing with my family in Les Saisies France. I was so happy when I was out there. I had not a care in the world. I remember thinking how lucky I was to be out there skiing although I was attached to a sub cut pump pumping medication into me and had a central line in. That photo was taken at the top of the last run of the last day of the holiday when I got to the bottom of the run I could hardly breath. As soon as we got home I was taken to hospital and spent the next 3 weeks in hospital. It was the last time I went skiing.

What's your favorite book? 
I think my favourite book would have to be To Kill a Mockingbird. I read it at school and just remember falling in love with it. I don’t know why but I love it. I also love Jodi Picoult books as they ask so many questions and leave you questioning your own thoughts.

What sport(s) are you interested in? Which did you participate in? Do you do any sport at all now?
That is a huge question. I love all sports. I particularly love winter sports especially skiing but I also snowboard and love watching the ski racing as I am an ex ski racer. I also used to run cross country and did athletics. I played hockey and lacrosse. When at school I was in all school teams pretty much except swimming I have never got the hang of swimming. When I went to university I played football for the uni and a club and then hockey aswell and golf. I now had to give all those sports up and jsut play golf now when I can.

What is your favourite way to spend your spare time? 
I like spending my spare time with my friends doing fun things like going to the cinema and bowling. I love ten pin bowling but am rubbish at it. i like spending time with my family as well in the country at our cottage up in the north of Scotland.

Olivia, here is your award which you can proudly display on your blog - just make it link to this post by following these instructions :)

Find out more about Blogger Uncovered
Read other Blogger Uncovered interviews

Tutorial Tuesday: How to make a Twitter background

This tutorial gives you the basics of creating your own Twitter background, like this one.

The first step is to create a blank canvas with the following dimensions and resolution.

Next, I'm going to add a background colour or paper. The final Twitter background can only be 800kb in size, so make sure you use a low resolution paper. I'm going to use a plain red background.

Twitter places its tweet wrapper (see below) so that it is aligned 250px from the left edge of your canvas. Therefore you need to make sure that whatever you place in the 250px column that runs down the left of your canvas does not run outside of that box...otherwise it WILL be cropped and will look...welll...strange.

250px column

tweet wrapper

I'm now going to place a logo in the upper left corner, making sure that it doesn't go outside of that 250px wide column.

And then I'll add a little "welcome" tab, making sure that I line it up with the edge of the 150px column, so that it partially hides behind the tweet wrapper.

That's it, you now have a Twitter background! To find out how to install the background, take a look at my how to install a Twitter background tutorial.

An award

Well, I was feeling quite low yesterday but thanks to my wonderful supportive readers I am feeling much brighter today :)

 

I got a cute little award from Shana at Blaze N Crochet too, which I am pleased to accept and dish out to some of you. I can only give it to 12 of you (and really I'd love to give it to more of you), so I've gone through my recent comments and awarded it to people who have supported me for a long time and to some of you who haven't necessarily been followers for long, but you have touched me in some way...such as making me feel loved, valued, youthful, energised or whatever. 

1. Amanda (Tigermadstanley) - because she intuitively knows how I feel and understands me better than anyone I know...despite the fact we have never met

2. Tonya (Live the Adventure) - for being a long-time supported and for listening to me whine, without telling me to shut up

3. Ave (Made In Canarias) - again for being a long time supporter and for her constantly telling people about my blog

4. Heather (Butterflygirlms) - for helping me out with Freebie Fridays and for being a great listener

5. Amanda (Beautiful Blog Designs) - for her completely grounded nature - she helps me see things objectively and is a wonderful listener and thoughtful too

6. Olive Tree (Robin Blogs) - because she makes me feel youthful and energised and reminds me of me when I was her age.

7. Deb (Jeremiah 29:11) - for being a long time supporter and for being the sweetest, most caring person that I have never met :)

8. Rhonda (Rhonda Thompson Potography) - also for being a long time supporter and for being the sweetest, most caring person that I have never met 

9. Ashley (Everything happens for a reason) - for being a fantastic long time supporter

10. Little Woman (Little Woman, Little Home) - for her continued support and commenting

11. Andrea F (the Little Bookworm) - because somehow you always seem to say what I need to hear, when I need to hear it

12. Annette (Live, Learn, Love) - because somehow you always seem to say what I need to hear, when I need to hear it