Freebie Friday: Free Christmas blog background and header & Free butterfly themed background and header...and a free Christmas themed Twitter background

I have 2 gorgeous offerings for you this week; a lovely Christmas themed scrapbooking style Christmas template and a beautiful butterfly themed template - both made using kits from my preferred designers, which I will introduce in a moment. I had to pay for commercial licenses to be able to create these graphics for you, so if you wish to make a small donation for their use then I'd be oh-so-happy - but its not obligatory. Oh and I'd love to see it in use if you do use it - just keave me a link to your blog in a comment :)

This lovely butterfly theme was made using a kit from JB Digital Creations, created by the equally lovely Jessica. Jessica is new to blog design and at just 18 years old is producing some great stuff! Actually, she is having a giveaway too to celebrate her launching her designs. I know you're all mad about giveaways so be sure to pop along and put in your entry here. 

 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.

<style type="text/css"> body {background-image: url("http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/pimpmyblog/2009%20orders/freebiefriday27nov09preview.png"); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; } </style> <div id="tag" style="position:absolute; left:0px; top:30px; z-index:50; width:150px; height:45px;"><a href="http://jessicaelaine03.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/pimpmyblog/2009%20orders/jessicalink.png" /></a></div>

Download the header - right click and save the image below

This lovely Christmas themed freebie was made using a kit from Corina Nielsen at Funky Playground Designs. Corina is also one of my preferred designers!

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.

<style type="text/css"> body {background-image: url("http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/pimpmyblog/2009%20orders/26novbgchristmas.png"); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; } </style> <div id="tag" style="position:absolute; left:0px; top:30px; z-index:50; width:150px; height:45px;"><a href="http://www.funkyplaygrounddesigns.com/store/home.php" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr323/pimpmyblog/2009%20orders/cnielsenlink.png" /></a></div>

Download the header - right click and save the image below

To use the Twitter background just right click to save it, then log into your Twitter account and install it.

Please note:

• both backgrounds supplied are 3 column blog sized since most people seem to use this format now. I am happy to make you a 2 column blog version if you need - just contact me
• as these layouts were created using other designer's kits, both layouts come with a small link to the original designer's website
• if you require the header customising with your blog name, please email me for a quote 
• Look here for my other freebies
  

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Don't forget that our next Blogger Uncovered feature is on Joey - look here for more info, and to leave your question.

Attention - another announcement of random stuff

I have a few announcements today...

More flexibility and choice with your scrapbook style layout
As you know, I tend NOT to use other designer's kits in my scrapbbok layouts as I prefer to offer something that is unique in terms of content. Also, by using my own kits, I do not need to purchase kits or commercial use (CU) licenses, which means I don not need to pass these costs onto you, so my prices remain low. However, if you do wish to use a certain kit in your work, then I am happy to liase with the designer concerned and to arrange purchase of the kit and commercial license on your behalf. I would need to add that cost onto the price of my makeover, but it does give you MUCH more flexibility in what you can request. I will be making more of my own kits too, though each ones takes about 40-50 hours to make, so there's a limit to how many I can make.

Preferred designer list
I am currently getting together a list of preferred designers and other designers. To make it onto my preferred designers list, I will consider:

• the standard of the work
• the designer's terms of use and restrictions
• a lifetime commercial use license is preferrable as this keeps costs down for you
• not having to keep re-purchasing th same kit would be great too as this keeps costs down for you too

I will also be making a list of other kit designers, along with their terms of use/restrictions and approximate prices so that you can find something to suit your budget. I'll be sending out the designer's list along with all requests for makeovers- if you are a designer and you'd like to be added to the list them please contact me.

Holiday blogging

I will be taking a blogging holiday for 10 days over Christmas/new year, but will be making daily posts for my Countdown to Christmas giveaway. I'll let you know more information nearer the time :)

Please spread the word
I'd be greatful if you could spread the word about my Countdown To Christmas giveaway which will be starting on 1st december. I'll be giving away everything from favicons and signatures to premade templates and other things.

Anyone up for a design challenge early next year?
Somebody (sorry I can't remember who) suggested that I might try hosting a design challenge on this blog. I really loved the idea and have a few thoughts on this. If I supplied the scrapbook kit, would anyone be interested in joining? If you're a digital scrapbooker yourself, do you know of any others who would join in? (Go drag them over here to let me know they'd be in). I have little time to waste and there's no point it people aren't interested. If you've ever wanted to try digital scrapbooking then a free kit and the mptivation of winning a prize may be something that finally gets you started.

My Christmas cards came and I love them - I think I'm IN love with them
This year I designed my own pack of Christmas cards and sent them off to Moo for printing. they weren't particularly cheap, but I love Moo's quality and theit quality of service. Well they arrived yesterday and I am in love with them, I can't wait to start sending them out. I'm going to take some pics of them at the weekend and bore you all silly with them :)

Blogger Uncovered
The next Blogger Uncovered feature is on Joey, please look here for more details and be sure to go check out her blog.

More Christmas pre-made templates coming up

I am going to be launching some new Christmas pre-made templates at the weekend. All of them are scrapbook style and made using Corina Nielsen's fantabulous designs!

Happy thanksgiving to everyone in USA

Hmmmmm....I think that's it *scratches head*. Yup, I can't think of anything else.

PS - scuse the typos (of which I'm sure there are many). I'm in a rush and my fingers are struggling to keep up LOL

Tutorial Tuesday: How to make blog owner's comments a different colour to everyone elses

It's a day late, but hopefully you think it's worth the wait! Have you seen on Wordpress how the authors comments show up in a different coloured box? Well did you know that you can do that on Blogger too?

1. Log into your blog and go to the LAYOUT view
2. Click EDIT HTML
3. Check the EXPAND WIDGET TEMPLATE box
4. Copy the entire code and paste it into Notepad - just incase everything goes belly-up ;o)
5. Look for the text which reads ]]/<b:skin>
6. Copy this code and paste it just above that
.author-comments { background: #ffffff; border: 2px solid #666666; padding: 5px; }
7. Now you need to go to the part of your html template where your comment data is stored. Be warned that this code will look a little different on different blogs, that's because it depends whether you have comments embedded, in a separate window, or whatever. The general tags should appear similar though. Your code will look something like this:
<dl id='comments-block'> <b:loop values='data:post.comments' var='comment'> <dt class='comment-author' expr:id='"comment-" data:comment.id'> <a expr:name='"comment-" data:comment.id'/> <b:if cond='data:comment.authorUrl'> <a expr:href='data:comment.authorUrl' rel='nofollow'><data:comment.author/></a> <b:else/> <data:comment.author/> </b:if> <data:commentPostedByMsg/> </dt> <b:if cond='data:comment.author == data:post.author'> <dd class='comment-body-author'> <p><data:comment.body/></p> </dd> <b:else/> <dd class='comment-body'> <b:if cond='data:comment.isDeleted'> <span class='deleted-comment'><data:comment.body/></span> <b:else/> <p><data:comment.body/></p> </b:if> </dd> </b:if> <dd class='comment-footer'> <span class='comment-timestamp'> <a expr:href='"#comment-" data: comment.id' title='comment permalink'> <data:comment.timestamp/> </a> <b:include data='comment' name='commentDeleteIcon'/> </span> </dd> </b:loop> </dl>
8. Under the first paragraph you need to paste this:
<b:if cond='data:comment.author == data:post.author'> <dd class='comment-body-author'> <p><data:comment.body/></p> </dd> <b:else/>
9. To style the comment you can make the following changes...
You can change background #fffff to background: url(http:LINK OF YOUR IMAGE); if you want to use a background image behind your comments box, or just change the #fffff to the colour value that you'd like.
You can change the border thickness and colour by adjusting this bit of code ( border: 2px solid #666666; ). Increasing the px value increases the thickness of your border, you can change the colour value to your desired colour by chaning the #figures part.

Attention digital scrapbook kit designers

I’m not sure if any of you read my blog, but if you do, then I’d like you to contact me regarding possible use of your work in my designs.  I am drawing up a list of approved designers – designers who are happy for their work to be used in your makeover projects. I’d need to know the following:

• Approximate kit cost:
• CU license fees:
• URL of your kits, or some samples of your work
• Does the CU license need purchasing for each design, or do you have a “lifetime” license available?
• Does the kit need purchasing for each design, or do you have a commercial use rate which allows unlimited use?
• Can I use your kit for personal blog makeovers?
• Can I use your kit for commercial blog makeovers?
• Can I use your kit for my “charity” makeovers where I do free makeovers for people who blog for therapy. I receive no money for these, so would you be interested in offering a free commercial use license for use in this situation?
• Can I use your kits for making free/paid for Twitter backgrounds, greetings cards, invitations, logos, or anything else? Do you have any exceptions?

Please note that all images are flattened before being sent to customers. If you are interested in being added to my designer list then please email me by clicking on the contact button on my menu bar. I’d love to add you to my list!  If you know any designers could you please point them in the direction of this post?

 

Please check back later for today's Tutorial Tuesday!

Blogger Uncovered - get your questions reeady for Joey!

  

Our next feature will be on Joey from Living With Brittle Asthma. As the name suggests, Joey has brittle asthma and blogs about her trying to live her life with this complex condition. Joey's blog was one of the very first that I made over under my Write From The Heart program (my free blog makeover program). She was super easy to work with and we have stayed in regular contact.since then. Joey is just itching to tell you all more about her, so, hop on over to Joey's blog and decide what questions you'd like to ask her...then trot back over here and leave your questions underneath this post, or just email them to me.

Are you Smitten By Britain? And some random announcements

Smitten By Britian has had a competition to win a travel guide to London and guess what? I won a copy. As you know I went to London in October for the first time in about 15 or 20 years and I absolutely loved it. Well Smitten's competition was to say what you'd do if you had just 1 hour in London. Being the kind of person to stay away from the beaten track, I suggested Kensington Roof Gardens, which is THE perfect way of avoiding all the crowds. The gardens are like an oasis and are set on top of a 6 storey building in Kensington, London. Actually, I have a couple of pics of it...

 

Have you seen Smitten By Britain yet? Its a great read for anyone who has an interest in our part of the world - and yes even us British people like it too. Its well written, funny and interesting....and is beautifully designed too...but not by me I must add LOL.

Paint Shop Pro is the program I use for most of my graphics. This program is so easy to use and is so cheap that even the tightest of budgets shouldn't struggle too much with this one. But for a limited period you can now buy Corel products including Paint Shop Pro at a discounted price. If this is the kind of thing that interests you then go check out the Corel Store now.

"Let it Snow!". That's what I thought when I looked at my header this morning. Did anyone notice the little snowflakes falling down my header? Well if you'd like this script, just go visit Emily Joy's post and copy the script from her blog :)

And finally, are you looking for anything Christmassy such as:
Family Christmas cards (a card design which features your family photo)
charity "print your own" cards (designs can be used with/without photos)
christmas or winter themed digital scrapbooking kit
christmas or winter themed premade templates or
a custom twitter page in a winter or Christmas theme (or any other theme for that matter)

If you are then go check out my shop

Portfolio Post