Sunday, January 20, 2008

Take a Look Around

I have been blogging for over 2 months. I have sixty-eight posts under my belt and a serious addiction to being a blogger. You would think that creating a pleasant and personalized blog would have been high on my list of priorities.

It wasn't.

I was quite content with my simple blog courtesy of Blogger's boring template, until now. Take a look around. Did you notice the changes? If not, lie to me, because I spent many hours redecorating my blog this weekend.

Yes, that's right I* spent countless hours. That brand new custom header... Fabulous isn't it? Mine. Do you see my pink fridge? That's new too. I* whipped that together today. Do you know what I* am developing now? An award badge for the 12 bloggers on my fridge. I had no idea that I was so talented!

*(My husband will divorce me if I fail to disclose that
I actually means WE, as in Jeff and I worked on these projects together and Jeff is the true genius behind everything. I tried to keep this from you because you already know that he is a sexy, amazing husband and father who cooks. I want to keep some of his talents a secret or a hot momma blogger is going to steal him away from me.
Happy now, honey? Great! Can you finish up the award badge for me?)


My computer is suddenly a graphic designing, layer and image manipulating machine. Do you want to hear the best part? We spent zero money on Photoshop. Did we steal it or receive it for Christmas? Nope, we didn't use Photoshop. We used an amazing and FREE program called GIMP. Yep, that's right FREE, as in they are giving it away. You too can get GIMP at http://www.gimp.org/.

Let me show you what GIMP allowed us to do. Here is the photo that my new banner is derived from:

We separated the girls, flipped one image, filled in and smudged the center, cartoonized and gave a pink wash to the images. Finally we added the text. Impressed? I know!

Honestly, creating the banner was the easy part. Most of my time was spent wrestling with Blogger's templates and code so my header would be centered and correctly sized. If it weren't for my code writing skills, this blog would be a complete mess right now.

I hope you like the changes around here. There's some beer in the fridge, help yourself.

You can't find the beer? Oh sorry, I must of deleted that layer.

23 comments:

The Sports Mama said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE the new look! And I'm super impressed that you did it all yourself! *ok, ok... I'll give Jeff some credit, too...lol..

Looks great!

Anonymous said...

Well done!

My current header did not originally fit the template I am currently using, and I was flustered looking for an alternative graphic, 'cos I really (still do) like this one.

Finally, I had to succumb to photoshoping (don't ask where I got it from) to make it fit. It was tricky; I had to stretch the left side while keeping the right original (otherwise the candle would not look round anymore)

Now I face the same dilemma again- I am getting bored with the overall theme now...

Yikes!

Irene said...

I love the retro feel! And a pink (Smeg?) fridge is up up up on my list! Well done!

the lizness said...

fabulous new header! I'm headed over to GIMP now.

(you can delete this part if you want - but I think you mean "lose my mind" instead of "loose my mind" in your tagline? :) :) :) Unless you literally mean detach your brain from your head and misplace it?)

OHmommy said...

Wow. WOW!!! You are amazing. I love your new look.

Awesome. Simply, awesome!

Addicited to blogging? Divorce? Husband? These are words all so foreign to me. LOL.

pb&j in a bowl said...

I LOVE it!! And I'm jealous that you did it yourself. Really cool 'fridge, by the way.

ConverseMomma said...

OMG! You are so talented. i have a total girl crush on you today. Oh, and you won my contest, btw! I think we might be twins separated at birth, you really knew me. The dip is on the way.

Don Mills Diva said...

Wow - I am impressed. Your blog looks great and 68 posts in 2 months!?! You are officially my hero.

Amy said...

Thank you all!

Liz - Thanks for the catch. Usually I make all the grammatical errors and my husband fixes them. This time, it's his fault.
I wonder if he was doing it to see if I would notice?

Not the Maid said...

Oooh ... pretty!!

Marla said...

I do like it very much! Great program. I am addicted to photoshop. Congrats on the two months blogging!

Marla said...

Tag! You are it!

SuburbanDaddy said...

Looks great! And thanks for the GIMP tip. I've been struggling with photoshop, which is sooo complicated.

Kellan said...

I love the new look!! And, I am very impressed with you two and your skills - I have no clue how to do any of this stuff and had to hire SPLAT (which I am so happy with BTW) to do my new page. You did a great job - it is so cute! Take care and I'll see you soon. Kellan

Anonymous said...

I love the new header! Kudos on the design and getting the code just right. Code can be a serious bitch and a half!

Maria said...

Your blog looks so cool! I'm getting on that site NOW!

Rachel said...

Amy, it looks fabulous!! You (and Jeff) deserve major kudos!!
Love the header and the pink fridge is too cute!!!
I thought I had somehow mucked up and gone to the wrong blog at first! i love it! Looks wonderful!!

Victoria said...

Ridiculously awesome. Crap. My blog looks like crap. =)

The Sports Mama said...

Yes, $200 bats!!

This is the bat:

http://www.demarini.com/demarini/product1.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673964138&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302755042&bmUID=1201023081912

This is just ONE sample of regular cost:

http://www.kellysultimatesports.com/products.asp?2008+DeMarini+VEXXUM+HS+%26+College+%2D3+Long+Barrel+Baseball+Bat=1&catid=78&prodid=1114

Another example of pricing:

http://www.baseballsavings.com/customer/category/product.jsp?SUBCATEGORY_ID=4475

Sorry, I know they're long links. I didn't know how to make them clickable (is that even a word??) so you'll have to cut and paste to see them.

And you totally deserve the award!!! Sorry I didn't get over here last night to tell you about it, leaving you to be surprised when you visited this morning! :)

Cynthia said...

Well good for you...You know I was itchin' to help you out, way to do it yourself! Glad to hear you enjoy GIMP, but you can never drag me away from my old friend Photoshop (til death do us part)!

Now, what was that about a beer?

Honeybell said...

Fantastic!! I love the look!

Anonymous said...

You did an amazing job! The header is original and too cute by far!!

Irene said...

I love your new look! It seems everyone is getting a new look!! Yours looks so professional! And you did yourself!? Way to go!!!

BTW, I keep trying and trying to grab myself a cold one, I think your fridge is locked. darnit.