Blog Redo!

First, I want to thank all of you for your support in my blog redo fiasco adventure. 

I felt ya'll cheering me on!  

"You can do it!", I'd hear in my head.  

Then I heard, "You did it...you figured it out! 

 Now lets just tweak this one thing and........AAAAAHHHHH NOOOOO!" 

 It all was once again a warmpeejawed mess.  

I like to make up works when I get frustrated.  

I'll be explaining the steps I took in this process later on in the blog..  I hope that I may shine a small glimmer of hope in someone's direction.  Hoping, as well, to take at least one of the thorns of blog design out of a sweet friend's paw. 

But first, you may want to opt out of the short rant and melodrama that is coming in the next few paragraphs.

Warning!  A slight sign of immaturity on my part to come!

BEGIN MELODRAMA NOW! 

As some of you may know, I don't deal well with change.  I liked the old Blogger Templates.  They were easy.  They made sense. 

 I could use the Minima template and find any cute blog skin to go with it.  

BUT THEN...they changed it all.  

There then came the dreaded "Template Designer NEW", love how they make the "NEW" stand out like it's something wonderful.  Maybe to some, but not to me ruthless blog master...I will not be tempted or defeated in the quest for a cuter blog!  Your spang~dangly options don't interest me.  Keep your flashbliggityblang backgrounds with their cookoomonga font selections. 

Ok...so I was drawn in. 

 ONLY because there weren't any other options. 

 I couldn't find my beloved old template designer. 

Gone I tell you...GONE FOREVA!

END MELODRAMA NOW!  

(Thank the Lord)

I'm going to keep the rest simple, because I like simple and I assume since ya'll like me...you do like me!  Right?...that you want things simple too. 


Here it goes.


~Go to Design in your Dashboard


~Click "Template Designer NEW"...grrrrrr 


~It should open on the Templates tab


~I picked Ethereal because it seemed to be the easiest to work with, but if you're brave, play around with the others


~Go to the Layout Tab...hands are getting clammy as  I write this. Here is where I got really frustrated with all the new gadgetry.  Breathe...Breathe...Breathe...ok..I'll go on.


~Clearly, I selected the template very similar to the Minima template.  All of my blog posts are the majority of the left, while my gadgets hang on the right.  


~Then I selected Adjust Width....Breathing still....I set my entire blog at 820 px and the Right side bar at 300px.  This seemed to work well with centering my blog banner and keeping all of the new little blog tags from hanging over the side.  It's best to play around and find what works for your pictures.


~I went back to the tabs and selected Background.  This was kinda fun...shhhh don't tell the blog master I said that.  I went to the Transparent backgrounds and picked polka dots.


~To change the color of the polka dots you go to the Advanced tab...I found that changing colors was pretty easy.  It highlights what your changing so you can see what's happening to your blog.

As you read in the previous post, I was having trouble getting the blog banner centered.  

Well...lemme tell ya.  

It was a lot of play with this and fidget with that to get it in the middle.

Here was that process:
~I went to Picasa and selected the picture I wanted.


~I then clicked on the Edit tab


~This took me to Picnik which is a great place to play around with your pictures.  I have to admit that I hadn't done any of my pic editing here until this weekend.  LOVE IT!


~Under the Edit Tab I, go to resize


~Check the Keep Proportions and then enter 940 in the first dimensions box.  It will keep your pic looking like it should.  When I unclicked Keep Proportions my picture stretched.


~To add a little bliggityblang to my picture I then went to the Create tab, then Seasonal, then Valentine's Day, and then Heart's Desire.  This gave the picture its glowy spotlight look.

There ya have it!  

I've also made some changes to my settings per suggestions made by some great bloggers out there.  
It just so happened that there were a few who were posting about blog improvements and they were so handy.

Here's a list of great help.
♥Cindy @ Cottage Instincts~wonderful post about growing your blog following, what a sweetie too, with tons of great cottage decor idears
♥Kim @ Cheap Chic Home ~ I'm looking forward to reading more of her blogs, she was the one with the great idea to make the pic 940 px.  A wise woman indeedy.
♥Brenda @ Cozy Little House ~ She did a question and answer post that helped a lot!  I see that she's also done a post to help get a  3 column blog.  I long for a 3 column blog...but I've had my fill for now.  Maybe I'll tackle it down the road.  At least I'll know where to get the help!  Thank you Jayme (Tales from the Coop Keeper) for sending me her way.

God Bless Ya!

Hope ya like the new look!