Finally another Freebie Fridays episode. Had to skip last week due to a very crowded schedule. But I'm back this week with a set of 6 elegant ornamental digital papers.

Most people use these papers for printing after which they use the papers for crafting and scrapbooking. But did you know that you can easily use these papers for digital scrapbooking as well?

Another way to use them digitally is to use them as backgrounds when you make a photo album online with photo album software. And don't forget the option to use them as a background image for a blog or website. Or clip and cut them with an image editing program and make your own labels, banners and tags.. Digital papers are pretty versatile!

The papers in this set are all 3600x3600 pixels (12x12 inch) in size and come in 300 dpi .JPEG files. Perfect for printing!

To download them click on the following links (had to make 3 download links, because the files of digital papers are pretty big):

Ornamental Digital Papers - Part 1

Ornamental Digital Papers - Part 2

Ornamental Digital Papers - Part 3

I wish you all a nice weekend and till next week!

You've seen it on the blogs of other bloggers: a post signature. An image of the blogger's name in a cool font, or maybe a cute little image next to their name when they sign off. And you really would like to close your own blog posts in such a personal way, but you just don't know how. No worries, I'm going to explain to you how you can add your own personal signature to all your posts in today's tutorial. Let's start!

We have to start with a signature image. If you know your way around with an image editing program you can create your own signature in a nice font and color. If you don't know how to do this, there is the option to buy such a custom made signature on Etsy. In my shop I offer this option. For $3.00 you will get a signature in the font of your choice and the color of your choice (see it here).

The next step we have to take is to store this image somewhere online. The coding for putting this image under our blog posts needs a referral to a place online. We can either store this image on an online image storage site like Flickr or Photobucket (these programs will create a link to the image which you can use for the coding), but for this tutorial I will use the method to store the image online on your own blog. To do so you need to create a draft post first (a post that will not be published).

Let's go over to Blogger and make a new post:

Make this new post a draft post. Meaning that you save it for yourself, but you don't publish it. To keep things organized on your blog give it a recognizable title. Then click the 'Add Image' button and upload your signature image to the blog post.

The image is now uploaded, before we go any further, save the blog post first.

Put your mouse over the signature image and click on it with your right mouse button. A little pop up screen will appear now. Select the option that lets you make a copy of the link location. Then leave this post (without publishing it!) and go back to the Blogger Dashboard.

In the Blogger Dashboard, click on the 'Template' button:

Then choose the 'Customize' option:

In the following screen that appears you select the 'Advanced' option:

Now scroll down and select the 'Add CSS' option:

Now paste the image link code into the box that appears:

Right now we've got one part of the coding added. The other part is of the coding is this:

.entry-content:after {
content: url(YOUR-IMAGE-URL-HERE);
margin-left: 250px;
}

Copy this piece of coding and paste it in the box underneath the line of coding that you've just added.

Now remove this text from the coding: YOUR-IMAGE-URL-HERE

Then clip the line of coding that we pasted into the box first (the link to your image) and copy it right on the spot where YOUR-IMAGE-URL-HERE was before. It will look like this:

Don't forget to save it by clicking the 'Apply to Blog' button and now you can view your blog to see your signature image under your posts: 

LITTLE NOTE

Maybe you have to create some empty lines at the bottom of your blogpost to create some space between the last line of your post and your signature image. I made 3 extra lines in the example.

The 'margin-left: 250px;' in the coding shifts your signature 250 pixels from the left margin, play around with this number in the coding until you have the image positioned where you want it. You can take out the margin-left coding if you want the image to appear on the left margin of your post.

I hope this was a helpful tutorial for all of you who want to spice up their posts with a personal signature.

Till next time!

I had promised to write this tutorial a few weeks ago, so it's about time to put some deeds into my words. So today I will show you how you can easily clip your digital images with the use of the free image editing program Photoscape. You can download this program for free at: http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/download.php

I'm going to start at the point where you've downloaded the program, you've installed it and you've opened it to do some image editing. And this is what your screen should look like:

In the left upper sidebar you see the structure of your computer. There you can select the folder in which the image you want to work on is stored. In the left lower sidebar you see the selected folder with the images. I've selected one of the images (just click on it in the sidebar) and it has appeared in the big working space area.

I want to clip a square shape out of this image, capturing the cute girl. To do so I need to open the 3rd tab on the bottom menu bar. Unfortunately for most of my readers, my program is in Dutch, but in English the 3rd tab should be named something like 'Clipping' or 'Cutting'.

Once you press that 3rd tab, you can open the clipping size screen by clicking on the banner at the left, it probably says something like 'free clipping'.

A pop-up screen appears showing you all the clipping sizes you have at your disposal. Play around with them as you like. To clip a perfect square though, you have to select the 1:1 size.

Once you've selected the size you put your mouse over the image, click the left mouse button and drag across the image until you have the size you want. Then you press the 'Clipping/Cutting' button in the bottom menu bar.

And this is the result! A perfect square shaped image. Don't forget to save!

I'm going to take this tutorial one step further though: I'm going to clip a circle shaped image!

To make a perfect circle you first need to select the 1:1 clipping size. Then check the little box just beneath the size selecting screen, this box is for clipping into round shapes. Depending on the clipping size you've selected it will clip a circle or an ellipse shape.

In the image above you can see that I've selected the 1:1 clip size and I've checked the box for round clipping.

Once again, put your mouse over the image, click the left mouse button and start dragging over the image until you have the circle size you want. Then press the 'Clipping/Cutting' button and this is your result:

Don't forget to save!

A LITTLE NOTE THOUGH

Although Photoscape lets you clip gorgeous circles and ellipses, it has one little problem: the background of a circle or ellipse shaped image will always have a color. You can choose the color in the colorbox just beneath the little box you have to check off to make the clipping round.

For some projects you really need a transparent background on a circle shaped image. Programs like Adobe Photoshop do the trick, but are pretty expensive. You can find some good programs online that will do the trick for you, but so far the programs that gave the best results are paid programs, meaning that they charge you per image clipped, or per monthly subscription. The one that I like is Clipping Magic, I had the advantage a while back to use it for free when it was still in Beta testing mode. I don't use it anymore, since I've got Photoshop myself now, but if you have a few images to clip you might want to check it out.

Till next time!

After a very busy week I finally found some time today to work on my own blog design. I figured that I needed a more professional look for my blog if I'm offering my designer services to other bloggers. Time to grow up I guess... ;-)

Although I love girly, pink and flowery blog designs, it probably suits a personal blog better than a business blog. So that's why I decided to make such a drastic change in blog layout.

I'm not finished yet, there are some minor things I still have to take care of, but they don't include drastic changes in color and appearance.

The blog layout I created has some features that can be build into other blogger layouts as well. Like the drop down menu bar at the top. Blogger doesn't have such an option within its dashboard, which is a pity. It's probably one of the reasons why some people prefer a Wordpress Blog over a Blogger Blog, because Wordpress offers this option to its users. But no worries, there are always some coding fanatics that have dealt with these issues and have written a nice coding to solve these problems. I'm really happy with my drop down menu bar, it makes it all less chaotic.

Another feature I love is the 'Related Post' Widget under all the posts. The coding for it can easily be build into the template code and the related post link images can be changed in size, color, font type, etc. 

If you would like to have a drop down menu bar or a related post widget on your Blogger blog, you can hire me to do it for you! Just contact me with your plans and I will come up with a plan of approach and a price. 

Right now I'm going to admire the new looks of The Dutch Lady (and have some dinner...).

Till soon, Daphne

Hi guys! I've finally had the courage to put up a new sort of listing on Etsy: the custom made Blogger Design!

Working with these clients was such a nice experience that I decided to offer a new service in my Etsy shop: custom made and unique Blogger Designs for the people that are looking for that.

These custom designs, what will be totally unique and will only be sold to the person that requests it, comes at a price of $65.00.

///// WHAT TO EXPECT

Maybe you've looked around my shop and saw a Blogger Template that you liked, but it just isn't exactly what you were looking for. Or you really want a unique look, a template that no one else has.

In that case you have the option to request a custom made Blogger Design. A design made for you, to match your visions and wishes. A design that will only be sold to you and no one else.

We will work out a plan of approach together and if we both agree on it, you can make the purchase in my shop. After that I will get to work for you and create a draft blog that you can view somewhere online, and from there we can adjust things if needed. Once you are convinced that you really like what you see on the draft blog, I will then install it on your Blogger account.

It doesn't matter if you already have a Blogger blog that needs a make-over or you are just starting out as a new blogger and want a unique design to start with. As long as it's a Blogger blog I can help you out! (Right now I only take on custom work design projects for the Blogger platform).


///// THE DESIGN

Before you contact me with your plans, please make sure that you know what you want from the design. Here are a few things to think about:

* design of the header
* sidebar on the right, left, or no sidebar
* menubar under the header, on top of the page, or in the sidebar
* font styles (you can visit https://www.google.com/fonts for inspiration)
* colors
* social media icons
* special widgets like: an Instagram slide show in the sidebar, a pinterest display in the sidebar, a slide show widget in the header etc.
* when you have seen someone else's blog that you really like (or certain parts of it), you can provide me with the link to it so I can get an impression of what you are looking for


///// WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

I love designing, it's become a passion. But, I'm not a wizard. I never went to designing school or whatever, I just learned everything by doing and because I love to do it. And although I can do a lot, I can't do everything.

I think honesty is really important when working with someone. So if one or your wishes is a bit over my head I will always be honest with you on that when we discuss or plans. You will have the option to cancel the project in that case. For me, the most important thing is ending up with a happy client in the end!


///// WHEN WILL MY DESIGN BE READY?

I will do my best to get the blog design ready as fast as possible. But it also depends on how many changes and adjustments have to be made.

If this all sounds interesting to you, and you're looking for a unique Blogger Design, then please contact me! Would love to hear from you!

Daphne

But this week I make it up to you with a set of free blog banners. I can see that blog banners and icon freebies attract the most readers, so I hope to make a bunch of people happy with this set.

The set contains 18 different banners and an empty banner, all in 3 colors and 2 different sizes to fit multiple sidebars. Oh, and this whole set of banners is available with 2 different fonts as well! That's going to be hard to choose from ;-)

If you're not looking for just some blog banners, but are actually looking for a complete blog make-over of your Blogger blog, then please check out my Premade Blogger Templates:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DutchLadyDigiDesign?section_id=15831556&ref=shopsection

And if you don't see anything you really love, then let me know your plans and I can make a custom made blogger blog for you!

Have a great weekend!

Download free set of Nature Greens Blog Banners here