THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING SPELL CHECKER

 

Copyright-free image from Art-e-Zine

Terri left a comment on one of my posts, mentioning Blogger's new editor and the disappearing spell check facility. I know a lot of people are missing it!

I decided to investigate a little, and took a look on the Blogger help groups etc, and the concesus seems to be that you either download IE or Firefox's own spell checkers, or revert to the old Blogger editor. NOT satisfactory!

Personally, I'd hang fire for the moment as Blogger seems to be adding new widgets all the time - the New Page facility appeared out of nowhere just over 2 weeks ago. And there are thousands of complaints about the spell check disappearing.

Meantime - the solution!

If you download LiveWriter: for PC or for Mac - it has a spell check facility built into the programme (click Tools on the top toolbar when in LiveWriter) which saves a load of headache.

Hope this helps!

(Also published on my 1stFloorFlat and Computery blogs, as I think this is important.)

FOOLPROOF PHOTO POSITIONING IN BLOGGER

Want your pix to go where you want them to, and the text to behave itself and not move around when you hit Publish?
So do I – which is why I finally worked out how to do it. My new tutorial is here.
Hope it helps!

NEW BLOG TUTORIALS

Brassai - "Bijoux"

I've been busy, trying to catch up with things, and have put more Blogger tutorials on my Computery blog.

These included how to customise your headers, and just under the header you'll see a new page: Tutorials. This has all my tutorials listed by degree of difficulty.

Hope this helps!

QUICKIE VALENTINE'S DAY PROJECTS

It's Valentine's Day on Sunday! And I expect some of you are in a mad panic re cards, so here are a couple of quickie ideas for you.

They were put on the blog last year, but I think they're worth repeating. Vary your stamps (or collage images) to suit.

LOOSE-LEAF ORGANISER: 
This could also be a notebook or journal cover, or a card (just change the wording).

Organiser copyright Susie Jefferson

• This was done very simply using deep pink acrylic paint mixed with white, then a little overstamping as a background detail using Magenta's Dragonfly stamp and Brilliance Orchid Pink ink.
• The picture is a little reproduction cigarette card, mounted to deep rose card and fixed with photo corners.
• The rose and the letters are stickers.

CARD: A nice, easy monochrome image.

Copyright Susie Jefferson

How I did it:

• I used just one inkpad throughout: Brilliance ink in Starlite Black.
• The background is the huge trefoil stamp (stamped twice onto white car): Weathered Textiles by Tim Holtz.
• The main image is also stamped onto white card, then torn round 3 of the edges and ink rubbed on straight from the pad.
• I punched two holes at top and bottom left-hand side and threaded fibres through, then used double-sided tape to stick to the background.
• The text is made up from individual unmounted ransom-style letters.

NOTE: Any romantic image or photo would work for the main image.

VALENTINE - POODLE BUTTON

It's nearly Valentine's Day, so I'm in a frivolous & romantic mood!

Here's a sweet little dog (Fox Terrier? Poodle?)  I've photoshopped for you. Isn't he hysterical? Those cute little boot button eyes... irresistible!

This one is 220px wide, to fit in a sidebar, if you feel so inclined.

Left-click either picture to bring up to full size, and right-click to copy to your computer. Then just add as a picture in Layout view.

Here's the original picture (copyright free - sorry, I've no idea where I got it from).

Enjoy!

VALENTINE BLOG BACKGROUND, HEADER & BUTTON

Here's a sweet Valentine's Day Blogger background and header you might like to use.

2-column header - this header will also work with Minima stretch templates.

Left-click for the full size, and right-click to copy to your computer. Shrink to fit for 2-col blogs, and do NOT shrink for stretch backgrounds.

Background for a 2-column background - not just Minima templates (I made it wider).

  Copy all the code and paste into an html box.

<style type="text/css">

body {background-image: url("http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu313/1stFloorFlatComputery/44a28cd5.jpg"); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; }
</style>
<div id="tag" style="position:absolute; left:0px; top:50px; z-index:50; width:150px; height:30px;">
<a href="http://1stfloorflatblogology.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">
<img border="0" src="http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu313/1stFloorFlatComputery/9061ddc2.png"/>
</a></div>

Here are the full instructions on how to install the background and how to apply the header.

QUEEN FOR A DAY - PROJECT

I've been a little lax with keeping up with this blog due to health reasons, so I do apologise - and promise to try harder! 

So I thought you'd like a project. 


Here's my Queen For A Day card, as an alternative and grungy birthday card using distress inks and altered art techiques. 

The Tag

The tag was crumpled  first, by breaking the surface tension before crumpling by creasing down the centre with your thumbs and bending the paper backwards and forwards to prevent tearing. Now go ahead and crumple up into a ball, then flatten out and hit the high spots with an ink pad (Distress ink in Old Paper).

Spritz with clear water. This will dilute the ink (which doesn't go fugitive: some inks like black will go greenish, but Distress inks stay true to their colour) and allow the ink to run into the creases. Air dry if you want to keep the creases; use a warm iron if you want the piece to lay completely flat (no steam).

You could also smoosh the ink onto a heatproof sheet, spritz with water, then lay the crumpled tag on top and pick up the ink that way.

Overlay with strips of sheet music and dictionary paper, then edge with Distress ink (Black Soot).

Queen Victoria (PostModern Design) was stamped twice, as shown, then her face was stamped on two tiny tags, dabbed with Old Paper ink (use a sponge) and again edged in black, mounted on top of the main images using pop dots. The crown is German Scrap (Paper Artsy) and “Queen” is spelled with transparent expoxy scrapbooking letters.

The Card

Quick and simple: tear the top half of a folded card TOWARDS you for a feathery edge. Rub the edge with metallic cream (Rub'n'Buff, gilt cream) and blend in towards the centre of the card (use cotton wool, a sponge or your finger).

Take a second piece of cardstock (or a tag) and tear along two edges; rub in more cream.

Layer the second piece of card on top of the folded card, torn edges in the same direction.

Finishing

Mount the tag on top using double-sided tape or pop dots. Inside, stamp Queen for a Day, using your favourite font (or computer generate).