How would you like a fancy cover for your Facebook Timeline? It's the easiest thing to do. No resizing, no templates, no messing around.
That paragraph apparently makes me a heretic because whenever I try to explain it the know-it-alls jump on it and try to get you to do it the difficult way. The stupid, time-wasting way. I'm not sure why that is other than the know-it-alls having the need to demonstrate their over-powering know-it-allness. Or the need to get you on their blog as traffic fodder.
So, without further rambling, this particular know-it-all is going to tell you the secret then you can join me in eternal banishment.
Imagine you are a normal person. A non-scrapbooker. That thing your family would like you to be! Click on the bottom right of your Facebook cover. It invites you to change the cover. What does it do then? It invites you to choose a photo.
Choose a photo.
Not set up custom size in MMS/Photoshop. Not use a template. Not resize anything.
Choose a photo.
So it stands to reason that any photo will do. After all, the normal people in the world don't have digi scrapping layouts. They have a photo.
Facebook resizes the photo to get the size it wants. Just as it will resize your layout. Ah, but, you say, it needs a cerain shape. No, it doesn't. A certain part of the layout will show but you get to move it up and down to choose the part you want. So what you need - and all you need - is a regular layout where the photos or other bits you want are in about 25% of the page. White space scrappers rejoice!
Now is the time to take a look at my cover layouts HERE. What do you see? Square layouts apart from one - the bunny one - which was a desktop layout.
Some of them lend themselves to being a Facebook cover without any tweaking, like the one I'm using today for my wedding anniversary or the one of my parents' wedding. The family tree ones are adaptations of pages I was making anyway for our family tree site. No time was wasted with tutorials and templates. I have tried the 851 x whatever templates but on my big monitor they look fuzzy. This suggests Facebook is doing something clever with its own resizing. Well done, though, those designers who offer them as freebies. It's good marketing.
Step by step, then:
1) Choose one layout you've already done where the bits you want are in about 25% of the page. They don't all have to be in a line. Don't worry, you don't have to use this as a FB cover. Unless it looks brilliant!
2) Start a new Facebook album called Facebook Cover Layouts or something to make it obvious it's not going to be your kids round the Christmas tree. MAKE THIS ALBUM PUBLIC. This is important because it's where your designer credits will be seen. Later on you will have several cover layouts in here and you can change your cover whenever you want.
3) Add your layout. IMMEDIATELY go onto your timeline and click on the menu arrow to the right of the photo. HIDE IT from your timeline or you will confuse your friends. You can upload your original 3600 x 3600 if you want to then go and make a coffee as it will take a while to upload. I save 1200 x 1200 versions of most of my pages for online sharing so I use that.
4) Go to Change Cover on your cover and select the photo. You will see that FB has reduced the size so that the full width of your layout shows. Click on Reposition Photo as slide it up and down until you get the bit you like. Does it look fantastic? Then hit SAVE. If it doesn't then don't save it. You are only doing this for practice.
Easy huh?
Now go through your layouts and see if you have any that would be good for your FB cover. If not, open a regular 12 x 12 page and start creating. You can put all your elements top of bottom or you can make a clever arty page with stuff in one corner too. Have fun. Don't forget the designer credits. Add them to the page itself (you can see where I've done that) or type them into the box when you upload the page on Facebook.
See? No need for resizing. No need for templates. No need for know-it-alls wasting your time.
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Boycott MoreThan3Shared!
I can't stand having my time wasted. Maybe that comes from spending years having to account for it so the clients could get billed when I had a Proper Job. There are currently two huge timewasters for digi scrappers:
1) The pesky MoreThan3Shared site. Ok, that is funnier if you're in the UK because we have TV ads for an insurance company called More Than. I won't give its real name because Blogger hates it too.
2) Facebook Covers. The easiest thing in the world but I can bet you've had your time wasted... More in my next post. I'd like to work up to Full Rant Mode.
MoreThan3Shared has always been a pain because it makes you wait to download freebies. Can you imagine going into a supermarket where a demonstrator is giving our samples of a new product, they give it to you then say "Just stand over there for a while before eating it"? How about if they say to you "Before you eat this sample - which we are only giving you in the hope that you buy more of it - we want your personal details and email address so we can sell you other junk"?
Well, that's what MoreThan3Shared does. Enough already. Designers use freebies as a marketing tool in the hope that you will buy the associated kits (it certainly works on me). Everybody wins.There are other download services available so there is no use for wasting our vaulable time. If the link goes to MT3S click off it! Vote with your feet. Or, rather, your mouse.
Yesterday I set up a group on Facebook for those who like collecting fre3bies. You can join it HERE. I've already had snitty messages from designers moaning about the ban on MoreThan3Shared. They know where the door is.
1) The pesky MoreThan3Shared site. Ok, that is funnier if you're in the UK because we have TV ads for an insurance company called More Than. I won't give its real name because Blogger hates it too.
2) Facebook Covers. The easiest thing in the world but I can bet you've had your time wasted... More in my next post. I'd like to work up to Full Rant Mode.
MoreThan3Shared has always been a pain because it makes you wait to download freebies. Can you imagine going into a supermarket where a demonstrator is giving our samples of a new product, they give it to you then say "Just stand over there for a while before eating it"? How about if they say to you "Before you eat this sample - which we are only giving you in the hope that you buy more of it - we want your personal details and email address so we can sell you other junk"?
Well, that's what MoreThan3Shared does. Enough already. Designers use freebies as a marketing tool in the hope that you will buy the associated kits (it certainly works on me). Everybody wins.There are other download services available so there is no use for wasting our vaulable time. If the link goes to MT3S click off it! Vote with your feet. Or, rather, your mouse.
Yesterday I set up a group on Facebook for those who like collecting fre3bies. You can join it HERE. I've already had snitty messages from designers moaning about the ban on MoreThan3Shared. They know where the door is.
A Tweak Here, A Tweak There ...
Mother-in-law Maureen has a huge box of photos from when she was a child. Her Dad was a keen photographer and developed most of his own photos. Sadly, that has meant the emulsion on some has degraded even more than you would expect for prints from the 1930s. I kept looking at this one after I'd scanned it and wondered what I could do with it:
So ... I just jumped in and mostly used Paint Shop Pro 8. I have PSPX4 but it gives me a headache. I ran it through the Auto-Fix on Picnik (I really will miss that) and, of course, it brought up every little scratch. The main problem though was cloning bits to replace the missing section. Her arm still isn't right and I'll tweak it even more but it was good enough for a few pages. Here's just one made with Raspberry Road Designs' Seashells and Seashores which I love to bits as it's the right colours for the UK seaside.
So ... I just jumped in and mostly used Paint Shop Pro 8. I have PSPX4 but it gives me a headache. I ran it through the Auto-Fix on Picnik (I really will miss that) and, of course, it brought up every little scratch. The main problem though was cloning bits to replace the missing section. Her arm still isn't right and I'll tweak it even more but it was good enough for a few pages. Here's just one made with Raspberry Road Designs' Seashells and Seashores which I love to bits as it's the right colours for the UK seaside.
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Sometimes colour is not worth the trouble!
In this blog colour has a "u";-)
DH was an "oarsman" at school and university. Say what? He rowed the long boats you'll see in any movie featuring Boston. We have several professional shots, usually at the end of a long race so you can't see any faces as they're bent over in agony and exhaustion. One useful one showing an actual race in progress was meant to be coloured but I think someone developed it at home and the colours were virtually gone. There was brown, green and ...er, brown. Whenever I tweaked it the colours of their shirts turned a weird violet colour.
The answer was to make it sepia and not just standard brown sepia (we already had enough brown, remember?) I tweaked the sepia colour in my beloved Picnik and then put the picture in a page created from Mye De Leon's Down By The River. There was a frame cluster I bought with the kit but it looked a bit twee for a rowing shot so I made my own. The text is from the Eton Boating Song.
DH was an "oarsman" at school and university. Say what? He rowed the long boats you'll see in any movie featuring Boston. We have several professional shots, usually at the end of a long race so you can't see any faces as they're bent over in agony and exhaustion. One useful one showing an actual race in progress was meant to be coloured but I think someone developed it at home and the colours were virtually gone. There was brown, green and ...er, brown. Whenever I tweaked it the colours of their shirts turned a weird violet colour.
The answer was to make it sepia and not just standard brown sepia (we already had enough brown, remember?) I tweaked the sepia colour in my beloved Picnik and then put the picture in a page created from Mye De Leon's Down By The River. There was a frame cluster I bought with the kit but it looked a bit twee for a rowing shot so I made my own. The text is from the Eton Boating Song.
Monday, 11 July 2011
A Day At The Seaside
I renewed my Smilebox subscription today, although I was not amused that a) their payment process did not tell me anywhere what the amount would be (they charge us in £s so that THEY save currency charges and WE pay VAT. Brilliant), it just charged my card with a random amount of money, and b) they started my year's subscription LAST month even though I hadn't used the service which was a bit cheeky. Presumably then you have to have it for life or cancel and never subscribe again.
Oh well, they get this year's money and we'll see if it's worth renewing next year. This album is of our day in Bournemouth last week - probably our entire summer. I like the subtle colours. The design is by Anna Aspnes.
I also discovered this one languishing on my hard drive - John's 40th Birthday Cruise in 2001. It was pre-digital so not many photos! I was VERY thin, partly because I'd had a bad kidney infection for the first part of the cruise. One way to lose weight ... I was weeing for England.
Oh well, they get this year's money and we'll see if it's worth renewing next year. This album is of our day in Bournemouth last week - probably our entire summer. I like the subtle colours. The design is by Anna Aspnes.
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| This photo album personalized with Smilebox |
I also discovered this one languishing on my hard drive - John's 40th Birthday Cruise in 2001. It was pre-digital so not many photos! I was VERY thin, partly because I'd had a bad kidney infection for the first part of the cruise. One way to lose weight ... I was weeing for England.
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| This digital scrapbooking design customized with Smilebox |
Friday, 17 June 2011
Who wants a piece of pie?
On the My Memories Suite Facebook page yesterday we were trying to work out how make a pie arrangement of 4 separate photos. The way to do that was to think of the four photo as ONE photo which we could then make into a circle. You can do all this in MMS. Rather than try to explain this in words I've put it all in pictures. Not in a slideshow because how annoying is that when it goes too fast or too slow?
Click on the image below. This will take you to the instruction "gallery". The first page should already fill your screen but if it doesn't just double click on the main picture in the gallery. Then you can use the arrows at the top of the screen to move through the instructions at your own pace or you can go to whichever page you need.
Have fun ...remember not to cut people's heads off!
Click on the image below. This will take you to the instruction "gallery". The first page should already fill your screen but if it doesn't just double click on the main picture in the gallery. Then you can use the arrows at the top of the screen to move through the instructions at your own pace or you can go to whichever page you need.
Have fun ...remember not to cut people's heads off!
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
The Fun - and The Agony - of ABC Albums
During April the My Memories Suite Facebook page organised an ABC project. You got to choose your subject and - silly me - I decided to make double pages all about cruises. Cruises over the last 15 years, I might add. It might be exhausting and expensive to go to all these destinations in one cruise.
It was great fun to do but the double layouts might have been a tad ambitious at a time when I'm supposed to be sorting out work for the new tax year. And what do you do with letters like X and Z? Well, for X I chose X-ray machine and Xenophiles (which means people who like foreign travel/foreigners) and for Z there was Zeebrugge and ZZZZ. You have to have ZZZ in an ABC album!
This is the first album I've had printed as a photobook by Photobox, who conveniently have a 20% off deal going on. It should arrive this weekend. I wonder if I've lost my edges....I like the added 3D effect you get by printing 8 x 8 and putting them in page protectors but printing is tedious and/or expensive. I haven't tried Persnickety Prints' 12 x 12 service yet. Sounds good though...
We worked out how to hook the laptop to our TV and see giant slideshows on there. Maybe that's the future!
Slideshow of the ABC of European Cruising album is below. You can click on any image or click HERE to see the gallery. Gotta love Smugmug!
It was great fun to do but the double layouts might have been a tad ambitious at a time when I'm supposed to be sorting out work for the new tax year. And what do you do with letters like X and Z? Well, for X I chose X-ray machine and Xenophiles (which means people who like foreign travel/foreigners) and for Z there was Zeebrugge and ZZZZ. You have to have ZZZ in an ABC album!
This is the first album I've had printed as a photobook by Photobox, who conveniently have a 20% off deal going on. It should arrive this weekend. I wonder if I've lost my edges....I like the added 3D effect you get by printing 8 x 8 and putting them in page protectors but printing is tedious and/or expensive. I haven't tried Persnickety Prints' 12 x 12 service yet. Sounds good though...
We worked out how to hook the laptop to our TV and see giant slideshows on there. Maybe that's the future!
Slideshow of the ABC of European Cruising album is below. You can click on any image or click HERE to see the gallery. Gotta love Smugmug!
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Yes, you CAN use old photos!
It's a cause of HUGE regret that I was born too soon to have my entire life documented in thousands of digital photos. During my childhood photography was so expensive that we had a 24 print film which lasted two summers. Our childhood in twelve photos a year! Compare that to our Royal Wedding street party which amassed nearly 2000 photos in one day ... that scrapbook is, needless to say, a work in progress. You can see a few draft layouts HERE.
So ... it's important to me to use the old photos even if they're in poor condition. One tip I can offer is to stretch the colour balance and saturation so that they match the intense colours you want to use in your layout. It doesn't matter if it looks too stretched. You want to capture the atmosphere of the pics. You remember it was a bright sunny day on the beach and any (intelligent) person you show your album to can read the date!
I had a fabulous vacation with friends in 1978. There are very few decent photos but I was determined to make an album. You can see it below ( click on any image to go to the SmugMug gallery then click again to make it fill the screen). I'll put a list of album credits up later but you will see The Ettes' kits in evidence again - this time Some Beach Somewhere and Under The Stars. As always I've used several quickpages and added bits to them.
No Flash? You can see the gallery HERE.
So ... it's important to me to use the old photos even if they're in poor condition. One tip I can offer is to stretch the colour balance and saturation so that they match the intense colours you want to use in your layout. It doesn't matter if it looks too stretched. You want to capture the atmosphere of the pics. You remember it was a bright sunny day on the beach and any (intelligent) person you show your album to can read the date!
I had a fabulous vacation with friends in 1978. There are very few decent photos but I was determined to make an album. You can see it below ( click on any image to go to the SmugMug gallery then click again to make it fill the screen). I'll put a list of album credits up later but you will see The Ettes' kits in evidence again - this time Some Beach Somewhere and Under The Stars. As always I've used several quickpages and added bits to them.
No Flash? You can see the gallery HERE.
Just Had To Add To It!
Scroll down a few posts and you'll see a back view of me in a swimsuit. Eeek.... it's the layout called Fish Gotta Swim. It's still called that but I couldn't resist tweaking it a little and basically throwing more stuff at it. Here's the revised version:
I love the whale and the fish from The Ettes' Some Beach Somewhere. They have featured in a few layouts lately. Most elements are from Bella Gypsy's Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny.
I love the whale and the fish from The Ettes' Some Beach Somewhere. They have featured in a few layouts lately. Most elements are from Bella Gypsy's Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny.
Friday, 25 March 2011
Great news for UK Digi Scrapbookers!
At last! My Memories is now licensed for the UK market. This is by far the easiest digital scrapbooking program around. You can start making pages in seconds.
It comes with photo layouts already created for you or you make your own. If you have a whole lot of photos and want a quick album you can use the Fast Fill feature and watch the album being created before your very eyes. My favourite feature is the photo mat. Add a mat as wide as you like (very narrow one is great for creating an inked look) and match the colour to anything on the page. You can add mats to all your photos as once if you like.
You can even download their kits as normal papers and elements to use in your PhotoShop/Corel layouts. There are lots of freebies and full tutorials on their forum plus a very friendly Facebook page HERE with lovely people who will help beginners with anything they need.
Give My Memories a try HERE!
The page below took me only ten minutes to do. Background is from Lindsay Jane's Pool Party kit. String is from Cathy Krenek's Splash, alpha from Melissa Bennett's Just Chillin' and water splash is from Traci Reed's Belly Flop. Tip: Make an extra page in the MM album for notes/artist credits etc ;-)
Edited May 2011 - well, maybe it isn't licensed for the UK after all since my UK friends have been unable to buy it! They had better get their act together soon or it will be the competitor who gets the sales from my on board classes!
It comes with photo layouts already created for you or you make your own. If you have a whole lot of photos and want a quick album you can use the Fast Fill feature and watch the album being created before your very eyes. My favourite feature is the photo mat. Add a mat as wide as you like (very narrow one is great for creating an inked look) and match the colour to anything on the page. You can add mats to all your photos as once if you like.
You can even download their kits as normal papers and elements to use in your PhotoShop/Corel layouts. There are lots of freebies and full tutorials on their forum plus a very friendly Facebook page HERE with lovely people who will help beginners with anything they need.
Give My Memories a try HERE!
The page below took me only ten minutes to do. Background is from Lindsay Jane's Pool Party kit. String is from Cathy Krenek's Splash, alpha from Melissa Bennett's Just Chillin' and water splash is from Traci Reed's Belly Flop. Tip: Make an extra page in the MM album for notes/artist credits etc ;-)
Edited May 2011 - well, maybe it isn't licensed for the UK after all since my UK friends have been unable to buy it! They had better get their act together soon or it will be the competitor who gets the sales from my on board classes!
Our first cruise
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| This free scrapbook generated with Smilebox |
Our very first cruise on the Odysseus (a small ship I'd probably refuse to go on now) in 1994. Very few photos since it was pre-digital and not very good photos at that but I think this Smilebox works well. I've saved the pages as jpegs and will add some journalling boxes. I really don't like the strange Smilebox font.
Aha ... so you can put html code into Blogger in the old editing system but not the new! I wasted half the afternoon trying to put a slideshow onto the Family History Scrapbooks blog!
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Family History Scrapbooking on Facebook
As I idly waste most of my day on Facebook I've come across quite a few people working on their family tree who love old photos and scrapbooks - plus scrapbookers who seem to be working on their family tree as well. So it's time the two came together.
I've set up a basic website for articles and links (the problem with Facebook pages being the useful information disappears down the page). I'll work on that over the next few weeks, preparation for the next tax year permitting. In the meantime the Facebook page is up and running HERE. Please "like" us and add your comments and photos. Everyone is welcome, whatever their main interest. Companies and designers are welcome to promote their products and services but I hope they will also stick around to give some tips.
You can get help restoring your old photos and we'll help beginners get started - whether it's starting their family tree or their scrapbooks.
I've set up a basic website for articles and links (the problem with Facebook pages being the useful information disappears down the page). I'll work on that over the next few weeks, preparation for the next tax year permitting. In the meantime the Facebook page is up and running HERE. Please "like" us and add your comments and photos. Everyone is welcome, whatever their main interest. Companies and designers are welcome to promote their products and services but I hope they will also stick around to give some tips.
You can get help restoring your old photos and we'll help beginners get started - whether it's starting their family tree or their scrapbooks.
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Snow for Spring
It's a Spring bank holiday weekend and it's raining. Well, obviously. It's cold too which prompted me to make this Smilebox album with January pics I love the bright colours in this one. I hope we don't get the snow this year. I was so busy taking photos I didn't protect the plants and now I'm spending time and money replacing them!
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| Scrapbook created with Smilebox |
Friday, 28 May 2010
Affiliate Links?
How many blogs do you see with affiliate banners for this and that? "What is she talking about? Why doesn't she just refer to the banners she has to the right?" you may well ask ...
Well, that's because most affiliate programs don't allow you to mention that you're an affiliate of the program even though they give you the banners to put on your site. Sounds daft? It's because they don't want you saying "please click on this and I'll earn 50c" or whatever. I probably broke a few rules there except I don't think I have any banners like that!
Why do I have affiliate banners on my sites?
Because I tend to have expensive sites. I upgrade to remove ads, I upgrade for more space so you can see lots of pics, I use private sites for family photos and SmugMug for better viewing. It all costs money and a few dollars here and there helps with the costs. Affiliate earnings don't make me a profit as such, she says speaking like an accountant conscious of tax returns. They simply reduce costs (or reduce losses if I'm continuing to think like an accountant who was once a tax inspector!)
Is it a good idea to turn a hobby into a business? No. Absolutely not.
Is it a good idea to turn a hobby into a business? No. Absolutely not.
I thought it was worth saying twice!
Been there, done that. I ran a team of consultants for a scrapbooking company a while back and it earned me the title of "Most hated scrapbooker in the UK". Nice. You have to wonder about the kind of people who vote in a poll like that but it's good to know there will be a scrapbooking group for them in hell when they get there.
Hobbyists tend to be hypocrites. They want to be able to buy everything but don't want anyone to make money selling it and treat you like something they stepped in if you run a scrapbooking business. Looney tunes ....
It must be fun being an employee of a craft store or website. That way you get paid but don't get blamed for running the business!
As for stating I'm earning money from something, I think mny readers are also intelligent enough to know if they click on a banner it's going to be an affiliate link.
Well, that's because most affiliate programs don't allow you to mention that you're an affiliate of the program even though they give you the banners to put on your site. Sounds daft? It's because they don't want you saying "please click on this and I'll earn 50c" or whatever. I probably broke a few rules there except I don't think I have any banners like that!
Why do I have affiliate banners on my sites?
Because I tend to have expensive sites. I upgrade to remove ads, I upgrade for more space so you can see lots of pics, I use private sites for family photos and SmugMug for better viewing. It all costs money and a few dollars here and there helps with the costs. Affiliate earnings don't make me a profit as such, she says speaking like an accountant conscious of tax returns. They simply reduce costs (or reduce losses if I'm continuing to think like an accountant who was once a tax inspector!)
Is it a good idea to turn a hobby into a business? No. Absolutely not.
Is it a good idea to turn a hobby into a business? No. Absolutely not.
I thought it was worth saying twice!
Been there, done that. I ran a team of consultants for a scrapbooking company a while back and it earned me the title of "Most hated scrapbooker in the UK". Nice. You have to wonder about the kind of people who vote in a poll like that but it's good to know there will be a scrapbooking group for them in hell when they get there.
Hobbyists tend to be hypocrites. They want to be able to buy everything but don't want anyone to make money selling it and treat you like something they stepped in if you run a scrapbooking business. Looney tunes ....
It must be fun being an employee of a craft store or website. That way you get paid but don't get blamed for running the business!
As for stating I'm earning money from something, I think mny readers are also intelligent enough to know if they click on a banner it's going to be an affiliate link.
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Making Your Layouts "Move"
We did a lot of work in our garden recently and DH is very well trained when it comes to taking photos. What to do with four photos almost the same of Sharon painting the fence???
Here's the result:
This is one of the standard photo templates in My Memories Suite so it took only moments to do. The extra embellies are from Hot Flash Designs' (very appropriate ...) Mrs Fixit kit from A Cherry On Top.
Here's another one from a recent vacation in Madeira. I just HAVE to go in the sea, no matter how wild, cold and dangerous it might be. Note John is several feet up in complete safety while taking the shots! I shortened the photo boxes a little. That's easy - just "grab" the square boxes on the edge and drag them to where you want them to be. Do this BEFORE you add the photos unless you want to look like a reflection in a carnival mirror!
I think this one is enhanced by the "final" picture of me coming out of the water. John did take a close up of my chest but you don't want to see that one ... The aspirational girl in bikini and the waves are from Bella Gypsy's Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny (told you it was aspirational) kit.
Give it a go - the template is already there for you!
Here's the result:
This is one of the standard photo templates in My Memories Suite so it took only moments to do. The extra embellies are from Hot Flash Designs' (very appropriate ...) Mrs Fixit kit from A Cherry On Top.
Here's another one from a recent vacation in Madeira. I just HAVE to go in the sea, no matter how wild, cold and dangerous it might be. Note John is several feet up in complete safety while taking the shots! I shortened the photo boxes a little. That's easy - just "grab" the square boxes on the edge and drag them to where you want them to be. Do this BEFORE you add the photos unless you want to look like a reflection in a carnival mirror!
I think this one is enhanced by the "final" picture of me coming out of the water. John did take a close up of my chest but you don't want to see that one ... The aspirational girl in bikini and the waves are from Bella Gypsy's Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny (told you it was aspirational) kit.
Give it a go - the template is already there for you!
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