How to add a watermark....

Are you feeling lost without Picnik?  I'm still trying to adjust to

PicMonkey...I really wish there were a way to open multiple photos.

Did you use Picnik to add a watermark to your photos and now that is gone?? Well, 

a {day} with lil mama stuart has developed an awesome tutorial 

for how to add a watermark to your photos.

Watermarking has become absolutely essential with the invasion of Pinterest.

So many photos are being pinned without credit being given to the creator.
From what I've read, you want to add a watermark to any photo in your post.

If you get a chance, head over to a {day} with lil mama stuart
and learn how to create your own distinctive watermark!

Thanks so much for sharing with us, Mindy!

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A new home page. . .

I love the look WordPress....I do, but, in reality, the learningcurve for Wordpress is just WAY beyond my time and ability right now....
So, when I saw Rebecca at You Are Talking Too Much change herhome page, I immediately contacted her because I knew thatshe was on Blogger and her home page resembled the formatting of Wordpress!!
Rebecca was so kind to email back and put me in touch with Brooke from...


Brooke also does blog and web design.....

....and for a mere $5.00, she can change your home page to feature the truncated posts!!  That is a deal!!
I get all jittery and nervous when I start messing with my blog's html code....and then I get a massive headache....Brooke made the changes in under an hour!!
So if you like my home page.....or are thinking of changing up your blog....contact Brooke at Get Outta My Head Please and tell her that Thrifty Decorating sent you!!

Thanks so much, Brooke!!

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Customized Sizes for Blog Pictures

Customizing the size of your pictures is super-easy!  I first saw the idea over at Funky Junk Interiors!  I made some changes to make Donna's suggestions fit my blog.


Here are your standard Blogger picture size suggestions:


Small

Medium

Large

X-Large

Because my picture is vertical, the X-Large size works, but normally, a horizontal picture will spill over into my sidebar and that just looks sloppy.

There's an easy way to customize your pictures to fit your blog page.  If you are on Blogger, go under Edit HTML.

Once there, you are going to look for something that looks like this....it's the html code for your photo.

From here, you are going to make the following changes...

Delete what I have highlighted in YELLOW.  

It will now look like this:

I have removed the height and the width.  

The last thing that I will do is change this "s" number:

You will need to customize it specifically for your own blog.  For me, I change all my photos to s500.  That makes the photos fit perfectly within the boundaries of my sidebars.  

The actual photo size looks like this:

Here's the photo at s300:

You'll need to do some experimenting to find the custom size that you like the best!

Making little changes to your photos like Editing in Picassa and changing the size can make big differences in the appearance of your blog!

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I love to reply back, but...

I love to get your comments and so many times I go to respond back to you via email, but I get this...

When I get this message, it means that you have not activated your email address to be linked to your comments.  


So.....if you use blogger, click on "Dashboard" like this...

That will take you to this screen where you will click on "Edit Profile."

From there, go under your privacy settings and make sure your "Show my email address" box is checked.

Now go down the page a little bit to where it says Identity and make sure that you have filled in an email address....

And now, when you leave a comment, your email address will come directly with your comment and people can easily write back to you!

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Photo Editing with Picassa and Piknic

Well, I am really adjusting to the learning curve of our new camera.  At Christmas we purchased the D3100 from Nikon.  I LOVE it, but am really working hard to shoot on Manual and not automatic settings.


One thing that I am finding is that many "beautiful" pictures are produced in post-production editing.  Unfortunately, my brain just does not have the capacity right now to learn Photoshop or the other more complicated programs....one that involves "layers".....


I'd love to try and learn them, but time and life (and expense!) are not going to allow that venture right now!  Instead I use a simple and FREE program called Picassa from Google.


If you look back through my old blog posts, you can see when I changed cameras and when I started learning new techniques with photo editing.


So here's my Photoediting 101 advice from a beginner who knows next-to-nothing.....


First....download the FREE program!!


Here's my out-of-camera shot...

It's just way too dark, so the first thing I do is lighten it up....

I lightened it by changing the settings here....

Then I went under the Basic Fixes and straightened it and looked at the cropping suggestions....for some reason, my pictures are always crooked and need to be straightened.....hmm????

Here's my shot after those edits....and I just used the program's crop suggestions.

I next click on the "Edit in Picnik" button and here's where it starts to get fun!!

The first thing I do is go under "Effects" and  boost the color....

I would love someone to explain how to use the brush option here....I just have not figured out how to use it....I only move the strength slider...

Here's how it looks after boosting the color:

After the color boost, I add a frame...

At this point, there are just so many options!  I think that I'll just round the edges for this one....a simple, quick change.

You are able to add text in Picnik, but the font that I have been consistently using on my photos to "watermark" them is found back in the Picassa program.  I go back under the Basic Fixes and click on Text.

You have so many font options under the drop-down menu and can even change the font color...just experiment and have fun!

Here's my photo with my typical watermark...

  

Let's do a little comparison....and I made this fun collage in Picnik!

I love it!!  It makes me look like a photographer when I'm not!!  And it's FREE!!

I still have so much to learn.....I'd love any suggestions or tricks that you have learned!

Happy Editing!

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Do you follow on Facebook??

Did you know that there is a Thrifty Decorating page on Facebook?


Over on my FB page, I highlight fun ideas and crafts that I find when I am browsing other blogs....like this free printable from the Wayward Girls....

I also highlight fun ideas that get linked to Thrifty Thursday....like this Yarn Wreath from The Cellar Door Stories.

It's also an opportunity for me to interact with all you readers!

So click on the 

and let's chat!

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My new buttons.....

{Sassy Sanctuary Blog Design}

Krystal at Sassy Sanctuary designed my new blog buttons.... 

She did a great job and was wonderful to work with!  I can't wait until I've saved enough money to have her do some more fun stuff!

Her pricing packages are HERE and are very reasonable.....and she does GREAT (and super fast! ) work!

So if you are thinking of a makeover for your blog....try Sassy Sanctuary!  If you're there...would you mention that you heard about Sassy Sanctuary at Thrifty Decorating?........

.....And go ahead and grab a new button!

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