DIY take two!
I might have repelled most of you let alone gave you unnecessary headache because of the DIY post I published at three o’clock this morning. For that, I sincerely apologise. I might have gotten carried away for making it so overly beginners-friendly post and have covered even the minute detail of things you might have already known
about blog-header making. So after much deliberation, I decided to revise it and make it shorter, ok? 😀
(If you want to check out the longer version – it has more step by step guide, please feel free to do so – here.)
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So you want to customize your header, without having to deal with any layering and other mind boggling graphic and designs whatchamacallit? This might be the answer for you.
Note: Click images or screenshots for better viewing.
Here’s what you ned:
- Make sure you have your WP or blog’s site exact header measurements. i.e. Fresh & Clean Theme – 920 width, 116 height.
- Any images you might want to add, icons, clip arts — put them in one folder or somewhere where it’s easier for you to find them once you’re ready to start. I like to be prepared.
- Patience and lots of determination!
You can do it!
- To start go to www.pixlr.com/express
- Go to Collage — and set the following: Spacing, Roundness, Proportions to 0 and clickFinished.
- Next — go to Adjustment →Resize
By clicking the Keep Proportions bar, this would let you to manually enter the desired Width and Height of your banner, so when you upload the banner on WP or your blog, no need to deal with cropping or stretched images.To make the header canvas screen brighter, click Adjustment → Autofix then Apply. Now you have you exact header image size in white background. Easy, don’t you think? So let’s ignite that creativity you have inside, shall we? - Pick a font style to use for any texts i.e. your blog name, tag lines, etc. To do so, click Text and you’ll get a selection of different font styles. Dotted, Grunge, Handwritten, Novelty, Retro, Sans, Serif. My favourites are Handwritten, Retro and Novelty. Adjust the size of the text, reposition it, or set your desired font color from the Color picker — you’re the boss. Make sure you click Apply to save that action.
- Want to add more? For images, clip-arts, icons, go to Adjustment → Add Image. You can also adjust the Opacity of this image, clip-art, icon. Or you can apply different effects using the available features here. Explore! You’ll be surprised what you end up learning.If you want to add borders, lighting effects or more, check out Effect, Overlay and Border features. You have many to choose from, so try them! Take your time, be creative.
- And the result is….
Now that you’ve made your first DIY header, don’t forget to Save. Set the Quality to 100 % to get a better outcome!
IMPORTANT: You are able to undo your last action by clicking Undo. However, if you want to delete any actions before the last one — any of the ‘before’ actions will be lost. For example, you want to change your Font style – but this is what you did — Font → Clip-art → Pattern (Pattern being the last action). Pattern and Clip-art will be discarded at this point.
TIP: Best thing to do is Save this banner and label ex. sweetjellybeanbanner1, so at least you have that layout or design saved.
Do NOT click or close the application once you’ve saved – ex. sweetjellybeanbanner1, since you won’t be able to UNDO any actions then.
No clip arts or images you can use? Check out the Sticker feature — Pixlr’s pre-loaded
clip arts. Or go to mycutegraphics.com for a vast selection of many things cute. If you’d like to use images from the public domain, make sure they’re not copyrighted! Read every little detail of instructions by the owner.
So what do you think? Go on, try it! You might like it. Make sure to let us know how you get on, and if you manage to make your first banner from there, share it here or link back to this post . I’d love to see your work. 🙂
Done with your blog banner? Why not try your very own blog button? And spread the button love.
Check my recent post here.
♥•♥
**UPDATE**
Just want to say thank you for all the blog lovin’ and appreciation you’ve given me in the last 24 hours. I sincerely and utterly appreciate all of them. And thank you for those lovely bloggers who have shared their wonderful banners with me after following this little tutorial. Guys, it feels great!
Photo Credits: Google Images, Mycutegraphics.com,