Photoshop Elements Tutorial for Blog Headers

This tutorial provides the basic steps for customizing a header in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 for use with Blogger. Creating the tutorial was a learning process for me and I wish the screen shots were more readable within the blog window. However, if you click on the image, you get a crisp, enlarged version from Picasa photo hosting and you can use the Back button in your browser to return to the blog. The pink text box provides more detailed instructions and the transparent pink boxes provide reference points. Each screen shot is followed by a brief description of the step.

Step 1: Create a new file in PSE.

Step 2: Bring digital elements into your Editor workspace.

Step 3: Use your Text tool to add text over your graphics.

Step 4: Merge Layers once you are satisfied with your composition.

Step 5: Save your file as a .jpeg or .png.

Step 6: As a part of the saving process, choose the relative size of the .jpeg file.

Step 7: Open your blog and choose Customize on the toolbar.

Step 8: Click on the Edit button on the header element.

Step 9: Select From your computer and browse to find the file you created. Open the file and then choose your placement. Be sure to save your changes. Preview or view blog to see the results.

Step 10: Evaluate and adjust the size of the header, as needed.

Another Day in Paradise

You may remember a little smoke problem I mentioned yesterday? Here's the why-for! When the guys were pulling off the exterior wall, and outside outlet wire got cut and the bare wire landed against the metal box. It couldn't reach the ground and did some crazy thing (read:there's an electrical explanation that I didn't understand) and took out that entire circuit down to breaker box, wiping out the wires and the breaker! That was my living room and part of the basement. As a sidebar, the surge melted the connections inside of two of our cannister lights over the dining table. That's what you see above.

The plan: The fine electrician I met yesterday, Aaron of e2 in Hutchinson, will return on Monday to cut holes in my living room walls (plaster) and our basement (drywall over wood paneling) to fish new wire, repair the circuit and replace the breaker. Then, our contractor gets to fix all the walls and foot the bill.

By the way, I'm asking my step-dad, Tim, for new breakers for my birthday =)

Streeeeeesssssed

Through my temporarily thin walls I hear, "Come here. I can't tell where it's coming from."
I think, "Crap." I slip on my boots and beat it out to where the guys are working. "You can't tell where what is coming from?"
"It's not good. There's smoke and I can't tell where it's coming from."
Back in the house I go to wrangle the kids. Yep, there's smoke in the kitchen. Not a lot, but some. I check above and below and there aren't any interior signs of a problem. The guys keep tearing off the old insulation, hoping to get a better look. It seems to be coming from the floor cavity.


I don't need this!

(And as I write, we still don't know what is up. Oh yeah, and teh power is out in my kitchen and living room and we can't figure out why.)

Bubble Bunch Weekend

It was our annual high school girls' gathering this past weekend (2/20-22) and we convened at Laura's new home in Forest Lake. Just down the winding road from her house is "The Lake House", a very nice restaurant on the waterfront, where we had dinner. (I highly recommend the sirloin and the Mac and 4 cheeses!) We shared lots of giggles with our server who was supposed to wrap up our leftovers in the shape of a loon, but who didn't feel especially competent with the tin foil! She did, however, have a breakthough moment between our first and second loons! Can you tell which is which???

Next Phase: Remediation

This is one week after the ugly mushrooms reared their heads. Yesterday, off came the north wall of the house! The crew of 3 tore off the boards, pulled out the old insulation, and sanded, scrubbed and vacuumed the remaining mold. By the time they left at 3:30, they had re-insulated, covered everything with poly, and cleaned up!

Today, the north side was boarded back up with plywood and covered with wrap and they started the same process again on the east side.

Our mold and remodeling specialist, Paul, stopped by today to check the work. He felt reassured that they had taken the right approach because there were more mushrooms growing on the back sides of boards that they had identified as problematic. An inspector came out, as well, and was pleased with the thorough work.

ABIGAIL GRACE CHRISTIANSEN!

My sweet, sweet Abby Cadabby...
*sigh*

Blog headers...a retrospective

I decided to chronicle the changing headers I use on the blog. I wish I had started right away, because there were some funny ones at first (funny, as in dumb and ugly.)

The new one today is "Newspaper Flourish." The workers are pulling out old insulation on the house and brought me in a piece. It is essentially two pieces of kraft paper with a newspaper sewn inside. The paper is the Minneapolis Star Journal from April 11, 1940. The flourish on the header is digitally cut from a photo I took of a page full of "women's interest" articles and ads! Bridal monograms, fashion, cleaning tips, etc. Ironic since that is soooooo not my life! The word art is made from the font, "James Fajardo."

Dandelion Header lasted about 15 hours. 3 of which I spent trying to size the graphic to fit correctly into the template. Without success. I did re-use the font, "James Fajardo," though.
Tatoo Header stuck around for quite a while and will probably come back from time to time (in some form.) The main font is "Oklahoma" and the smaller one is, "My Old Remington."

What about Lyrics?

It occurs to me that I have never elaborated on the name I chose for this blog. (Sometimes I think I should have called it, "Too Much Information." But, no.)

I have a habit of speaking out whatever song lyric fits the moment I'm living. This goes way back. My first clear recollection of doing it is when I lived in Mexico City and roomed with Chrissy. It was a lonely, homesick time during those first several months. We took on Elton John's song, "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues" as our coping theme song.

The lyric of the moment was:

Don't wish it away,

Don't look at it like it's forever.

Between you and me,

I can honestly say

That things can only get better.

Sometimes I still say the shorthand of this to myself. Kris, don't wish it away. It turns out that it is very applicable to my life as a parent.

My habit continued into college where I listened almost exclusively to country music. Unfortunately, I think the lyrics shaped my actions a little too much rather my circumstances prompting me to quote the lyrics. The one I remember so clearly was always quoted, with a sigh. Tanya Tucker sang:

It's a little too late

to do the right thing now.

A lot of songs make me feel very wistful about specific events and times in my life. They have so much power. Some folks (my husband and son, especially) hear the MUSIC in a song...the guitar riff, the harmony, the drumbeat. But I don't. I hear the lyrics. So I speak the lyrics.

Now I'm looking for some new lyrics. My defining moments and songs over the past several years have looked mostly like this:

Put away those carpet squares,

You're gonna break my heart.

(Justin Roberts, Not Naptime)

I'm ready for a new collection. (I was going to say "of CDs" and then I had to stop because we're on to MP3s, now, aren't we?) Maybe I'll just say "soundtrack." I need a new soundtrack.

My Two Best Recipes

One of these seems really fancy, but is really easy. The other seems underwhelming, but it tastes fabulous. Mark will agree that these are my two best recipes!

Not That Fancy Bruschetta (based on a Let's Dish recipe)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into thin strips
Italian dressing (not the creamy variety)
2 stems fresh basil, coarsely chopped (see my tip later about an alternative)
1 T. chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1 seeded, diced Roma tomato
8 oz. (uncooked) orzo pasta
8 slices of Texas Toast
butter, salt and shredded parmesan to taste

1 day to 1/2 hour in advance, place thawed chicken in a container and cover it with about 1/2 c. of Italian dressing.

Prepare pasta and Texas toast according to package directions. While they are cooking, remove the chicken from the marinade, but reserve the dressing. Saute the chicken in olive oil for 5 minutes and then remove chicken to a plate. Add the basil, sun-dried and Roma tomatoes to the saute pan along with a tablespoon or so of the reserved dressing. Cook on medium until the liquid has reduced somewhat to a creamy texture. Return the chicken to the pan and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.

Serve chicken atop the toast with a side of buttered orzo. Generously top both with parmesan!

HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE EASY: Whenever I buy or harvest fresh basil, I make sure to have some Roma tomatoes on hand. I chop up all the basil and dice the tomatoes in the proportions of the recipe and fill an ice-cube tray with the fresh mix. Then, I fill the tray with water, cover and freeze. Later I move the cubes to a zipper bag and pull out about three at a time when I want to make this dish. The only difference is that it takes slightly longer to reduce with the bit of extra water.


Ritz Casserole

1 box of fried rice-flavored Rice-a-Roni
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boiled and cubed
8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 c. sliced almonds
1 roll of Ritz crackers, crushed
1/4 c. butter

Prepare Rice-a-Roni according to package directions and place in the bottom of a square casserole dish. Sprinkle almonds over the rice mix. In a medium bowl, mix chicken, sour cream and soup until the chicken is evenly coated. Spread chicken mixture over the almonds. In a small bowl, melt the butter and add to that the crushed crackers. Sprinkle the crackers over the chicken mix and bake for 25 minutes, uncovered at 350 degrees.

This recipe is quite rich. You may chose a light sour cream, reduced fat soup and/or less butter with the crackers to lighten it up.

Long Ago

Katie's 2nd Grade class is studying "Long Ago" and they have been learning about pioneer days. Today they will visit Cahill School in Edina and they are all dressing up to be " in character." They'll eat lunch during their field trip and she has hers packed in a little basket, all wrapped up in a fabric napkin. (She didn't buy into the idea of packing beef jerky to eat, though!)


While this post is supposed to be about how cute Katie looks...I can't help but mention that...I ROCK! After the contractor left at NINE O'CLOCK last night, I whipped up this costume. She had the blue dress from Lands End, so I just added the details. But look at that bonnet!!! I did that! With no pattern! (I was so relieved when the "visor" part turned out!) So...I'm extra-invested in how cute Katie looks today =)


Wow, this is a MOMENT. It is not very often that I realize that I have done something good as a mom.

"X" Marks the Spot

Months after the hail storm that damaged our siding, were were finally getting it replaced. The story is LONG. The insurance was only willing to replace the north and west faces of the house. Since our existing siding was aluminum, our contractor was able to wrap the whole house in vinyl for the insurance proceeds. Work started on Thursday 2/12 and we were quite pleased. By lunch time on Friday 2/13...not so much. Kyle and Eric discovered mushrooms growing behind the tarpaper. After a quick consultation with their mold remediation expert, the guys proceeded to put up the moisture barrier and mark the areas that would need to be addressed. It is painful to look at the red "x's" all over my house! There is mold on three sides in varying degrees. What we have ranges from "cleanable" to dry rot to MUSHROOMS. Tonight, Paul comes back to talk mold again...*sigh*

On the plus side, Kyle and Eric were able to put up the vinyl on the front of the house, so at least one neighbor doesn't have the eyesore!

A Blog I Follow from Time to Time

"Stuff Things Are Made Of" is a blog that I have come to enjoy. Kristi makes me laugh and makes me think about "stuff." A while ago she posted a list of things to blog about which I plan to work through. Since I've started blogging for our New Wineskins group and now for VBS planning purposes, I haven't done much with my personal blog and it is getting stale!

http://stuffthingsaremadeof.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-01-24T00%3A25%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=10

This One's For the Girls!

Chicks

Click on the photo and you'll be taken to the host site where you can enlarge it to see the detail and read the journaling!