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Archive for May 2009

Design Focus: Laughter Shock

By Nicole · Comments (1)
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Robin just started blogging and wanted a fun design. We created hip new look with bold colors on Blogger by tweeking the Minima theme. Check ‘er out at Laughter Shock!

laughtershock

Comments (1)

WFMW: Time is Money

By Nicole · Comments (7)
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

You know what doesn’t work for me? Wasting my time.

I hate going to the dentist and waiting an hour…after I’ve made sure to get my booty there on time.

I love doing two things at once.  Watching doing research on Food Network while working on my laptop. Making my bed while calling my sister. Walking during my son’s soccer practice.

I hate sitting in traffic.

I love crossing things off my to do list because it means I’ve been productive.

I hate telemarketing calls, junk mail and spam mail. Wasters. Of. Time.

But I love a nifty little thing called TextExpander, a customizable abbreviation Mac app.

textexpander

You know when you’re blogging and you type your blog URL 13,000 times a day? It gets a little old, doesn’t it?

h.t.t.p.:././.w…w…w…t.h.e.p.i.x.e.l.b.o.u.t.i.q.u.e…c…o…m.

That’s a mouthful.

A friend told me about TextExpander and how you create shortcuts or abbreviations for those common words, phrases, heck…paragraphs you type over and over. So rather than typing:

http://www.thepixelboutique.com

I simply type

tpb

I pick the abbreviation, for as many things as I want and TextExpander does the rest.

I LOVE it!

TextExpander even tells you how much time you have saved using the application. In the two months I’ve been using it, I’ve typed 69,026 less characters and saved 2.88 hours. Sa-weet!

It cost $29.95 and you can download a free trial to see if its something you really want. But I can tell you right now…you want this. If your time is worth anything, you’ll pay for it in the first hour it saves you.

For more tips, visit Works For Me Wednesday!

Comments (7)

Flattery or Thievery?

By Nicole · Comments (1)
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

In the last week, my husband and I have become professional stagers in the process of putting our house on the market. Ok, not really. We didn’t even really get to do the fun stuff associated with it. We merely packed up half of everything we own, filled in a few nail holes and got rid of a bunch of junk before we accepted an offer from a nice young couple.

In the midst of it all, I’ve been watching a lot of HGTV…getting ideas from the pros. Watching how they redecorate or stage rooms. Its kind of the same thing I do when I’m creating a blog design…putting on the best, first impression I can. Just with paint and a few appropriately placed accessories instead of a banner and coordinating background pattern.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the term, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”? How much do you agree with it? Do you think that its wrong to copy or “borrow” someone else’s ideas in any way? Or do you think its simply “flattering” another person for their good taste?

Personally, my take on the whole idea is that if you want to use someone else’s design idea in some way, you need to be careful. First put yourself in that person’s shoes. Someone took the time to come up with the idea and to copy it outright is not only unethical, but illegal.

When I was in design school, one professor put it this way…if you find a specific design idea you really like (such as a logo, design element, pattern, etc.) recreate it yourself and change it by at least 10%. What determines 10% is obviously up for debate and interpretation, but I think its a good rule of thumb to stick to.

I would be lying if I didn’t say I often scan blogs, websites and magazines looking for ideas and inspiration. A lot of times, just looking at other people’s designs gives me an idea for something totally unrelated. For instance, I’ll see a wall paper pattern in a magazine that fits the theme I’m working on and I’ll use the idea in the banner design. Or interesting color combinations in an ad will inspire me in some way.

The internet has opened Pandora’s box in terms of “blog” lifting, copying, or “flattering”…whatever you want to call it. But like everything else in life, if everyone would follow the simple little rule we all learned in kindergarten called the Golden Rule, the world would be a nicer place to be, wouldn’t it? (Sorry, my Pollyanna is showing.)

So what’s your opinion?

Do you make New Year resolutions?

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Please, add your two cents…

Comments (1)

I’m Still Here…Just Not Here, Here.

By Nicole · Comments (0)
Monday, May 18th, 2009

Where I’ve been…

Comments (0)

Peace of Mind: A Giveaway

By Nicole
Thursday, May 7th, 2009

UPDATE: The winner of the Carbonite giveaway is #73, Lisa A. Congratulations, Lisa, and thank you to all who entered!

————–

Everyone fears it. A lot of us have experienced it. You know what I’m talking about. The dreaded “blue screen of death”, hard drive crash, sizzling smell, smoke rising from the back of the computer…Ya. That one.

For way too long, I took my chances with clunky rewritable CDs, external hard drives and just plain ol’ wishful thinking that “Oh, that won’t happen to me”. And luckily it didn’t.

Did you know that 43% of computer users lose irreplaceable files, photos and documents every year?

Well, now I’m resting a little easier, my friends. Because I’ve discoverd Carbonite, a completely automatic online backup system. Now developed for both PC and Mac systems, Carbonite is a small application that runs quietly in the background. There’s no interface to learn and nothing to maintain after the initial backup. Carbonite searches for new or changed files and when your computer is idle, automatically backs them up. When your system is active, Carbonite takes a little nap as not to slow down your internet connection.

And you can be assured knowing your files are safe. Before leaving your computer, your files are encrypted not once, but twice. In the event that you lose a file (or all of them), a few simple clicks will get those precious files back where they should be.

Carbonite works on a yearly subscription and for $55 a year is a great value for the security and peace of mind.

Win it! The kind people at Carbonite want you to be safe too. They are offering a one year subscription to one lucky reader (and if you’re already a Carbonite customer, you will receive a one year extension on your current subscriptions)! Simply leave a comment on this post. Earn extra entries by tweeting up to once a day about this giveaway (and come back and tell me you did so). Entries must be submitted by Friday, May 22 at midnight.

Good luck! And if you don’t win, do yourself a favor and check out Carbonite!

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