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Archive for October 2009

How To Make Rounded Corners Using Photobucket: Video Tutorial

By Nicole · Comments (1)

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Last week I shared a video tutorial with you on how to create rounded corners on your photos using Adobe Photoshop Elements. Today Im posting the video on how to do the same thing using Photobucket, the free photo editing and hosting website.

Before you watch the video I have to tell you one important thing (and I cant believe I forgot this in the video!).

Though you have the ability to create corners in Photobucket, you can only save the final image as a .jpg. If you watched last week’s video, you’ll know that the only way to save the rounded corners with transparency is with the .png format. In the .jpg format, the corners will have a white background. Photobucket supports .png files, but you can not save your images in the .png format. So keep that in mind when you go to insert your photo on a background other than white! In this regard, that is one advantage that Photoshop Elements has over Photobucket. If you know of a way around this within Photobucket, please, do tell.

No for the video…enjoy!

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How To Make Rounded Corners in Photoshop Elements: Video Tutorial

By Nicole · Comments (8)

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Its tutorial time! Have you noticed lately the emerging popularity of photos with rounded corners on blogs? They’re all the rage. And creating this effect is pretty simple. I’ll show you two methods to create it, today using Photoshop Elements and later on, Photobucket.

Ready?

Now you’re a photo editing guru…congratulations!

Comments (8)

Movie Review: Where The Wild Things Are

By Nicole · Comments (6)

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Today I took my kids to see Where The Wild Things Are. I could quickly sum this review up with one phrase: I think I need a couple of Prozac now.

The movie was dark, depressing and extremely slow; sad being a movie based on a children’s book (popular when I was a little girl) and marketed towards children.

I don’t know what the little, little kids in the packed out theater thought of it (though given the squirmy, restless noisiness, I assume not very much), but my own kids were entirely unimpressed. They were disappointed and left feeling down and dreary. They missed the message for the tone.

The characters were certifiable and the themes fatalistic and depressing. A children’s movie that has the obligatory cursing and is too ‘adult’ for them, I’ll never understand, but this was one of them.

Call me Pollyanna, but I pay my hard earned money to be entertained by a movie. Not to be brought down by the worries and problems and negativity of others. Especially children, who have no business worrying about the sun burning out and global warming and loneliness and making other people happy. How about letting kids actually be kids for a while?

The movie ended on a good note. And it was graphically amazing. And if the goal was to convey that life is hard and the grass is never greener on the other side, then I guess it accomplished that goal. But my kids didn’t get it, and I didn’t need to spend $40 to learn that lesson.

In my opinion, either market a movie to kids and make it a kids movie, or market it to adults and deal with adult issues and use real characters, not monsters. But don’t combine the two.

In a word? Not worth the money…

Comments (6)

Blog Speak

By Nicole · Comments (1)

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

A while back, I mentioned doing a post on defining some terms that we bloggers like to throw around. Have you ever seen a word or acronym used over and over and never knew what it meant? Seemed like everyone else in the blogosphere (the wonderful world of blogs…first term defined) knew but you, right? I know I felt that way constantly when I first started blogging.

So I offer today an short blogging glossary, of sorts. I’m bound to forget a very common one, so please feel free to add your own term and definition if you think it would be helpful to others.

Here we go, in alphabetical order:

Badge/Banner – A visual square or rectangle image representing your blog or site, similar to an avatar. Typically displayed in a sidebar.

Blinky – Another term for “Animated GIF”, an image or badge that rotates between several frames, thus “blinking”.

Blog Tour or Carnival – A group of blogs participating in a common theme or topic, each posting on their own blog and often “linked” together by Mr. Linky (see below)

Blogger/BlogSpot – A simple to use blogging platformed, owned by Google.

Blogroll – A list of blogs that the author of a blog reads, acting somewhat as a list of recommended reading.

Del.icio.us – A social bookmarking site where users can collectively tag favorite links, creating popular content.

Digg – Another social bookmarking site where users can collectively tag favorite links, creating popular content.

Feedburner – a professional feed management system, owned by Google.

FTP - short for “file transfer protocol”. A method of transferring files to and from your web host using FTP tools like Filezilla.

.gif – An image file format, used for its compressibility, for line art or graphics viewed on screen.

.jpg – An image file format, used for its compressibility, for photographs viewed on screen.

Kirtsy – A social bookmarking site (geared somewhat to women) where users can collectively tag favorite links, creating popular content.

Meme – A questionnaire or survey passed from one blog to another, cascading throughout the blogosphere.

Mr. Linky – A widget that allows blogger to link up at the “hub” of a blogging carnival (see above)

Navbar - a navigation bar usually seen at the top of a blog, listing the pages within the blog horizontally.

Permalink - The unique URL of a single post on a blog, used when anyone wants to link specifically to a post rather than the blog itself. (Example: This post’s URL is “http://www.thepixelboutique.com/2009/10/blog-speak“)

Plugins - Files that add functionality and new features. (Example: WordPress has a plugin called “Akismet” which searches and flags spam comments automatically.)

Reciprocal Link – Linking to a blog that links back to you; primarily used to improve search engine rankings.

RSS – Stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. A method by which readers can “subscribe” to a blog to be alerted to new blog posts via an automated system, either by e-mail or in a “feed” reader.

SEO - Stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. A method of tagging and naming your content to improve your search engine rankings.

Sidebar – One or more columns along one or both sides of a blog’s main column, usually used for blogroll, links, contact information etc.

StumbleUpon – A browsing tool used to discover and share web sites, based on user recommendations

TypePad – An all inclusive blogging and hosting platform run by SixApart.

Tweetdeck – A freeware Twitter application.

Twitter – A social media application used to update others on what you or your blog/business are doing.

Twitter Party – A designated gathering where a topic or event is discussed, using a predetermined term proceeded by a hash tag so it can be easily searched (i.e. #gno…short for Girl’s Night Out).

Tag – A word or phrased attached to a post to help describe the content and make it more searchable.

Tag cloud – A visual display of tags or keywords used in a blog.

Technorati – a real-time search engine that adds a rank to a blog according to its popularity.

Template – The physical design and layout of a blog.

TrackBack - A system that allows a blogger to see who has seen the original post and has written another entry concerning it. The system works by sending a ‘ping’ between the blogs, and therefore providing the alert.

Vlogging - Short for “video blogging”. A form of blogging using video instead of text.

Web Hosting – An internet web service that offers web server space for purchase by individuals and organizations.

Widget – A small snippet of code that adds functionality to your blog, usually in the sidebar, such as a categories list, blogroll, “grab my button” code, links, etc.

wordpress.org – Open source blogging application, used in conjunction with a domain name and a hosting account.

wordpress.com – The free version of WordPress, similar to BlogSpot, where the hosting and domain name (with “wordpress” in the name) are included.

This post contains sponsored links.

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The Act of Being A WAHM

By Nicole · Comments (2)

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Being a work at home mom is a dream come true for me. I have been doing it for 13 years now (on and off, but mostly on), since my oldest son was born. Even though my kids are in school, I still choose to work at home, for myself, rather than entering the workforce. It is as much a commitment, though, as a privilege.

The benefits of being a WAHM are many…

I can set my own hours and work in my jammies.

I can work almost anywhere (with wi-fi).

I can take a day off and chaperon a field trip.

I can take on as much or as little work as I want.

But as much as I love my ideal situation, it is not without its challenges…

The schedule flexibility is a double edged sword. There haven’t been many vacations taken without my laptop.

Dinner and deadlines sometimes happen at the same time.

I have to be the accounting/sales/marketing/administration department all at once.

But by far the biggest challenge is finding balance. The balance between family time and work. Husband and children. Housework and health. Shopping lists and sports. The list is endless.

It is a constant challenge, this balancing act. And I am certainly no expert. But I have figured out a few strategies along the way to help me keep some sense of order…

Schedule, Schedule, Schedule - iCal is my biggest asset. In it, I have everything I do listed. I schedule walks, dinner menus, soccer practices, grocery runs, work projects…everything. Looking ahead each week means no surprises (or at least fewer ones). Getting a system established helps you keep track of all the things you have to accomplish and get into a routine.

Set Time Limits – Do you ever notice how computer time is warped. 20 minutes suddenly turns into 2 hours. When you have little ones vying for your attention, that cant be healthy. Set a timer. Work for an hour, then play a game with them for an hour. Don’t let the clock dictate you…you dictate the clock.

Say No – How many committees are you on? How many charity events do you help plan? There are so many things to be involved in…worthy things. But no one can do 100 things well. Pick a few things to be involved in, and do them well.

Don’t feel guilty to say “I would love to help, but I am already involved in X, Y and Z”. Weeknights are always busy for us and I have no problem saying “I’m sorry, we’re busy” simply because we have dinner and a tv show planned. If you have the freedom to do so, schedule your work as well. I don’t take on new projects during the weeks that my kids are on break. I am a WAHM, not an indentured slave.

Don’t Feel Guilty About Putting Yourself First On a Regular Basis – When I fail to take time to exercise, relax or just have some alone time, I fail to give my best to my family and my work. Take time…on a regular basis…for yourself.

Get Some Help – Amazingly, children can do chores. And so can husbands. (I know. You can thank me later.) Enlist the help of other family members to do housework. Or hire someone to come in to do it. Trade babysitting time with your friend or ask grandma to watch the kiddos for a few hours. Its amazing how people are willing to help if you just ask them to. Don’t be Superwoman. You don’t need to do it all alone.

When You Get Off Track, Get Back On…Quickly – Life doesn’t like to play fair sometimes. Kids get sick. You get sick. Holidays come. And everything can happen all at once. When it does, carve out a tiny bit of time to sit down and get a game plan. Instead of stressing and getting down on yourself about how behind you are, get a plan of attack. Sometimes I think we waste more time stewing about our busy lives than actually having busy lives.

How about you…are you a WAHM? What is your biggest challenge? What’s your best tip?

Comments (2)

Another Passion

By Nicole · Comments (0)

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

I’ve been a little silent lately, partly due to this:

and this…

but mostly, this…

The later is my newest creation…

Confessions of a Cropaholic…a scrapbooking blog.

If you are a scrapbooker, I’d be thrilled for you to head on over and check it out. And as a way to celebrate the launch, I’m hosting a giveaway with items from SnapFish, K&Co., Making Memories and more!