A New Look

What a relief it was to step outside today and not flinch from the cold. It finally felt like spring should today so I figured I would celebrate new beginnings (weather and personal) with a fresh look for the blog. I'm really pleased with the results, what do you think?

The last time I changed my background and header I had a few people ask me how this was done, basically I googled blogger tutorials and waded through a zillion blogs/sites until I found a few that sounded more like english than latin (I don't speak computer geek very well...yet). Let me save you the trouble of doing all that searching yourself and share some links with you.

* First things first, you'll need an account with Photobucket or Flickr in order to snag a url (web address) for the pictures you choose once you get started*

It can be confusing reading tutorials/help pages if you're not sure what the different parts of your blog are called (main, header, body, footer etc). Take a quick peek here for a simple explanation.

Split Decisionz provides a really simple (compared to others) tutorial for changing your background. Be sure to check out her other tips as well, she has some great helpful hints AND some free templates!

Free Patterns for Backgrounds *save the patterns you like to your photo sharing account and then you'll be able to access the url needed as described in the tutorial by Split Decisionz*
Squid Finger (download patterns from the site and then upload to your photo account)
Citrus Moon (right click and 'Save As' on any pattern you like, then upload to your photo account

Free Photos *sites with photos you can download for free which can be used in headers, posts etc. without worry of copyright infringement - the 'eyes' pic in my header was from one of these sites*
stock.xchng
Free Stock Photography
StockVault.net

Tips and Tricks with Blogger
Our Blogger Templates - lots of free templates to save you the trouble of creating your own and loads of tutorials and tips if you decide to take the 'do it yourself' plunge
Blog U - pretty easy to follow and he'll answer your questions!
Beta Blogger for Dummies - there is way too much info on this blog so it can be slow but if you find what you need the explanations are easy to follow

Playing with the design of your blog takes time so don't expect to make big changes super quick the first or second time you try. I'm certainly not an expert, I've spent loads of time tonight trying to figure out what html code is creating that faint blue highlighting you see below and have finally given up for now! That being said, I am fumbling my way through the process of personalizing blogs and will try to help you out if you have a problem, so please just ask!