New! Bookmark My Blog on Your Mobile Device

In the sidebar of my blog you can now see the shiny new QR Code for my blog. When read with a QR Code Reader on a mobile device (iPhone, iPod, Android, etc) it opens a link to my blog. Add me to your bookmarks!

There are many apps to read QR codes for Apple products, Android, etc. On my iPod Touch I use RedLaser. This app works with the camera on your device. 

When you open RedLaser tap the little lightening bolt at the bottom. That opens the interface to align your camera to the QR code you want to open. You can see in the image below where it says to line up the edges with the arrows. Once the QR code is in place the arrows turn green and it tells you to hold still for the camera to read the QR code.

A little window opens showing you the URL that was read from the QR code. It offers you the choice to open the link or cancel.

Click "Open" and ta da! The link opens a tab in Safari and loads the page to which the QR code was directed. Usually it will open the mobile version of the site.

Now you can bookmark my blog quickly and easily on your mobile device! Yay!

I chose to use bit.ly to create my QR code. Above you can see the address I customized to make it clear that the link goes to this blog. When a QR code is generated through bit.ly, the service will track the number of clicks you get on that link. This is always juicy information for anyone who uses metrics to track website activity. 

The neat thing is that bit.ly creates a QR code for your link automatically. All you have to do is save it and plop it everywhere you want your readers to be able to open your links.

You can make a link to any website you want to - not just your own blog, Twitter, Facebook, Etsy, etc. I believe bit.ly is a better choice than to have just any QR code generator make your code.  

This isn't just for online uses either. You can print your QR code on business cards, fliers, and other promotional items so people can find you online from "real life". I've seen some really creative uses out in the field. I've even seen them posted up on billboards around town. (Please don't try to read that link while driving. Ask a passenger.) 

I'm going to print my code for my craft show booth so shoppers can learn more about me right away.

If you have questions please post them in the comments so we can learn from each other (or email me using the link at the top of my blog). I would love to see your uses of QR codes!

- Vickie 

How to Get an Awesome Facebook Timeline Cover Image

Recently my personal Facebook page was updated to the new "timeline". I kind of like it, but it requires a lot of scrolling down to see anything. 

At the top of the page is room for a giant "cover photo". I decided I didn't want a huge picture of little me in that spot. That's not very appealing to me. When I tried to put an artwork photo there it blew it up really big. I couldn't see all of it. So I thought, "What if I could make a photo mosaic of images that I *do* want on my page?" 

Look no further! I have the solution. And it's dead easy. 

Big Huge Labs creates a lot of fun things to do with your images. You can make jigsaw puzzles, trading cards, badges, calendars, and many other fun and funny choices. 

One of the most handy to me is the Mosaic Maker. There are many ways to customize photos, sizes (columns and rows), and where it can pull your images from. 

This is the main page of Mosaic Maker. These are the default settings. 

  

To make my mosaic for Facebook I needed to decide where to get my photos from. If I choose to pull my photos from Facebook I need to login. 

 

I want to fill my mosaic with my flickr set. I created a new set on flickr specifically for the photos I wanted to fill my mosaic. I could have also uploaded them individually from my computer, from a Facebook album, flickr photosets, flickr faves, flickr tags, or an individual flickr user. Here is my flickr photoset: 

These are my mosaic settings.

To fit in the Facebook cover image spot I chose a layout of "square tiles" with 8 columns and 3 rows. It shows a little preview of the shape the mosaic will be. You get 32 images for this size. (The maximum the Mosaic Maker allows is 36 images, but that's going to be too big for the Facebook cover spot.) 

I also have the option to choose the background color and the border color. I chose black for both. I chose 5 pixels as the space between images (the default). 

When "flickr photoset" is chosen the Mosaic Maker brings up the next box to enter the URL for the photoset. To find the photoset URL I opened the set on flickr and highlighted and copied the URL in the address bar. Then I pasted it in the box back at the Mosaic Maker page. It also lets me choose the page number of the set I want it to use if my set is more than one page. 

I clicked "Create". The next page opens my beautiful new mosaic. I can go back and edit it as much as I want if it didn't turn out like I planned. 

Then I clicked "Save" to download the image to my computer (pay attention to where it saved so you can find it). 

There are options to share it directly to flickr, Facebook, or an email address. Under the mosaic I made it has the HTML for the mosaic so it can be embedded in something like a blog post. I like that if you choose to use the HTML it makes links back to the photos so the creators get credit. (Play nice if you post a mosaic made with other peoples' photos and give the credits.) 

All the hard work is done. Now all I had to do was click "Change Cover" back on my Facebook timeline and upload my mosaic. Alternately, you could post the mosaic in your Facebook photo albums and choose from there. 

Ta! Da! 

[I'm no expert on pixel dimensions on web sites, but I think the image is roughly 850 pixels x 315 pixels. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.] 

Now you have the most awesome cover image! Wait - yours would be the second most awesome because mine rocks. :) 

- Vickie

DIY Shrink Plastic Charms

I don't know if you know, but I have a thing for shrink plastic. I love playing with it. I love how it changes images and messes with my sense of proportion and size. Yeah, we all know I like teeny, tiny things. Shrink plastic affords me the ability to make really tiny, detailed things!

I love the idea in this video! These gear charms are some of my favorite charms right now. But they are a bit spendy, so I don't use them much. And that makes me sad. Now the problem is solved! I get to mix my shrink plastic love with my embossing powder love, too! Yay!

Hope you learned something cool here. I did!

Tracy has a lot of neat paper art on her blog at tracystreasures-tracy.blogspot.com. She has many more videos on her channel at www.youtube.com/user/TracysTreasures24.

Happy charm making!

- Vickie

How To Create An Etsy Mini For Anyone

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade inmyheadstudios.etsy.com

An Etsy Mini is a way to have items from your Etsy shop show up on any page you can put the HTML code for it. It's a very useful tool for blogging and promoting.

When you want an Etsy Mini for someone the usual way to go about it is to have to ask the shop keeper for their code. But if you know how to read it is possible to create an Etsy Mini for any shop. All you need is the shop name and the shop ID number – which is found in the right sidebar of the shop’s profile page.

Ready to get your hands dirty with a little HTML? Below I show you how to change your Etsy Mini - the Flash version of the HTML code – to another shop’s Etsy Mini.

1. First thing to do is go to “Your Etsy” > “Etsy Mini”.

2. Make selections for the options based on how you want the finished Etsy Mini for the other shop to show up. Choose "Items from my shop".

3. Copy the Flash version of the HTML by highlighting all of it and doing a regular copy of the text.

4. Paste this code into a document that you can edit: Word or Text Editor, for example.

5. Go to the shop you want the Etsy Mini code for and copy their shop ID number from their profile page.

6. Paste this at the end of your document so we can come back to it.

7. Highlight and copy the shop name – inmyheadstudios for example.

8. Paste that to the bottom of your document as well.

9. Now it’s time to switch the code up. All you have to do is replace the shop ID number and shop name (user name) in your Etsy Mini code.

Here is my Etsy Mini code:

<table style="text-align: center;"><tr><td><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.etsy.com/flash/spots/etsy_mini.swf?user_id=5354473&user_name=inmyheadstudios&item_source=shop&item_size=gallery&rows=2&columns=2" width="354" height="362"><param name="movie" value="http://www.etsy.com/flash/spots/etsy_mini.swf?user_id=5354473&user_name=inmyheadstudios&item_source=shop&item_size=gallery&rows=2&columns=2" /></object></td></tr><tr><td><a style="color:#D35701; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight:bold" href="http://www.etsy.com">Etsy: Your place to buy &amp; sell all things handmade</a><br/><a style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12px; color:#0192B5; text-decoration: none;" href="http://inmyheadstudios.etsy.com">inmyheadstudios.etsy.com</a></td></tr></table>

Wait! Don't run off yet because the code above looks like gobbledeegook to you!! Stay with me! This is EASY!

In this example I’m going to change the code to make a Mini for my good friend Firebirdhouse.

My user ID number (5354473) shows up twice in the HTML code as shown below:

<table style="text-align: center;"><tr><td><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.etsy.com/flash/spots/etsy_mini.swf?user_id=5354473&user_name=inmyheadstudios&item_source=shop&item_size=gallery&rows=2&columns=2" width="354" height="362"><param name="movie" value="http://www.etsy.com/flash/spots/etsy_mini.swf?user_id=5354473&user_name=inmyheadstudios&item_source=shop&item_size=gallery&rows=2&columns=2" /></object></td></tr><tr><td><a style="color:#D35701; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight:bold" href="http://www.etsy.com">Etsy: Your place to buy &amp; sell all things handmade</a><br/><a style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12px; color:#0192B5; text-decoration: none;" href="http://inmyheadstudios.etsy.com">inmyheadstudios.etsy.com</a></td></tr></table>

All you have to do is switch out the user ID number for the other shop. Simple copy and paste action. As you can see from her profile page her shop ID number is 6174558.

10. The “user name” shows up in the HTML code in four places as shown below:

<table style="text-align: center;"><tr><td><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.etsy.com/flash/spots/etsy_mini.swf?user_id=5354473&user_name=inmyheadstudios&item_source=shop&item_size=gallery&rows=2&columns=2" width="354" height="362"><param name="movie" value="http://www.etsy.com/flash/spots/etsy_mini.swf?user_id=5354473&user_name=inmyheadstudios&item_source=shop&item_size=gallery&rows=2&columns=2" /></object></td></tr><tr><td><a style="color:#D35701; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight:bold" href="http://www.etsy.com">Etsy: Your place to buy &amp; sell all things handmade</a><br/><a style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12px; color:#0192B5; text-decoration: none;" href="http://inmyheadstudios.etsy.com">inmyheadstudios.etsy.com</a></td></tr></table>

Again all you have to do is switch out the shop user name for the other shop. Simple copy and paste action.

I switched out the information from Firebirdhouse’s shop and now I have the code for her Etsy Mini:

<table style="text-align: center;"><tr><td><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.etsy.com/flash/spots/etsy_mini.swf?user_id=6174558&user_name= Firebirdhouse &item_source=shop&item_size=gallery&rows=2&columns=2" width="354" height="362"><param name="movie" value="http://www.etsy.com/flash/spots/etsy_mini.swf?user_id=6174558&user_name= Firebirdhouse &item_source=shop&item_size=gallery&rows=2&columns=2" /></object></td></tr><tr><td><a style="color:#D35701; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight:bold" href="http://www.etsy.com">Etsy: Your place to buy &amp; sell all things handmade</a><br/><a style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12px; color:#0192B5; text-decoration: none;" href="http:// Firebirdhouse.etsy.com"> Firebirdhouse.etsy.com</a></td></tr></table>

This is what Firebirdhouse's Etsy Mini now looks like:

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Firebirdhouse.etsy.com

See? That wasn't all that hard! Knowing a bit about HTML can be a big help!

To see more simple HTML you can use go to this Google support article about HTML. This article adds more to what the last one showed.

Hope this helps you out when you need an Etsy Mini for another shop!

Finding Words in Books for Collage: A Tutorial

I like to use words in my collages, but was having trouble finding the ones I wanted. The only way to find them was to read, read, read until I found what I was looking for or gave up. Then I remembered Google book search.

You can search the contents of a book by the words you want. So now all I have to do is go to the site (http://books.google.com/books), find a copy of the book I’m cutting words from, and type in what I’m trying to find. Easy peasy.

For example, I have a copy of Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker I’m using to chop up for collage words. I search for that book at http://books.google.com/books. When I find it, I type in the box on the right side of the page for what I am searching for. It gives me the page number and the sentence the word is in. Voila!

You may not find an exact copy of the book you have in your hands, so the page numbers may be a bit off in your copy. But at least you have a place to start.

This saved my sanity and might save yours as well. Not that I’m implying anything. ☺

Now go sacrifice a book to your muse!

Da Plugboard Is In the House

Thanks to The Bitty Moose and Eli N Opus, I learned about something new today… plugboards! You can see one down at the bottom of my left column. They are little 88x31 pixel ads. Usually I frown at advertising thingys. But this is done by real people with real shops and I hope no one abuses my plugboard. Ahem to the porn people. I decided to put one up to return the favor of others allowing me to plug on their sites.

This all started with a forum thread on Etsy. Then I had to learn how to make an animated gif file in Photoshop. Tom with the international shipping cheat sheet is out. Eli N Opus is in with a very helpful tutorial on how to make animated gifs.

Please spend some time clicking the shop ads, especially those for Etsy shops!!