Monday, 13 July 2009

MUSIC WIDGETS SLOW DOWN YOUR BLOG

Copyright-free image from Art-e-Zine

Music – on your blog. A controversial subject…

So many people like to have music widgets on their blogs – but be careful!


These are one of the worst offenders when it comes to slowing down the loading time of your blog – which means you may well lose your more impatient readers.

In fact, PlayList has copyright issues, so will hang up a visitor’s screen (and block them from going anywhere else, or even deleting your blog) for 5 whole minutes – or more! I know this for a fact, as it keeps saying I (being from the UK) cannot view or play their (US) content. Can you imagine how frustrating this is?

HOW TO SET PLAYLIST

Sneaky Momma has a great post on this, showing exactly how to set your PlayList player to only play when people click on it – so no more hung screens, and no more getting blasted with music when you aren’t expecting it (when looking at blogs in the middle of the night because you can’t sleep etc).

I’m trying out Mixpod on my Blogger blog, and it also has a setting so that the music will only play when you WANT to hear it.

HOW TO SET MIXPOD PLAYLISTS

1. CREATE

Go to MixPod > Create New Playlist > Select Music Playlist Skins (big selection, from cute to geeky)

Click Create A Playlist and choose your music (use the + button to add the music)

2. CUSTOMISE

Click Customise – you’ll see two tabs, one is Colour (so you can customise the colour of your playlist skin) and the other one is the important one: Settings

In Settings, you’ll see 4 choices

Autoplay – click NO and the player will only play if people tell it to. This is the magic bit that speeds your blog right up, and stops hanging screens etc.

Shuffle – Again, a simple Yes or No choice. I like Shuffle myself. Or No makes the playlist play in the order you chose.

Loop – Yes or No – so do you want it to play continuously, or just play your list one time and stop.

Privacy – you can choose to keep your list private, so only people looking at your blog will see it – or you can make the list public so everyone on MixPod can see it too, and download it if they think your choices are mega-cool.

3. SAVE PLAYLIST

Give your playlist a name, and click on up to 3 boxes to categorise it (Latin, Soundtracks, Dance etc etc) and also tag it if you wish (moody music, breakup etc etc)

4. SAVE

Click the green Get The Code Button. This takes you to a page where you select your format (Facebook, Bebo etc) and you’ll see the embed code in the box (or you can choose to Post To Another Site, ie: straight to your blog etc, which is the one to choose for WordPress).

If choosing the embed code (you’ll create your own html box to put it in) you need to right-click and select Save All – this saves scrolling! Then paste the code into the box (HTML/JavaCode box on Blogger).

You’re done!

So be nice folks, and set your playlists NOT to play unless people want to listen to them.

Friday, 10 July 2009

PINK SATURDAY SPAGHETTI

Image from italycookingschools.com

I've got a fun one for you this week: SPAGHETTI!


Does it qualify for Pink Saturdays? Well, if you'd seen my white Tshirt afterwards... I'd say Yes!

Here's how to COOK Spaghetti Bolognese (see below for instructions on how to eat it correctly).


Italian: How To Make Spaghetti Bolognese

And here's how to EAT it!








Anyhow, here you are - the most charming cartoons by Giovannetti!








Found in a 1952 edition of Punch magazine, I tore these out to keep them. I could kick myself now that I didn't save the whole magazine. However...

Well, you know how it is - put stuff in a safe place... they finally resurfaced after around 3 years! I was looking for something else, of course... These were tucked in an old photo album (stashed with the autograph album I scanned last week) and I was ACTUALLY looking for old photographs.

For those of you who are interested, here's a couple of links about Giovannetti:
Punchcartoons.com and a blog post with another series of cartoons on Cura Romana.

It's obvious he really loved hamsters. After seeing these, I could warm to them myself. These definitely have the "AAAAAaaaaaah!" factor.


Go here to visit Beverly at How Sweet The Sound and to see all the other Pink Saturday posts!

TWO NEW TUTORIALS UP ON ETSY

Copyright Susie Jefferson




Just to let interested parties know, there are two new bookbinding tutorials in my Etsy shop.


Exciting, huh? You betcha!

Sunday, 5 July 2009

NEW TUTORIAL & SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION

I have put a tutorial on how to change that boring little icon in your address bar (the favicon) to one that suits YOUR blog.

It's on my Computery page, along with lots of other bloggy stuff like adding tag clouds, blogger buttons, making your own email buttons etc. Just look for the links in the sidebar.

Now for a bit of shameless self-promotion (if I don't, who will?)


Magazine ad copyright Craft Stamper
Stamp images & card samples copyright Susie Jefferson



These are my latest stamp designs for BladeRubber Stamps, and you are seeing them for the first time here!

I hadn't realised the magazine was even out yet (bought mine yesterday) and there the stamps were... I have to say I was thrilled...

Saturday, 4 July 2009

PINK SATURDAY - AUTOGRAPH BOOK

I found this adorable little autograph book (5in x 4in) on my travels - obviously owned by a very elderly lady, judging by the writing.


I know a lot of the Pink Saturday ladies are great churchgoers, so will be enchanted with these pages.

















For those of you who are not, these date from 1908, are written in pen&ink in a lovely (if wavering) script, so perfect for your altered art projects. Also some newspaper cuttings and a charming little watercolour.












As always, unretouched jpgs, very high resolution, so knock yourselves out! Click on them for the full-sized view, and allow some time for them to load.








Don't forget to right-click to save to your My Pictures folders.







Hope you enjoy them.







Incidentally, for those of you who were asking, I have now opened an Etsy store (details in the post below) with my first tutorial on a simple Japanese stab-bound album (so many of you wanted to know how to make them).



And, as promised, I have put the Fairy album (with the vintage roses) up for sale, along with the wedding album (see my previous Pink Saturday post further down, for all the views).
















Go here to visit Beverly at How Sweet The Sound and to see all the other Pink Saturday posts!

Friday, 3 July 2009

ETSY - MY FIRST TUTORIAL

I am pleased to announce I have posted my first tutorial for sale on Etsy!


It's a nice easy bookbinding one, for beginners or those who haven't done Japanese stab-bound albums, journals & sketchbooks before: it's just two holes, with a scored cover.

This is the easiest to start with, and it has a hidden binding as well (no knots showing).

I'm charging a huge $5.00 for it, as it's only 10 pages long and A4 size (a downloadable .pdf which can also be printed) with my hand-drawn step-by-step illustrations plus lots of photos.

My idea is to do lots of affordable little modules, so instead of paying a huge amount for a huge ebook-sized tutorial, you can buy just what interests you.

I finally got a decent camera, so now can really get going on the tutorials! I am really excited about this, so fingers crossed.


Talking of Japanese stab-bound albums, I have also put the Fairy Album and the Wedding Album onto Etsy for sale.


I'll be following up with some smaller, less expensive ones (I know these aren't cheap, but there is a lot of work in them, plus expensive ingredients)!

Thursday, 2 July 2009

ITKUPILLI - GREEN TEA

Arizona Green Tea
Copyright Itkupill



Itkupilli is one of my most favourite artists, and I just found out that she makes films too!






To go with her Green Tea piece (above), which I adore because it is extremely witty, and I love the play on words, here is her YouTube video Green Tea.

Ethereal, other-wordly and very atmospheric. Sit back, relax, and chill...



Do turn the sound on: the music is the perfect accompaniment: Qin Shang by Sa DingDing.

Aaaah, that's better...