As you may have noticed, my blog has recently recieved some much-needed spiffing up. Namely, I've finally gotten around to creating a banner. And, even though using a scanner and Picasa might not exactly count as doing it old school, I did make the banner by hand.
Seeing as I haven't posted in a while, even though this isn't a particularly crafty topic, I thought I'd create a blog post for it. So, in case you want to create a similar banner for your blog, this is how I did it:
What You'll Need:
- Creativity
- Time
- Paper (I used a recycled paper bag for mine to get the look of craft paper)
- A Pencil, for sketching purposes
- A Pen or or Marker, to trace over the final design (I recommend felt tip)
- Colors (Everything in color on mine was done in colored pencil, and the white portion was done in crayon)
- Scanner
- Photo touch-up soft ware (I used Picasa )
Ok, so once you've gathered together all of the stuff you need, you're ready to begin. the first thing you want to do is develop an idea for your banner. I knew I wanted a ghost with some flair to be a part of my banner, so that's where I started working. And frankly, what says "Fabulous Diva" more than a feather boa. So, once I had a plan, I began sketching out my design on scrap paper and experimenting with different fonts. When I found a layout that I liked, I transferred it to the paper with my pencil, and when I was totally happy with the look of it, I outlined the text and the design in pen.
Now it's time to bust out your crayons and colored pencils and go to town. I wanted my banner to be bright and rainbow colored, so I started with the lettering to make sure I got the desired effect. Then I moved on to the little ghosty. I first drew in the part of the boa that would be seen behind his body, coloring rather lightly. Then I filled in the ghost's body with white, making sure to leave the part where the boa would drape in front of him uncolored, to provide a good work-surface for the rest of the picture. I finished coloring in the boa, and proceeded to the scanning portion of this project.
I wasn't sure whether I'd like the banner better flat or crumpled, so I scanned it in both ways, giving the paper a good crumple in between scans. Then, I imported the picture into Picasa and cut it down to size. To get a good banner size, I had to shrink the picture by about seventy-five percent. This step takes a bit of trial and error on the part of the blogger.
Once that's set, just upload your spiffy new banner picture to your blog, sit back, and admire.
Et Voila! A recipe for a blog with a little more flair than it used to have. Have fun, blogophiles!
