Look What's New on Blogger? Favicons!

Have you ever wanted a favicon for you blog?  Not know what a favicon is?

Well, for those of you who aren't sure what I'm talking about, a favicon is the little logo that appears next to your blog name in the browser window.  If you look at mine, instead of the orange blogger logo, I now have a bee skep next to my blog address.

And, by the way, is it pronounced favicon with a long a or favicon with a short a as in cat?  Burning questions you know.

Want to know how I got it there?

I just stumbled upon this on the design page.  I noticed that there was a favicon box in the upper left above the nav bar.

See?

I couldn't stand it!  I wanted one!  I've wanted one, but I sure don't know enough HTML to make one for myself.  So I tried this.

1.  Choose an image - keep it simple because these are very tiny.

2.  Make sure the image is square.  Bogger won't accept it if it isn't.  My little bee skep wasn't quite square, so I uploaded it to picnik.com.  There are probably other sites you can do this one, but I'm partial to picnik since I love how they "pick blackberries" or "steal picnic baskets" as the site loads.  Appeals to my sense of whimsy.

3.  Upload your image and the first screen is the edit screen.  I clicked on resize and made sure to unclick "keep proportions".  I then made sure the numbers matched.  I had to play with these a bit so the proportions didn't get too off.  At first I had a very skinny bee skep - not nearly as cute as the one I have now.

4.  Once you're happy with your image, save it.  I called mine "Sweet Bee Favicon."

5.  Then click on the edit button for the favicon, upload your image, and then save!  That's it!  Really, the hardest part will probably be finding the right image to use.

Please fell free to ask me any questions if you give this little project a try.

Have fun with it!

Thanks for buzzing in today.  I'm always tickled to see you've popped in for a visit.

And, if you want, please enter my giveaway by clicking here and leaving a comment.

 

For those of you who love Cath Kidston, you can download desktop wallpaper for your computer by going here.  There are several to choose from.  I downloaded all of them, of course.

Sweet, isn't it?

One Dilemma Solved and a "That's Good Enough" Tutorial

You guys are awesome!

You gave some excellent advice on those two items I couldn't quite decide to sell.

I'm definitely keeping the two floral prints.

Let me show you what I did with them......

Want a close-up?

Still not close enough?

Not placed quite perfectly yet, but since I'm painting, it will do for now.

I like it with the green of the back of the bookcases, but I'm going to be painting those this week.

And now for the "That's Good Enough" Tutorial.

I have the best (in my opinion) all weather wicker chairs ever!  I love them!  They are so comfortable.  We bought them at Target about four years ago on clearance.  Why am I giving you all this information?  Background!  (Teachers know the more background knowledge you have  - generally speaking of course - the better you do in school.)

Well, this year, the seat cushions were shot!  I mean literally, they looked like someone shot at them.

We actually think a Mr. Sam Cat and a Miss Brody Cat and the neighborhood cats might have partied a little too hard on them.  See?

Well, I really wanted to sew a slipcover for them out of those drop cloths everybody raves about.

Talked my plan over with my two favorite seamstresses, the Fabulous Phyllis (owner of Sawdust and Stitches) and the Sewing Bee (my mom) and it started to get complicated.  It moved waaaaaay beyond my sewing skills (which are pretty much nonexistent) and Sewing Bee doesn't really have time to help me with it right now and the Fabulous Phyllis is pretty busy too.

Plus 

(and you all know this is the real reason)

 I wanted them done right NOW!  

(picture me stamping my foot and holding my breath)

So here are your supplies:

duct tape

scissors (that are sharp enough for cutting fabric)

canvas drop cloth (I bought two 6' x 9' for four cushions)

1.  Don't clean the cushions.  Why bother?  You're just going to cover them with canvas and duct tape.  (That's the best part of a That's Good Enough tutorial.)

2.  Cut a square or rectangle that gives you about 12" around all the edges. Great thing about these drop cloths is you can just start the cut and then tear the rest of the length.  This gives you a nice straight edge - definitely straighter than I could have cut it.

3.  Wrap the front and back of the cushion snugly.  Tape to the old cushion.

4.  Wrap the sides like a present.  This took some finagling to settle the bulk of all the fabric into some nice folds, but it was worth the time.  Tape down like you would a present with wrapping paper.

5.  Flip over (and promise to never flip them over to the other side) and settle them into the BEST patio chairs ever.

6.  Place your cute (but slightly sun-faded) pillows back on the chair and relax.  Enjoy a coffee or a cocktail or, in my case, a nice cold glass of iced tea.

Welcome to the end of my "That's Good Enough" tutorial.

I'll let you know how they survive the summer and early fall.

And, in the meantime, please enjoy a few pictures of my little patio.

 Just found the milk glass jars in my garage stash.

Thank you for buzzing in today!  It's always a treat to see you.

Still working on that 500 follower giveaway.  I do hate to be a tease, but I want it to be really nice for you.

All right - you got me - I LOVE to be a tease!  I was born a teaser - so here's a sneak peek.......

And c'mon back!  I'll make you a peach iced tea!  And I'm not teasing about that!