By |

IMG_2745
Today’s assignment actually answered one of the customization questions I’ve been puzzling over as of late.

Background: I purchased the Promenade theme several months ago and was happy with the look. The top of my home page displayed a banner with a selected photo squarely in the middle. Two weeks ago, my blog started to display with the photo blown up to huge proportions. No more banner — it was all photo. So much photo, in fact, that you had to scroll down to get to the content of my home page: the posts, sidebar menu items, etc.

One of my blogging buddies suggested I navigate to the Appearance / Header menu item in my Dashboard but no such animal existed. Turns out, as I learned via the information in this assignment, only certain themes support making modifications to the header. Apparently, Promenade is not one of those themes.

I did post a question to the WordPress forum regarding the change in size of my header photo and was told that the developers had recently made a change to the theme. Aha! I knew something must have happened since I had made no customization changes whatsoever. Now, however, I’m told to just use a thumbnail size of the photo I wish to use.

Can someone explain how I go about doing this? I know how to insert a thumbnail (or other) size photo into a post since the interface clearly gives you the option to do so. But to take an existing photo and change to thumbnail or any other size? Not a clue. Fellow Bloggers: Can someone help me out here? Disclaimer: I did insert a smaller-dimensioned photo into my header, for the time being, that was already in my Media library but it isn’t the one I want to use and besides, knowing how to convert to larger (or smaller) sized photos might be useful later on.

Oh!  And I also added an Image widget toward the bottom of the home page.  All kinds of fun stuff going on here!

Keep on bloggin’ everyone!

Assignment: Blogging 101: Keep Personalizing

By |

IMG_0422

Today’s assignment urges us to create or tweak our blog’s About page since this is where many new visitors to one’s blog are most likely to turn to. We, as readers, want to get a quick snapshot as to what a blogger is all about, what makes them tick and what might be in store for us should we decide to explore further.

And so, here it is.

Everything You Might Ever Have Wanted to Know About Me (But Were Afraid to Ask)

We were also asked to adapt our About page to a Widget. I’ve opted, instead, to assign shiny new titles to existing sections on my home page. Feel free to poke around and check out some of the changes I’ve made. These Widget thingys are kind of new to me so I had fun with this!

Assignment: Blogging 101: Make Your ‘About’ Page Irresistible

By |

Since I became a member of the WordPress community of bloggers in June 2014, I’ve enjoyed experimenting with a variety of themes.  A few that have graced the contours of my blog over time have included: Sorbet, Fictive and some that apparently are no longer available.  Or rather, I should say, I don’t recognize any other themes that I’ve played with among the vast number of themes that are currently available, either gratis or for purchase.

A few months back I bought the Promenade theme, and after playing around a bit with the background colors, I finally landed on the current warm, coral tone to which I’m so often drawn. While I may continue to tweak things, I’m happy with the results.

Until now. Until this assignment! There are so many other interesting, quirky, wonderful themes – more than I remember. So many more to choose from. Sigh. For now, though, I’ll stay with what I have. Perhaps sometime later, after I feel I’ve gotten my money’s worth, I’ll switch to another theme.

It’s kind of like decorating your home. It’s where you live, where you spend much of your time. It makes sense – to me anyway – to feel comfy and warm and to feel, well, at home when you’re working on (and playing with!) your blog.

So.  Have fun with it.  Start decorating!

Assignment: Blogging 101: Love Your Theme

By |

IMG_5421

With camera in hand, safari-style, I gathered up a few items – mementos and keepsakes – from various rooms throughout the house, plucked from the kitchen counter, the dresser in our bedroom, the desk in our office, a shelf in the guest room.

Color. Texture. Remembrance.

  • A painted plate from a holiday craft venture with my son
  • The unique picture frame with a photo of my father
  • The silk comb I wore in my hair on our wedding day nineteen years ago
  • Sawdust and wood-shavings from Dad’s sawmill in a Mason jar, tied with a bow made from a strip of fabric from one of his old flannel shirts

Yes, these are a few of my favorite things.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: My Favorite Things, Verse one

By |

IMG_1450

In some ways, my inner self is practically salivating at the prospect of writing exactly what’s on my mind in a post to be read by any number of targeted ‘dream readers’. I even went so far as to list, on paper, the name of each person I would love to address in such a forum.

My motivations, not unlike those of Frank Costanza with Festivus pole at hand, are rooted in a variety of (mostly) well-placed intentions: for some, there is indeed a sincere desire to steer these Readers toward a better path, to prevent them the heartache and hardship that surely awaits them given their current self-destructive behavior while for others, an opportunity to inform them of how I and others perceive their smug self-righteousness, bigotry, arrogance and hypocrisy and how much hurt and hard feelings their actions have caused to others.

For any number of reasons, I recognize that, yes, it is probably wise to just keep these thoughts to myself. There are some things in life best learned by trial and (much) error and besides, who am I that any of these Readers should take what I say with anything more than that proverbial grain of salt.

Oh, but to devise some ingenious method of projecting ones thoughts and views onto another’s psyche in a gentle but firmly anonymous manner, one where you can get your point across, get results and yet have not a shred of skin in the game!

Assignment: Blogging 101: Write to Your Dream Reader

By |

IMG_2719

One of the things that I most enjoy about blogging is exploring – with my Reader! – what others are writing about out there.

Freshly Pressed is amazing in its diversity and one of my goals as a blogger is to someday have a post of mine featured there. So many talented writers and photographers!  Here are a few of the blogs that I discovered (and now Follow) on Freshly Pressed:

Running on Sober
The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice
The Gravel Ghost

Another way to find other interesting blogs is to participate in some of the WordPress forums. I ‘met’ one of my favorite blogging buddies this way when I provided some feedback on a post she was working on. Her posts are fresh and quirky and humorous and sometimes quite telling. Oh. And she has a knack for capturing life with her camera (and post-processing!) that I often envy. Her name is Mara and you can connect with her via Mara Eastern’s Personal Blog.

Many friendships have blossomed in just the short seven months since I cranked out my first post. I’d like to give a shout out to these wonderful ladies whose work and blogs I very much admire:

Martha at Therapeutic Misadventures
Julie at Frog Pond Farm
Roberta at Words Like Honey

My life is richer and fuller because of these new relationships and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful, new world of blogging! It really is a community of like-minded individuals – all of us striving to make ourselves heard (and read!)

I’m humbled and honored to a part of it all.

Assignment: Blogging 101: Say Hello to the Neighbors