Make Your Own Blog Photo Gallery in Blogger

Hello everyone! I'm very excited about my new Photo Gallery page!
You can find it in the top tab menu of my blog.

   I had put making my photo gallery off for a couple of months because it looked a bit overwhelming. Although it was time consuming going back through all of my posts, once I got the hang of it listing my projects went much easier. It took me a few hours from beginning (learning) to end (posting), but it was well worth it. Now that I'm all set up, posting future projects should be a breeze.  

I'm so happy that a visitor to my blog can go directly to the photo gallery and click on an image that will take that person straight to what he/she wants to see.

   Having a photo gallery is essential for craft blogs, because it provides easy navigation to all of your projects. I know when I visit blogs it can be frustrating to have to go through archive menus or page by page (older posts) looking for things I like. I have Popular Posts listed in the sidebar of my blog, but that just means many people may not see something they would really like.

   So here is a quick screenshot of part of my new gallery. I also have scrapbook layouts listed and will be adding new categories for other projects. One option I didn't use was cropping my photos to make them all the same size. I didn't like the idea of doing that for cards and layouts, but there is a way to make sure you don't end up with a large photo in the middle of a row of smaller ones and that can be done after you have placed them in your gallery. If you decide to make your own photo gallery please feel free to ask me any questions as I finally have the hang of it now.
  

 

The information I used to make my Photo Gallery can be found at Sweeter than Sweets

 Happy Crafting!

Masculine Greeting Card with Winter Woods Tree Stamp

Hello! 

Today I made my first masculine card for my brother's birthday. I enjoyed creating something I hadn't attempted. It amazed me that it seemed more difficult to decide what I was going to do compared to a card I would give a female and it was a nice change.

I love the Winter Woods Tree stamp. 

For the picture I used the tree stamp twice. The first time I stamped onto a scrap piece of paper and then onto my card so the trees would have a light appearance. The second time I stamped directly onto the card which makes the lighter trees look like they are in the background. I also used a clear stamp for the sentiment using Tim Holtz Distress ink in "Peacock Feathers" which matches the inside and edges of the card.

For the base of the card I used a brown, textured, double-sided car-stock that is turquoise on the back side. To make the turquoise show I lightly distressed the edges of the base card with a nail file.

The next layer is tan card-stock which I edged with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Vintage Photo. I also used a makeup sponge to ink flat down on the edges of the pager to create variations in the brown ink which gave it a marbleized effect. Below is an example of when I used this effect on another project with black ink.

I placed grommets in the corners to run the jute through.

In the middle I placed a wooden button that I stained with Vintage Photo ink. I ran the jute through the button holes and tied it in a knot in the front.

Happy Crafting!