I Really Did Use Paint.

Erin commented on the last post that she was amazed that I used Paint to create my header (ok, so maybe she wasn't that *amazed*, but she did comment.. so... you know). So, in effort to help out My Fellow Bloggers, I thought I'd add a few tips for doing your own header in the Paint program.

Most importantly, you need to know how big your header can be. To do this, go to your Blogger Dashboard and click on 'layout'. From there, click the 'edit html' tab - now don't get scared, we aren't actually going to change any html. You need to look for the Header section (quite close to the top...). Mine looks like this:


/* Header
-----------------------------------------------
*/

#header-wrapper {
width:960px;
margin:0 auto 0px;
border:1px solid $bordercolor;
}

You are looking for the width, in the example above it's 960. This number is important when beginning your project in Paint.

Open Paint, and drag the canvas size (hover your mouse over the bottom right corner) and bring it in till the canvas size is either equal or lesser width than your header width number we just found. You can find the canvas size numbers in the bottom right hand corner (for example: 960x280 with the first number being the width and the second being the height). This process takes a small bit of trial-and-error on the height - just keep in mind that this should be much longer than it is tall.

Then, let your creative juices pour. Ok, more like trickle... this is only Paint for Pete's sakes...

Save your image as a .jpeg.

To import it as your header go back to the Blogger Dashboard and choose 'Layout'. A mock layout of your blog will appear. Then, click on the 'edit' tab in the top box labeled '(Header)'.  Choose 'upload an image' and I suggest selected the 'stretch to fit' option, although I don't think it really did anything to mine (but it might be applicable to yours). Also choose the 'instead of title and description' option or you might end up with a bunch of garbled crap for a header. And that my friend's might make for an ugly blog. Boooo.

Click save and BAM! A new header of your liking out of PAINT! Who would've thunk it?!

(P.S. - If this doesn't work, make sure to save your original header's text somewhere else, in case you decide to put back the original header text and tagline)

And, if you use this method, I'd love to see it! Leave the link in the comments section. Can't believe I thought this program was for 3-year-old's who want to scribble on momma's "puter"...