How to Make a Blog Button

I have been umming and ahhing over making this tutorial for sometime now. Yet, after receiving several questions relating to making a blog button I thought it would be easier to put it into a post that can be referred to as and when, rather than trying to explain. I have a selection of buttons which you can view here. It came about when I was offering button swaps and wanted to offer a variety to other bloggers. A one size fits all doesn't always cut it when fitting in with another bloggers aesthetics. It should be mentioned that I use Picmonkey to make my buttons. Its a free online editor, you don't need to download, just go to www.picmonkey.com and its ready to use immediately. So lets get started. For the purpose of the post I have chosen one of my simple buttons below. I will try to keep this as short and sweet as possible for you guys but this could end up a long one...

First we are going to click on 'edit a photo' which should bring up your files where you can choose a photo. You can pick any photo, as we are going to edit it anyway to make it blank etc.

The image you have selected should now appear on the right hand side. Now click on 'resize' which is the last button on the left. Make sure you un-tick the 'keep proportions' box and then change the size. Mine is 250px x 150px however this can be any side you wish but most sidebars average about 250px width. Your image will now look slightly distorted. Thats fine because we are not using the image. You now want to click on overlays on the left hand side, fourth down under the P and click on Geometric.

Once you have clicked on Geometric it will bring up several shapes. I find the easiest and simplest to use is the first one (rectangular) as it allows you to re-size in all directions. It will appear black over your image. You can change the colour via the overlay tool bar on the left. You want to now re-size this to cover your entire original image so that you are left with a blank canvas.  Note: You will see on my button that I have a lace background. To do this you need to have a background pattern saved on your computer and instead of clicking Geometric, you will click 'your own'. You can then select your background pattern and follow the steps above as usual. If you are going to use your own then its worth having a large background pattern big enough to cover your original image without having to stretch it, as stretching it could distort the pattern. 

For the purpose of the tutorial I have just used a simple grey background. Then to achieve the button above I had added another 'overlay' using the same rectangular shape which I re-sized and moved around until I was happy. I changed the colour to white and then set the fade bar to 50% to allow for the background colour/pattern to show through. 

Finally I added some text. Simply select the text icon on the left hand-side which is denoted by a  P,  choose your font style and then click 'add text'. A box should appear over your image for you to add your blog title and whatever other info you want to include - you can then resize/change the colour etc until you are happy!

Once you are happy click the save button at the top of the page and save it in your computers files. You can then either upload it to a photo sharing site such as Photobucket and upload it to your blog via HTML or you can just save it as an image and upload it onto your blog as an image. 

I then like to leave a selection on a seperate page with a HTML box underneath like this...but I will touch on that another time :).

Shopping my Samples #2

Its been a while since my last sample post which is slightly annoying. I have been enjoying having a rummage through my ever growing sample stash however getting enough products together to put in a post is proving to take slightly longer than anticipated! So here goes part 2!

I was actually highly anticipating the milk_shake conditioning whipped cream but unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations. Not one to dwell on negatives I shall just cut to the chase. A. the scent was overpoweringly sweet - think Worthers Originals on your bonce and B. the mousse like formulation felt too sticky and heavy for a leave in conditioner. I found a sample of a Clarins foundation in a magazine. Being the ever organised beauty blogger I am I stupidly threw away all traces of the packaging so this shall forever be known as simply Clarins foundation. This was a pretty good formulation, applied nicely and sat well on the skin without feeling cakey however the sample was a shade too dark for my NC20 skintone. I received the Montangne Jeunesse Passion Peel Off mask* just in time for valentines day. Its probably a slight cheat popping it into a samples post as effectively this is a full sized product. But I felt inclined to mention this none the less. I absolutely love the peel off masks and did this one Saturday morning much to the other half's horror. The result? a nice smooth complexion! Rituals has been high on my radar since I tried their shower gel some months ago, therefore Rituals Whipped Body Cream was a welcome edition to the bathtime regime! A mature scent which was not in any way sickly sweet - just up my street. I was pleasantly surprised to have won another tube of this through Lucy's giveaway. So cheers Lucy for that :). I had tried Dove's  Nourishing Oil Conditioners prior to receiving this sample and think they are the perfect budget conditioner so I was keen to try the one designed for coloured hair. Having been a frequent dyer (of my hair) since I was 16 my hair often needs a little extra TLC. Its got better since I have been dying it darker but it still lacks the moisture it had in my younger days. This is a great little pick me up to use in the shower. You only need to leave it on for 5 minutes. I use the time to shave my legs and all that jazz then rinse. If you can pick up a larger size of this then I highly recommend, I think they come in at less than  a fiver if my memory serves me rightly and really do do the biz. Finally I tried the Clynol Colour and Care Shampoo which I used with the former. I can't say there was anything spectacular about the shampoo compared to other regular shampoos. It smelt pretty nice but I found it lacked lather and left my hair feeling rather knotty. I can imagine this would be better for shorter haired ladies. 

So there you have it ladies, until next time. Now I must go and conquer another stash of samples from my ever-growing mass...

*PR Sample

Glamour Freebies Percy and Reed April 2013

Theres one thing that I don't do, and thats do things by half. So when I stopped by Boots to pick up the latest copy of Glamour and its freebie I picked up all four whilst they were available. Glamour always come up trumps with their freebies, and this month was no different, albeit one that has been seen before. For the purse friendly price of £2 you not only get a full size, yes a full sized product from top selling Percy and Read but a decent mag too. I could not resist getting the collection which cost £8 and sold individually would have cost a not so purse friendly £41. So heres the low down on what you can pick up...

1. Volumising no oil oil for fine hair 30ml. Percy and Reed says  "Designed to give you lovely locks which are smooth and sleek with added volume". 

2. Colour and Shine Shampoo 100ml. Percy and Reed says "Give your hair more depth and gloss than an A lister on Oscar night!"

3. Colour and Shine Conditioner 100ml. Percy and Reed says "Give coloured hair spectacular shine and glorious glossiness, with a little help from Strawberry Oil and our supporting cast of white grape seed oil and aloe vera gel". 

4. Finishing Polish 100ml. Percy and Reed says "Flawless is a big word but this little bottle delivers"

I am certainly going to be giving my barnet a little TLC this week. Will you be picking up any of these freebies this week? I'd be quick though, I have a feeling these might fly off the shelf pretty quickly! 

SKINCARE HEROES

The problem with skincare and I is that I am always striving for the perfect product. Theres an obvious pattern when it comes to skincare and that is that I like to try a multitude of products and if if doesn't meet my expectations then its quickly thrown into the depths of a cupboard somewhere. You see I get bored easily and often if I don't see immediate results I give up. I know naughty me. But if I like a product then it usually sticks around for sometime. So heres the low down on my favourite products at the moment. 

My ultimate time to indulge in skincare goodies is before bed. In the morning A. I am too tired and B. I am usually in a rush which mean extreme cleansing goes out the window in favour of a quick cleanse and slap on of some serum. My current favourite being Drops of Youth by The Body Shop. You can read my whole spiel on that here.

So what comes out at nighttime then? I don't tend to wear heavy makeup during the day but I do like a little concealer, tinted moisturiser, bronzer, blusher, mascara and if I am feeling brave a sweep of eyeshadow. Sounds a lot but I promise this is a 5 minute face :-) Taking the Lisa Eldridge approach I like to double cleanse. Firstly I use The Sanctuary Ultimate Facial Cleansing Oil. One pump applied to a dry face literally melts away all traces of makeup including waterproof mascara which is a must for me as I only ever wear waterproof. I then use cotton wool pads to literally wipe it away, I tend to stick to the larger pads. One of these does the trick. With the smaller pads I usually need a couple. A top tip is to do your face first and then your eyes to avoid smearing mascara all over your face. Not a good look. Next up is the ultimate blogger favourite at the moment Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm which is an absolute dream to use. It applies like a balm which turns to almost an oil like texture when applied to the face and leaves my skin feeling ridiculously clean without the tightness. It has a rather unique aroma, which I would say is definitely a grower. I turned my nose up at first but now I bloomin' love it and genuinely look forward to using this of an evening. If I am feeling particularly lazy I will just use this and not bother with the oil as it does a good job of removing makeup. To remove it I use a good old flannel soaked in hot water to really work those pores. After cleansing and drying my face out comes the  Alpha H Liquid Gold. It has to be said that this is not something I use every single night just when my skin is feeling a bit meh and needs that little something something. My pores tend to clog easily (gross) and this just helps tighten them and generally give my skin a little glow the next day. Something I have been slapping on recently is the La Roche Pose Effaclar Duo. This is almost a serum which soaks into the skin almost immediately. It helps keep those pesky pimples at bay and I have definitely seen an improvement in the overall look and feel of my skin. If you need to add anything to your shopping list then this is it. Finally if my skin is feeling a little on the dryer side of the spectrum then I will rub in a small amount of Embryolisse. This is something I picked up in Paris so I am not sure if you can get it over here so easily but if you ever get the chance then I highly recommend  Its definitely a light to medium moisturiser but it does the business. Finally a slick of my trusted Blistex intense and I am good for bed.