My domain and site transitions began with TheLovelyCurves.Com, but then I bought BeautieNerd.Com. I had all of my stuff there, but it seemed too impersonal, so I moved everything to nicoleisms.net (on blogger), a domain I bought a while ago.

Move your posts

Now, I think there is a way to export WordPress posts into a Blogger blog. The way I imagine it would be done is: In WordPress, go to Tools > Export. Then, use this app to make the export file usable on Blogger.  Then, go into your Blogger dashboard and under Settings > Basics press ‘Import Blog’. That should be it!

I only had a few posts I wanted to move over, so I did that manually.

ProTip: Windows Live Writer is great for writing blogger posts!

Custom Domains

If you’re going to be moving all of your posts over, all you have to do is set up your custom domain with blogger. Here are a few tutorials I used.

How do I use a custom domain name for my blog?

Custom domains simplified

WWW. and Naked Domains

Just wait a few, and your domain should work! If it doesn’t, revert back to the you.blogger.com and redo the addition of the custom blog.

What about my old domain?

To avoid losing my links, I wanted my old domain to forward to my new one. I thought it would be as easy as going into GoDaddy and forwarding it, but it wasn’t. If you do that, then your posts will get 404′s. Let me explain. If I have a post like this: oldomain.com/some-post, and I want to to forward to www.newdomain.com, GoDaddy will send it to www.newdomain.com/some-post, but some-post doesn’t exist! How do we fix this?

If your blog is small, there is hope! This is what I did: I made sure my old blog worked, and went into my old WP admin. I added a plugin named Page Links To. For the few posts thatI did move over, I copied that URL into the little blox that the plugin made.

So, now oldomain.com/copied-post will forward to www.newdomain.com/copied-post.

Any post that I didn’t copy over, I just wrote my new domain in the URL box. So, oldomain.com/non-copied-post will forward to www.newdomain.com!

To finish it off, I went into Settings > Reading and changed my front page display to a new page I made, entitled ‘Home’. Guess what I’m putting in the URL box?

This leaves us with a SEO friendly forwarding of an old domain to a new one, and the WP-admin is still accessible! Yay! I did all this over the course of a few frustrating hours, but it all worked in the end.

If you have any questions, or I forgot something, let me know!

Step 1:

Open your image and make sure the layer is a locked background. If you are unsure how to do this, right click on the layer and press ‘Flatten’.

Step 2:

Now we would be adding a shadow around the image where intense light is present; we want the picture to have a dark fantasy look, so we need to remove excess light and add shadows. Use the paint brush and select the foreground color as black. Paint the white area in a smooth fashion so it blends in with the picture to give it a more natural look.

Step 3:
As you can see, the final image has sharp and attractive eyes with good shine and darkness altogether, with emphasis on the iris. We will be using the dodge tool under highlight range and add shine to iris by painting a semicircle around the pupil and use the burn tool under midtones range and add darkness to the pupil and the outer lining of the iris.

Step 4:

Now we will be changing the color of the image using Ctrl+B to alter the color balance of the picture. Change the slider according to your picture.

After adding the color, darken some more areas like so.

Step 5:

Now we will be adding eye shadow and makeup to the model. For this, we need to create a new layer and paint over the eye using color of your choice, I will be using a slightly darker red. Now use a Gaussian blur to blur it and set the mode of the layer to overlay.

Step 6:

Now we will be adding some extra elements to give the image more of a fantsy look. I am adding circles above the eyebrow in a dark red color.

Add inner shadow to the circled by using blending options of the layer (double click the layer).

Step 7:

Now to finish the photo, add some shadows and highlights where needed and finish it off by adding some text.

Voila! Enjoy your surreal portrait.

Look to the Past

Often, the best way to discover new design directions is to look to the past. While everyone else is trying to go ultra-modern, you can set your work apart with retro-inspired designs.

Early designs can be particularly inspiring when considering that fancy design programs weren’t yet invented and work was created by hand with natural elements. Check out this compilation of retro themed designs to learn how others have embraced this inspiration source.

Explore Nature

The natural world is the ultimate source for inspiration. Take a break from work and spend a day roaming local parks or wilderness areas. Not only will this help you relax and forget your design roadblocks, but doing this can provide unique inspiration.

After exploring nature, begin experimenting with natural elements and textures. These elements can offer a unique richness to your projects and can help draw in viewers who would have otherwise passed them by. Sproutfund and Viget are both great websites showcasing nature-inspired designs.

Business Cards

The business card is no longer a simple piece of paper with mundane contact information. Rather, business cards have transformed into statements of personal identity and are great examples of creative genius.

By following the latest business card trends and exploring the unique ways they are now being used, you can find new directions for your design projects. Suddenly, the most mundane of assignments can transform into unique, undiscovered possibilities. Bhootan and Arunas Kaltanas provide inspiring business card designs.

Photography

Many forms of photography exist and each can provide unique sources of inspiration. From macro photography to retro-inspired shots, explore the genres that match your unique design tastes. You can also join photo sharing networks such as Flickr to follow your favorite photographers or to receive random daily photographic inspiration. Lee Towndrow and Thomas Kettner are wonderful photographers worth following.

Album Covers

Album covers are often awesome examples of unique designs and ultimate risk taking. By viewing these artwork forms, you will likely be inspired to take more risks with your projects rather than playing it safe.

While viewing various album covers, listen to a few songs from each singer. Music is a great inspirational source and can help bring you out of a creative slump. Explore this compilation for great album cover artwork.

Being a successful designer means staying true to your creative instincts and continually seeking out fresh inspiration. Rather than following obediently with current trends, find your own direction by becoming inspired from alternative sources. In time, this will come to define who you are as a designer and could even transform you into a trendsetter rather than a trend follower.

This is a Guest Post by:

Annie is a frugal mom of two lovely kids. She blogs for HomeLoanFinder, the best free tool that allows to easily compare home loan rates. Get inspired, save money and get in touch with Annie via Twitter: @ViralMomTweets

Descriptive and Formatted Post Titles

Post Titles are the most important thing in a blog post. It’s the very first thing that a reader sees and with your title, you need to draw in your readers to make them want to stay and read your post. You need to make that person click on your title! If not, then no one will ever get to your blog. For example, which headline wold you be more atttacted to? This, ‘how to get readers‘ or ‘15 Sure-Fire Ways to Attract Readers‘? Check out these articles on writing better headlines:

9 Proven Headline Formulas That Sell Like Crazy

65 Exciting Words to Spice up Your Blog Headlines

Why Some People Almost Always Write Great Post Titles

Images and Post Formatting

When reading an article, the impending doom starts to set in once I see long paragraph after long paragraph without breaks. The text may be interesting and informative, but there are definitely ’sighs’ along the way. Some people don’t even take another glance if they see lots of text. Try breaking it up with images here and there. Other than images, frequent like breaks and formatting really do help. I’m talking about headings, bolded words, italics, that sort of thing.

Use Your Voice

When you write, make sure to keep a piece of you in your writing. Blogging is not like essay writing in the least. As a freedom from such tedious tasks, blogging helps you release your voice. Write as if you were speaking. That doesn’t mean use slang and obnoxious things, but things should be kept casual. Here, no one is checking for big words and transition words or theses.

5 ways to set your unique blogging voice apart
5 Ways to Build Your Blog’s Voice

Keep Your Readers In Mind

When writing, keep your reader in mind. Who are you writing to? Kids? Teens? Adults? Your writing should be appropriate. When writing with adults in mind for instance, don’t use simple talk. Or, think about what they would like to see. Who is your audience? You need to revolve your blog design and posts around them. After all, its your readers that can make or break your blog. You need to keep them coming back, keep them interested. Give them a reason to stay.

The Art of Writing Damn Good Blogs

Grammar and Spelling

Although the blogosphere is your oyster, its bad practice to publish a post with grammar and spelling errors. Yes, I have done it before too, but I have learned that it’s best to get posts proofread. That way, someone else can catch errors that I have overlooked. Most browsers and blog platforms have spell check, use it! If you have mistakes in your writing, people can see you as inexperienced and unprofessional. Now, I know that some bloggers first language is not English, so people reading their writing would be able to nitpick at grammatical errors. In this case, its crucial to have someone else proofread your work. This is in the best interest of your readers. You want to make it as clear as possible. If they have a hard time reading, then they won’t want to come back, or may look at you harshly.

5 Tips for Blogging in English

That’s all for now! I hope that you were able to learn something, I know I did! Does anyone else want to add to this list? Are there any methods that you are using in your blog posts?

1. To begin, open up the picture you wish to edit. I will use a picture of myself. This is actually a low quality photo, as it was taken with Photobooth and then hustled about on Facebook before I decided to edit it.

2. The next step is to duplicate your photo. You can right click the layer (in my case, background) and press duplicate, although I like dragging the layer to the ‘new’ icon at the bottom of the layers panel. The reason I use two layers is a) to compare between before & after, and b) just in case I mess up or need the original photo again.

3. Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Curves. Yes, I know that in CS4 there is an option to do it from the adjustments window, but that means affecting the whole image which may or may not be desirable at times. Also, showing you this way ensures that you can use the technique for CS3 as well.

4. Once in your curves, adjust it according to your image. It’s not always where you have to move the point like I did, it varys according to your photo. As you can see, it really brightened the photo.

5. Now I’m gonna fix the marks on my face. Zoom in. ( I did once). Click the ‘spot healing brush‘ tool and make it small. Just big enough to cover the spot. Now, press the spot once. If it doesn’t look right, undo and try again. If not, you could always go in with the clone stamp.

My results from this is shown below. Pretty good so far? I think the spot removal looks natural!

For the most part, that’s pretty much it. Of course there is more that you could do, which I will show you as well. If you are using these techniques for a quick Facebook picture, then you probably wouldn’t have to do much more. So now, here are a few more edits.

• I made the color of my face a bit brighter, just to make it pop. Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. I picked the ‘red‘ filter, and increased the saturation by 17.

• I went to Image > Adjustments > Levels and played with them to make everything just a bit brighter.

That’s all folks! What did you think? Should I write more tutorials like this one? Or better yet, is there anything specific that you would like to learn about? Below is a side by side. Because I had the 2 layers, I made the edited layer at 90% opacity because it was a little too bright.

Final Effect:

The image we will be using:

Now, open up your image in Photoshop. Click on the ‘adjustments’ button on the layers palette (it’s the one thats round and half grey half white).
Click on color balance.

Change the settings for highlights to this.

And the shadows to this.

Hopefully, it should look something like this now.

Now we have to add in some contrast, because it’s looking rather dull. Go back to the adjustments button, and click ‘brightness & contrast’. Set the contrast to whatever you think looks best.
Now, to add extra contrast, click down onto the original background layer. Hit Ctrl+J (Or just duplicate the layer the other way) and change the blending mode to overlay.
Lower the opacity of the duplicated layer down to around 50 – 60 so it’s not too harsh.

If your finished product looks like this, then ta-da! You did it right.

Finished Product:

Sorry if this wasn’t extremely helpful or if it was confusing. It’s my first tutorial, and I hope to get better.

-Keely.

• Make paper beads! I did this last week and it was a blast! After following some instructions (paperbeads.org) I made about twenty paper beads from old books and magazines with modpodge and a toothpick! I would actually be making more, but I’m waiting for my Bamboo Roller Kit to come in the mail!

@ paperbeads.org

• Make a mailer! This is actually quite easy to do, but this tutorial will probably explain it better than me. Or you could even cover an old mailer with magazine paper too!

• Make a Bow! Here’s a wonderful tutorial on How about Orange about making paper bows!

via How About Orange

• Make Art! Use a punch and create your own super cool piece of art like this one! Here‘s another.

• Make Jewelry! Here are a few cute tutorials on making your own recycled paper jewelery! I actually made a candy wrapper bracelet!

• Make Envelopes! I do this from time to time, and it’s actually quite fun! Just take apart an envelope and  make a tracing template out of it with a manila folder. Then cut it out and use it to trace onto magazine pages. Cut it out and then glue the sides to the bottom!

• Make stuff for your house! Here are more super duper cool tutorials for stuff in your house!

As I promised in my last post, today we are going to see how grids can be used inside grids and how we can fill in spaces without having to add divs with the specified size.

As we want to get the most of our grid system, we need to understand how it works, and how we can adapt it to our needs.

Do I always need a div to fill in spaces?

Of course not… Actionly there’s a better way to do this. Sometimes, when we are faced to create a nice web design, creativity is not a problem, but placing our imagination on the web is. Distributing and organizing content has never been easier since the grids were brought about.

As we saw in the first part of this series, all we need is to make sure that the screen is filled in each row. And in our examples, we talked about having 3 divs, with 4 units each one. So the sum was 12.

Introducing Prefixes and Suffixes

If we need to add some space before the div, we need a prefix.

And of course, if we need to add some space after the div, we need a suffix.

Prefixes and suffixes have the same 12 sizes;

prefix_1, prefix_2, prefix_3, prefix_4, prefix_5, prefix_6, prefix_7, prefix_8 , prefix_9 , prefix_10, prefix_11, prefix_12

and

suffix_1, suffix_2, suffix_3, suffix_4, suffix_5, suffix_6, suffix_7, suffix_8, suffix_9, suffix_10, suffix_11, suffix_12

Prefix example:

<div class="grid_4 prefix_4"></div>

<div class="grid_4"></div>

If you take a look, you’ll note that here we have a 4 unit div (with a 4 unit prefix) followed by another 4 units div. So both divs sums 8 and the prefix (which is 4) gives a total of 12.

Suffix example:

<div class="grid_4"></div>

<div class="grid_4 suffix_4"></div>

Equally, here the sum is 12, because we add a 4 unit div, and another 4 unit div with a 4 unit suffix.

You can use any size of divs and prefixes and suffixes you want. All you need is to make sure the sum of all sizes is 12, because if not, the div will drop for space absence.

Using grids inside grids

Even with all the posibilities we can count on right now, we may want to get a little more advanced using grids. I won’t explain why you may need to use grids inside grids, but it all has to do with situations when we need to group content somehow.

To insert some small divs within a bigger one, we can’t simply anidate the sourcecode. But wait! there’s a catch.

You need to tell the grid wich one’s first and wich one’s last.

Introducing Alpha and Omega

Let’s suppose we have a big div containing some divs. The first of all, we should have an additional parameter as we used prefixes and suffixes. The parameter for the first one is alpha. And so, the parameter for the last div is omega.

Alpha and Omega Example

<div class="grid_8">

<div class="grid_2 alpha"></div>

<div class="grid_4"></div>

As we can see, within the 8 unit div we added a 2 unit div, a 4 unit div, and another 2 unit div. The first element has the alpha parameter and the last element has omega.

You may be wondering… what could happen if I don’t use alpha and omega?

Well… the width of the divs inside the bigger div, won’t add to what is needed and in consequence some divs will drop, messing up everything we did.

Bonus!

As a bonus for reading this second part, you can download the files used in the examples.

Have you ever wondered why some websites looks so neatly organized and styled? Maybe the information is very well distributed…but what make those websites special?

Well, actually there is a secret!

Most of them use something called “grids“. So what’s a grid?

In Web Design, a grid is composed of just a CSS file; and it’s purpose is to provide a framework for specially sized content containers for text, images, or whatever else that would go on your site.

The most famous, and perhaps best grid system is the 960 Grid System created by Nathan Smith.

But before you start with your own, I will explain the grid and how to use it.

What really defines this grid system is the width: 960 pixels wide.

This width is great because 960 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 32, 40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, 192, 240, 320 and 480. This makes it a highly flexible base number to work with.

Let me clarify that there are two versions of this grid to work with; the 12 Column grid and the 16 Column.

I personally like the 12 Column grid, but you can use whichever you suites your needs.

How to Do It

To make things more easy, its best to start with a new design.

The next step is to download the grid’s css: 960 Grid System CSS File

Create a new HTML file that looks something like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Your Title Here</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="960.css" type="text/css" />
</head>

<body>
<div class="content">
the content will be here
</div>
</body>

</html>


As you can see, we added this line in the section to call the 960.css file:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="960.css" type="text/css" />


It depends on where you have the file, but if it’s at the same folder than the index.html file you can leave it as such.

And then, we need to start adding the content to our file.

There are set blocks (divs) of different sizes:

grid_1, grid_2, grid_3, grid_4, grid_5, grid_6, grid_7, grid_8, grid_9, grid_10, grid_11, grid_12

Each number indicates the relative size of the block. Because we are using a 12 Column Grid, we have 12 different sizes to use.

Now, we can add the divs as follows:

<div class="grid_1"></div>

The class, “grid_1″ is defined as 60px wide in the css file.

Those divs are styled as blocks so you can put one next to another and they will float to the left and distribute themselves correctly.

We have to be sure that we add blocks which size adds up to 960px, or 12.

For example this one:

<div class="grid_4"></div>
<div class="grid_4"></div>
<div class="grid_4"></div>

(Each “grid_4″ is 300px wide, so 300 times 4 is 12)

Or this one

<div class="grid_4"></div>
<div class="grid_2"></div>
<div class="grid_6"></div>

(4 + 2 + 6 = 12)

Maybe even this one:

<div class="grid_2"></div>
<div class="grid_2"></div>
<div class="grid_4"></div>
<div class="grid_4"></div>

(2 + 2 + 4 + 4)

Or finally this one:

<div class="grid_6"></div>
<div class="grid_6"></div>

All of the sizes add up to 12, so that we make sure that the screen is filled.

After every row we add (blocks which size sums 12) we need to add one div more to tell the browser to clear the blocks below.

<div class="clear"></div>


Then our code would be like this:

<div class="grid_6"></div>
<div class="grid_6"></div>

<div class="clear"></div>


<div class="grid_2"></div>
<div class="grid_2"></div>
<div class="grid_4"></div>
<div class="grid_4"></div>

<div class="clear"></div>


In the next part of this series, we will see how we can use grids inside grids and how we can fill in spaces without having to add divs with the specified size. Grids prove to be very useful tools when designing excellent websites.

Examples

I leave you here some websites designed with 960 Grid System… enjoy!

Gantry Framework

Onehub

TabBots

You can find more examples here.

See you next time!

The business card is one of the most important ways for young designers and entrepreneurs to locally promote themselves.

If you have already started doing freelance work or are thinking about doing it in the near future, I highly suggest having a business card to hand to potential clients.

Why?

Credibility

For a young professional, having a business card adds a ton of credibility to your cause.
If you claim to be a designer-for-hire but cannot easily give a business card to your client, it will seem unprofessional and you will probably be forgotten.

However, if you can back up your claim by giving them a card, it will give the impression that you are professional and dedicated.

Nobody wants an inexperienced kid working for them. Show them that you are serious about your work. It goes a long way, trust me!

Ease of Contact

Your business card holds all of the most important ways to contact you. Your phone number, e-mail address, and anything else which is important to you.

The business card lets you give all of this information to somebody directly and easily. No more searching for a pen and a napkin when you see the opportunity for work.

Your potential client will be much more inclined to contact you if you make it easy for them.

Remember – if you give a personal phone number, answer the phone professionally! No “Hey”s and “Yo”s!

To Showcase your Talents

If you are a designer, why not incorporate your design skills into your business card?
Your business card is often moulds your client’s first impression of you, so take the opportunity to win them over on the spot by showing them your work.

Are you a graphic designer? Create a personal logo for your card! Web designer? Make it look like a website!

Keep it creative yet professional.

Creating a business card

For this exercise, we will be creating a simple business card using Adobe InDesign. This is the best program for bringing together text and images, as well as preparing your document for professional print.

1. Open a New Document in InDesign

Go to File -> New -> Document

Make the document 1 page. Width 3.5 in, Height 2 in. Make the margins 1/8″ (0.125 in), as well as the bleed.

Press OK.

2. Create your text.

Click on the text tool or press “T” on your keyboard. Draw a text box.

Write in your name, position, and essential contact information.

3. Import your logo or graphic

This should be created as a vector image in Illustrator, however a 300 PPI jpeg will be sufficient.

Click on the ractangle frame tool or press “F” on your keyboard. Draw a frame.

Go to File -> Place or hit Ctrl+D (Command+D on Mac). Browse for your image, and hit OK.

Right click, and go to Fitting Options -> Fit Content Proportionally. Your image should now fit your frame.

You can adjust the frame size and keep fitting your content proportionally, or you can adjust the image inside the frame by hitting the direct selection tool (A).

I want my image to appear to continue off the business card, so I will ensure the graphic continues until the red bleed line.

4. Choose your color theme.

Do you want the background to be white or colored? White will generally be cheaper to print, however professional printers should have different colored stock – check ahead.

For this card I will use a lightly stained background, and use the two shades of green from my image for consistency.

First, use the rectangle tool to draw a rectangle that fills the entire bleed area. Next choose your background color. Right-click, go to Arrange -> Send to Back.
I chose a brown, which complements the green of the image, and turned the opacity down to 30%.

Next, I highlighted my name, chose the eyedropper tool, and clicked on the darker green color.

5. Perfect your layout

I selected the line tool and drew a green line from the bleed margin up to the tree stump. I right-justified my name and position (using the text bar at the top).

This symbolizes me, chopping down a tree. Suitable for a lumberjack, no?

I highlighted my contact information and made it 8 pt, to give focus to my name.

Finally, I added in the (fake) company name at the top, and gave it the light green color from my image.

6. Print

Now that the layout is complete, print your business cards!
I suggest using a professional printer, especially if you are using colors and images that bleed out of your document.

Trying to print out a large amount of these yourself will be a huge headache, and will cause more problems than good.

Invest the money for professional printing!

As you can see, it is relatively simple to create a professional business card using InDesign. All it takes is a little patience to learn the program!

Looking for the best printing services to print your business cards for the holidays? Visit PsPrint Online Printing to get the best deals!