Blog background tutorial!

It's finally here! I know a lot of my friends are wondering how in the heck I make my own blog backgrounds. Well, I'm here to finally show you how I do it! For this tutorial I will be using Photoshop Elements 6.0. I really hope it's simple enough for you to understand. If you have any questions at all, please leave them in the comments section. I will get back to you! Now, let's get this started shall we? First, open up PSE (photoshop elements). Go up to File--> New-->Blank File. This little box will pop up. Enter in Width: 18 inches Height: 11 inches Resolution: 100 This is what your screen should look like. Don't worry if it is white. It won't matter. I'm using transparent.Now we add the papers. Go up to File-->Place. Then browse for the background paper of your choosing. Once selected, click "commit". Now, drag the paper around so that it's at the edge of the background. Once in place, go over to the layers palette. Right click-->Duplicate Layer. Once you have it duplicated, drag and place it on the right hand side. It should look like the picture below. *Note: If you are using a patterned paper, and they don't fit right when next to each other, don't worry. We will be putting another paper on top of it so it will hide any imperfection. Now, go to the layers palette again, Right Click-->Merge Visible. This will merge the two papers together. Now we are going to add the middle paper where your blog posts will go. Try to choose a solid paper or one with very little pattern. Go to File-->Open and browse for the paper you want. Once you find it, select it, and it will show up in a new file within photoshop. Here is the new file. Your paper should look similar to this. So, now we need to double click at the bottom where you see your other background file. So in the picture below, you will see what I mean. Make sure you bring that file back up. Once it's brough back into view, we will need to place the other file on top. We can do this by dragging and dropping it onto the file in view. Once you have drag/dropped, it should look similar to this. You can see in the picture I have highlighted the corners you can use to make it larger so you can place it inbetween 5 and 13. This is what it should look like when it's done. Now, we can add elements to the sides if you like. I'm going to be using simple flowers. Go to File-->Place. Browse for whatever element you want. Once you have selected your element, resize it just like you did with the "green paper" and place it next to the 6 marker on the ruler to the side. This will be the middle of your paper to enusre it's seen. To make things pop a little bit more, you can add a drop shadow. Once you have completed your blog background, you must save it as a JPEG! So go to File--> Save as-->JPEG. Click Save. You are done with the blog background!!! Give yourself a pat on the back! Now all we have to do is put it on your blog. To do this, we need to upload our image to Photobucket. So, log in to photobucket. Before you browse to choose your file, make sure you change the size to 1MB Now here comes the somewhat tricky part! Don't worry, I'll try to make it simple. Log into Blogger. We need to change your blog template to Minima if it is not already set to that. SO, go to Layout-->Pick New Template. Select the "Minima" template.

We have to edit our HTML. To do this go to Layout-->Edit HTML. Once there, you will see a box with a whole bunch of codes that will probably scare you. But, don't be afraid! LOL It's easy! In that box, scroll down to where you see this code:

body {

background:$bgcolor;

margin:0; color:$textcolor; font:x-small Georgia Serif; font-size/* */:/**/small; font-size: /**/small; text-

align: center;

Delete that part and replace it with this:

body {

background:$bgcolor;background-image:url(direct link);background-position: center; background-repeat:no-

repeat; background-attachment: fixed;

margin:0; color:$textcolor; font:x-small Georgia Serif; font-size/* */:/**/small; font-size: /**/small; text-

align: center;

Now, take the direct link from Photobucket, and enter it in the parentheses in the above code where it says direct link. Once you have entered the code into the parentheses, you should be finished!!

To make sure things look right, you can click the preview button and it will show you what your blog will look like. If the preview looks good, go ahead and save it! You now have your very own custom made blog background!

I hope this was easy enough for you to understand. Like I said at the beginning, if you have any questions, please leave them here for me. I will try to get back to you ASAP!

Love,

Laura