How Do I Make My Backgrounds?

I have had a couple of people ask me how I make my backgrounds. I was hesitant to tell in the past because I was entirely happy with the results. Well, I think I figured out a way that I am happy with finally so I am going to share with you. I learned the basics from The Cutest Blog on the Block, but then refined it a little.

I use Microsoft Power Point (2007 Version). First thing I do when I open the program is go to the "Design" tab. Click on "Page Setup." Change the dimensions of the slide to 14.5" wide by 11" tall. Make sure the orientation is on landscape and click OK.

I then add all of my graphics to the slide to make the background look the way I want (adding shadows and any other effects that I want). If you use the "Minima Template" (which you should), make sure the center part (where the blog text will go) is 8" wide.

When you have it looking the way you want, go to "Save As Other Format." Then save the image as a JPEG. Once this is done, you will need to upload the JPEG file to an account on Photobucket. When you upload the file, make sure you do it as "1 megabyte file size", otherwise your background image will be too small.

Then, go into the HTML portion of your blog layout. You will need to edit the html code after "body {" to look like this:

body {
background:$bgcolor;background-image:url(image direct link pasted here);background-position: center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed;

You will paste the direct link of your background file on Photobucket into the space where it says "image direct link pasted here." You can hit the "Preview" button to see what it will look like before you save the template. Then if it doesn't look exactly how you want it to, you can edit it first. It should work just fine now! Let me know if you have any problems, I am happy to help. Good luck!