First, here’s my card using Kristina’s colors for this week: Pumpkin Pie, Sky Blue, Certainly Celery, and Very Vanilla. I am also doing this week’s SCS’s challenge… adding sewing to my card. I wish I have a tip for you on how to do this easily but I ain’t got one! I did use some pins to hold my ribbon together while I figure out how I’m going to place it but sewing it together… that was still tough. I had to stop here and there and as you can see… I didn’t have long to go. Oh, that’s my handwriting for the sentiment… I couldn’t find the perfect stamp.

What I can share with you today though is Feedburner. You all seemed to have like the last geek bit that I did… on stats counter… I thought I’d do a little more. Now, if you already use FB, you might want to read this info too… since I’ve seen many blogs who uses it but not all the way. You’re only getting half a count… maybe. So here goes… Read the rest of this entry »

PS: Oh, I am sooo proud of many of you who read through my super long post yesterday! {::SMILES}. If you’re just stumbling upon this now, you might want to read yesterday’s post to clear things up a bit.

I had some question on how to add Google Analytics to the blogs… so here goes…

1. Go to Google Analytics and either log in or create an account.
2. Create a website profile if you don’t have one yet.
3. Copy and paste that script that comes up on the next page after you create your account. It looks like the below screen shot:

   

4. If you’ve already created an account, there is actually a newer version of this script. Once you log in, click Edit.

   

5. After you click Edit, click on Check Status and you’ll get to the script.

   

6. Copy and paste this into your blog or website (read previous post on where the best place is).
7. Blogger, go to your Layout –> Edit HTML –> plop it before </body>
8. WordPress hosted, well, I made a mistake. There’s this and I forgot that WP hosted doesn’t take JavaScript to prevent hackers from getting into their system. SORRY!
9. WordPress installed/website/other CMS, got your template’s html script, most have a footer.php or just the index.php/index.html and before the </body> paste the code in.
10. WP installed folks, if you don’t want to mess with your footer, you can download some plug-in. I haven’t used them but you can find them here.

Sorry WP hosted folks. My WP is on my own web server and I can install any plug-ins I want and make my site look however I want. BUT, you WP-ers, you can still go to your dashboard and see the blog stats that they’ve got set up for you. It shows total views and not visitors. ALSO, you can go here and use what WP recommends. Make sure you use the HTML and not the JavaScript. Not as graphical is Google Analytics but they do the same thing.

Remember, don’t get hung up or obesssed with the numbers. I use it to improve my blog. For example ever since I provided different tutorials, my blog visiters have gone up. Through my stats apps I’ve noticed that most people who visits come for the tutorials. From the information, I rearrange my blog so that people can find tmy tutorials easier. Right now, what is my highest hit? My Digi Tuts menu.

I’ll have more tips in the near future…

Today I want to share a little bit of geekness: blog stats.

Before I get to that, let me give you the details on this card… this was leftover paper from the digital paper that I used for my bookmark a few post back. I used my Making Memories foam stamp, ribbon, and my own handwriting for the “you.” Super simple.

Now for geek info… if you didn’t come in directly to this post, click on the read more or whatever that link is below for the complete entry. This post is longer than usual but I want to be somewhat thorough even though I will try to keep it simple. If you want to know about blog stats though, keep reading.

On my backend, I have three stats applications that are linked up to this site. Am I number hungry? No. I actually just use my WordPress one on a daily basis but if I want details on how my blog is doing then I’ll go to Google Analytics and AWStats (which is freely available to me through my hosting company). Why so many? Well, here’s the basic scoop:

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a page that I created using Madame Mim’s kit: Bird on a Tree that you can find at CatScrap. This is a super duper easy page to create. I didn’t edit any of the paper or elements; it was just simply a drag and drop process. I LOVE this picture that I took of M. I’ve always admire those action shots of kids and I finally have one of my own that I think is just perfect {::SMILES}. Ok, nuff about me oogling my own picture, ha!

Here’s a blogging or just a general URL tip for you… When you have a blog or you’re posting in a forum or whatever, make sure you type in the whole URL and not just the www… Make sure you have the http too. Why? Check this out. The first is with the http and the second is without. Try clicking them AND look at your URL address. You’ll see that on the second one you’ll have a http://www.scrapbit.com/www.google.com instead of http://www.google.com. Why you ask? Well, blogs and forums, and many other sites that are dynamic usually contain scripts that are already predetermined and quite general. In general, these dynamic sites are told the following: If a URL starts with an http://, treat this as an external link. But if it’s without, the link is thought to be internal and internal means it’s within the domain (mine is www.scrapbit.com) itself and the URL will then be added on BEHIND the domain’s address instead of on it’s own.

So, if you see a link, and you click on it and it’s broken, look up the url and if you see something like my example above (the two different www.something.com), just remove the first URL and you’ll get to the intended URL. It would be nice too if you notify the blog/website owner.

Now, since you’re read this little tidbit, when you plop in a URL, make sure you type in (or copy and paste will be best since URLs can be cased sensitive… depending on the server they’re on) the whole address so that this error will not occur.

Oh, one more thing… you might also notice that Google opens up on its own tab/window. The reason why is because I added a “_target=blank” or if you’re using Blogger/WordPress or any CMS/web editing tool, you’ll see a drop-down that says this next to the textbox for the URL.

Here’s the html for it: <a href=”http://www.scrapbit.com” target=”_blank”>My Blog</a>

When you add a target=_blank, a new tab/window will open instead of this new page opening over your website. When adding content to a site, here’s the web editor’s rule of thumb: if it’s internal, let it be, if it’s external OR a pdf document, select _blank BECAUSE, you want people to stay in your site and not accidentally close the browser and loose your site when they’re done going through that link/pdf you gave them. I’m better with links/websites but how many of you have the habit of CLOSING when they’re done reading a pdf that’s open in a browser? ME! I have to admit my photo links are not set this way… I use Flock when I post to my blog and I just drag and drop photos from Flickr and never check the settings. But, my regular external links, they all open to a new page.

Ok, there’s your tip for the week. Happy blogging/website linking/posting!!

Ok, another digital page. I created this one using Tara Sroka’s new kit: Fun in the Sun.

This is a quick and quite easy layout. I just used a lot of the elements in her kit and here it is. M loves her bikini {::SMILES}.

What a week! It will be full of teaching, teaching, teaching. I did a half day session yesterday and I was pooped! Today I have a Flickr and del.icio.us session, quite fun for me but need to finish up a few handout items

Here’s a computer tip for you… If you work on multiple computers, check out delicious (or any social bookmarkers really). It’ll save you a lot of time when it comes to bookmarking your favorite sites. Just a brief explanation… when you save a website to your favorites in Internet Explorer or Firefox, you’re saving it on your computer. If you’re on your computer and you move to your laptop for example, you have to resave that page again onto that laptop’s favorites. Well, when you’re using delicious, since it is a web bookmarker, you can be on the laptop or desktop and you’ll have access to the same favorites. No need to email yourself the links from work or from your friend’s computer. Just login and save it to delicious.

I also like that I can see how many other people have saved that particular site and if I click on it I can see each username and see what else that person has saved. I’ve found many sites this way… many hobby related stores that I would not have easily found.

I don’t use my Firefox/Explorer bookmark tool anymore. Everything I have is saved on delicious and I can access it from any computer. I have also installed the delicious plugin for my Firefox and Flock web browser (same plug-in) and also Internet Explorer. It’s nice, it’s just like using the regular bookmark tool. Click and save.

Keep in mind that your bookmark is public until you click on the “do not share” when you save each item (for example my bank is not public since I don’t want people to know where I bank at). You can check out my scrapbook kit bookmark if you like (I can just share individual tags or the whole bookmark) and see what other bookmarks I have. I have two accounts. This is my personal one and I have a work one too that I share with my colleagues and students.

That’s your geek tip of he week {::SMILES}.

I love this card. The little bird is tooooo cute!! This bird was one of Kaye Winiecki’s Ruby Looby elements at the DigiChick. I am totally in love with this little guy, Merv. Yes, I’ll call him Merv.

I printed Merv on regular card stock paper. If you read my previous post, he was printed with those paper. I have a few other items printed on that 8.5×11 paper but haven’t used them yet.

Card stock, pattern paper, and sentiment all from Stampin’ Up! The For You is from the One of Kind set and again I paper pierced. For the ribbon, I punched with my small oval punch from SU and just loop the ribbon around it. I was going to make a video of this card but I couldn’t figure out how to flip my camera on the tripod so that it’ll face down/the table. I thought I had to get another one but hubby showed me how after I got this done. Ahhh… I might be good with the technology but I’m so not into the mechanics of things. It’s probably why I never did get physics.

This is another super simple card. Whether you’re a stamper or digital scrapbooker, this is something you can do. Check out Kaye’s kit, it’s super awesome, or do a Google search and find some cute images of your own and just print it out. I found the following for you (click image to get you to the site):

And if you’re into Photoshop brushes, look what I found:

Tip: In a photo editing software, you can always shrink down but you want to avoid enlarging. You will loose the image quality of the photo. Photos are raster images, they consist of pixels, no no for making them larger than the actual size. But for these clip arts, you don’t need a fancy photo editing software. Just plop it into Word, resize it, and print on any b&w printer. Easy!

Ok, have a great day! I’ll post something else tomorrow!!

Wow, after being home a week and a half, it was a bit tough going back to work. It took me a little bit to get back into work mode yesterday and on top of that I was quite sleepy. I’ve been up so late on my holiday break that it was hard going to bed “early”. So I ended up laying in bed for a little bit that first night.

This month is going to be super busy for me. I have a 4-year-old birthday party to prepare for. I need to make six cute little invites and find + create things that have any scent of a little girl dress-up party. That’s what she wants and with with her big eyes and puckered up lips she said, “pleeeeease, can I have a dress-up party at the house?” How could I say no? I initially had the idea of having a little something at her school like last year but on her own she wanted a party. So a party we will have. If any of you have ANY idea on what I should serve, get, do, please let me know. Besides the what to wear, I am so clueless on the rest of the stuff! In a week classes starts too so I need to make sure my two online courses are good to go between now and then. I’ll be out of the blog more often than in, even if I do I’ll just a small post from work or a little card to share.

Here’s what I did last night and finished up today. I did a page for the brat. I love her to death, can’t you tell She is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. I love my husband but I think nothing compares to your own child. She’s so polite, so sweet, so caring, so smart, so clever and she loves me oh so much too. Just an amazing little thing — maybe I should have change the title, huh?

Anyway… what did I do with this page? I used the following material:

Paper: Shabby Princess Harvest Spice and Weeds and Wildflowers by Gina Huff Cherishing Every Moment
Elements: Weeds and WildFlowers by Gina Huff: Being Me Elements; Shabby Princess: Harvest Spice, Vintage Floral, and Festival; Kim Liddiard: Fantaisie D’Aile, and the brad’s by me.
Font: Marydale, Abadi MT Condense, Dakota Handwriting, London Between, Georgia, LondonMM, Plantagenet Cherokee, News Gothic MT. Source from either dafont.com, scapvillage.com or preinstall by Apple.

I did a lot of color changes. Some of the elements for off white, very green, red, etc and I adjusted them, mostly using Hue and Saturation (I’m all about quick and easy — ok, I’m lazy). I used the Filter Gallery to edit Emma’s picture. Not sure if you notice but only her face is clear and the rest quite grainy/blurry. For the paper, there are actually two pieces of paper on top of each other. I put the textured one in the back of my patterned paper. With a rough eraser brush (and I adjusted it more in the brush properties) I removed the left top and bottom right corner so that it looks somewhat more grundgy, torn, etc. You might notice too that I did the brad on this one, just like the last layout, I did the corner piece and the brad. Well, I know how to make more things but brads are so quick and easy that it’s quicker for me to make a brad than to dig one out of my different folders. I did organize my computer but I still have no clue where anything’s at in regards to the little pieces of digital elements.

That’s it. I spent $0 per my Splitcoast challege agreement {::SMILES} Tomorrow I am hoping to participate in the Creating Keepsakes weekend crop but we’ll see. The hubby needs attention. I’ve been on this thing too much scrapbooking or making cards. I do hope my Nestabilities show up tomorrow or Saturday. I can’t wait!! great January.