oh no!

I have purchased a new laptop! YAY! 

Unfortunately in the process of transfering all my files the tutorial that was supposed to be posted today somehow got misplaced. So if it does not make it up today it will be there tomorrow! PROMISE! 

Sorry for the delay! 

In the mean time don't forget to check out our Picasa tutorial and information post...

Enjoy!

Picasa makes my bloggy world go 'round!

My apologies to the folks @ Google for bad mouthing their program for their my mistake.

Now to show my deepest regret... a post all about PICASA!

Oh Picasa how I love you! You make my photo blogging life so much easier.

Even if you did cause me to scream… & cry that one time. 

Do you upload your photos to blogger... one... painful photo at a time? 

Do you hate it when the up-loader won't work and in order to make it work you have to, strip to your undies, shake your butt 3 times to the north, while hopping on one foot, singing the anthem (Mexican, of course) backwards, & licking a leprechaun? 

Yeah I hated that too... 

And than I discovered... {insert singing angels here} PICASA DESKTOP!

[image source]

You can edit, copyright stamp, and upload all in one program! There is even a option to open your photo in picnik to edit and than have it save directly back to your hard drive. 

And... it uploads straight to your blogger album so that sweet little insert photo link is no longer a waste of time. 

Here's how to get started and some MUST knows. 

{click images to enlarge}

1. Go to www.picasa.google.com and click the Download Picasa 3.8 button... Save to your computer...Open... & Install...

2. (yeah he is adorable... :P) Click the link on your desktop to open the program

3. First we want to put folders in picasa so that we have photos... so to do this we click file and than Add Folder to Picasa.

4. Find the folder where your photos are (in my case I have all photo folders on my desktop) and click SCAN ALWAYS. MAKE SURE THIS IS CLICKED! What does this do? Well whenever you open picasa it automatically uploads new pictures from your folder. That way you don't have to do this again, and again, and again. 

5. Now that you have your photos double click a photo of that adorable child... or product. :P And you will be in the "edit" menu. You can add a copyright, edit in picnik, do light and exposure changes, etc...

6. After your done playing with the photos highlight by clicking while holding ctrl down to select the photos and click upload! 

Your blog name (because you already signed in using your blog) should be in the album list... Or you can make a entirely new album ! Works either way... I always do 640 pix for size to upload to save space and make sure that people don't get high quality photos of my child. Click UPLOAD!

Easy right? Now when you go into blogger you just click the add photo button click this blog or "from picasa web albums" if you made a different folder. Add your photos and presto! You have an uh-mazing blog post! 

Warning though....

NEVER... and I mean NEVER right click and folder to remove it from picasa and instead of clicking "remove from Picasa" click DELTE FOLDER. It deletes it from your hard drive and not in a go to the recycle bin so you can retrieve it way... No it's done.. as in forever... see the "crying post" mentioned above. I am scarred. 

Hope you enjoyed my picasa tutorial... Please be sure to share with your friends and family! 

P.s. another great thing about picasa is no bandwith limit like photobucket! So no monthly fees! Just a memory limit and if you get close (I have like 1000 photos and I am not close yet) you can buy more memory for a song! (cheap) & it is a yearly fee not monthly. 

Host it!

Thanks doteasy.com for having your anniversary and giving me a domain for $1.

You are officially my favorite conglomerate company in the web...well minus fisherprice.com's awesome game section... but let's just face it there is no competing with something than can entertain your 8 month old for longer than 10 minutes.

In case your wondering what all my babbling is about... We are officially ... a .com!!! YAY! 

[image source]

Doteasy.com is having their anniversary sale & that means $1 domains and free unlimited hosting for a year!

I was going to switch to Wordpress in free unlimited hosting bliss but soon discovered that WP is just not for me. Sorry folks @ WP I know your disappointed to see me breeze through, but your a bit complicated for my tastes. I am a single mother, business owner, and student. I don't have time for complications! 

So... update your rss feeds... or don't cause I think it will probably still work...

Tell your friends... or... no wait really tell your friends... 

& above all... Enjoy the new .com name and all the good stuff that comes with... Like the picasa tutorial coming up tomorrow! 

& don't forget to follow me on my facebook fan page..Not only is it great to keep in touch with me and have silly conversations or watch me ramble on about how blogger hates me....buuuttttt I use it as my slapped together store for Bug Designs & we are having a couple of End of October sales! 

{I was on no way compensated by doteasy.com, fisherprice.com or wordpress.com for mentioning them in this post... I just happen to think the first two are awesome and the last one is complicated :] }

HELP! S.O.S!

I am going DOOOOOWWWNNNN!!! This ship is doing a spiral down in a tube of water.... 

Okay enough with the theatrics! I purchased a domain name... I have free hosting for a year... I decided to switch to Wordpress.... And that is where the bad idea came in... I have no clue how to work with wordpress. I want a layout like I want it and I can't find a layout similar or one to edit cause well I don't know how to edit them. Someone help! 

Free wordpress themes? Know of a good site? And I don't mean the first one that comes up in google. I mean a GOOD site. (unless of course the first one is good in which case you have my humblest apologies!) 

I am begging of you ... wordpress newbies, and experts... help me please!

Not so Wordless Monday 10/25

I just want to take a moment to say thanks to all of my readers that are here! I love you guys so much ! This is the longest I have kept a blog going and I think I have finally found my niche with this mother, crafty thing. 

So what happened this week? Well we have been sick since friday morning. Sound like fun? But before that we ....

{Discovered carrots make a big mess}

{Went outside to play and practice our standing skills}

{Found a new love for cheese}

{Mommy made a blanket for a client with a travel pillow to match}

{and it was reversible!}

{Mommy bought me my new favorite toy for $2!}

Tie blanket & a sneak peek

Hancock Fabrics is having a sale on their fleece... 3.99 a yard for regular fleece and walmart will price match! So I might have went a little bit crazy.

Bug really likes spongebob. He watches the theme song a lot (because than mommy usually switches the channel) and for some reason he has become attached to "the bob". So because he cried I love him & he is sick I decided to get some Spongebob fleece they had on sale at wal-mart and combine it with cuddle fleece and make my first ever tie blanket! 

It came out really cute and is heavy enough to provide lots of warmth in our cold bedroom!

Want to make one too?

Cut out the size blanket you want. Fleece is usually 60" wide so I did a 60" length with a 50" width.

Lay out your blankets wrong sides together and pin in place with diaper pins (or regular pins) than take your scissors, prep your hands to be sore, & have fun! Cut 1 1/2" -2" wide strips approximately 3" long all around the blanket. After your done cutting sit back put on a movie and start tying all those piece into knots. 

Step back and appreciate your hard work! 

& here is a sneak peek of a tutorial coming next week! 

I would tell you what it is but it is a secret! SSHHHH!!!!

Halloweeny Sneaks

Just a quick sneak peak @ Bug's Costume!

I have not decided yet if I will dress up! 

Coming soon..& Not so Wordless Monday

There are going to be some changed coming around here over the next couple of weeks! I am so excited! 

 I have mainly done my "business" as a hobby in the past... Now I am buckling down and I am going to stop playing business owner and BE a business owner. I even bought a marker board calendar! -gasp-

So stick around and check back often...

Think...Tutorials once every 2 weeks at least...new fun things....Lots more posts!

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This week we decided to check out the outside world....

{Bug discovered leaves yesterday}

{Our Butterfly Bush}

{My baby has learned to pull up and stand up}

{A peek down our road}

{Bug can be so precious and sweet he loved watching the leaves fall}

{We have discovered that the rug where he starts out is not a fence...}

{Such a curious little man}

{Standing up all by his-self}

{A fleece blanket I made for Bug}

{Close up of the appliqué I was afraid to do}

{Enjoying his blanket}

Picasa is Evil!!!

[Image Source]

Picasa and I are officially getting a virtual divorce! 

For those of you who don't know what picasa is... it is a photo editing and uploading program by google.
There is a program that you can download to your computer so that you can upload pics without having to click 50 times... Well today I was cleaning it up and wanted to remove one of my files from my list so that I could re-sync it without all the junk in it. 

I right clicked... I clicked delete... No warning message... hmm funny... Okay no problem! Go to sync it up and my entire folder is gone off my hard drive. 

No biggie it must be in the recycle bin! 

Nope.

My folder... my entire life... the business stuff, product photos, web graphics, and most importantly every picture and video I have ever taken of my 8 1/2 month old son are GONE. 

No joke. Picasa somehow disable the warning your about to ruin your life and have your world come crashing down around you  message. So after 15 minutes of trying to find a way to get my files back and 30 minutes of sobbing cause I lost my sons memories I have finally made it back to the land of no tears. 

I have a plan! My step-father is like a computer genius and thinks he can get the files back. Only catch... he is 7 hours away in Florida where he and my mother live. So we are going to have to do it virtually and hope I don't screw it up! 

Wish me luck. 

P.s. 

As you probably noticed Saturday there was no link it up post. I am postponing the linky party indefinitely until further notice. Maybe once I get more of a following I will re-instate it. But for now it is too much for this single momma to keep up with on top of a fledgling business and the tutorials I am working on!   

Upcycled Boy Hat Tutorial

This hat is absolutely perfect for winter! Why? 

Well because.... It has ear flaps! 

And while I am usually not a huge fan of ear flaps because it always reminds me of ,'a person from the past's', "special" friend. I am in love with these hats! They are kind of skater punkish...

{pre- extra additions}

{after the extra stitching and fabric additions}

{he left it on the whole time!}

How can you have one of these fancy hats? It's easy! Just visit 'I am momma hear me ROAR'. Cheri has come up with this awesome hat and even was nice enough to include a tutorial for it. See the tutorial here!

Not so Wordless Monday

Hey folks don't forget to check out Link it UP Saturday! We missed it last week but won't this week! 

_____________________________

First off I want to apologize for my absence. I have a craft festival/show every weekend this month! So it has been crazy trying to get things ready for that. I even had to partially close my store down because of it!

So back to Not so Wordless Monday...This week was a bit crazy! 

{This is what Barney does to my child...}

{Our Rapture Jam booth}

{Dylan my friend Emily @ Paperpixiecrafts' husband}

{Emily}

{Mommy and bug @ Rapture Jam}

{Bug had tons of fun hanging out with us that day and watching the carousel}

{A decent picture of myself "THE" bugcreator}

{Bug loves his cousin SL}

{They had free face painting}

{free carousel}

{Bug has decided that his crib is jail}

{And has figured out how to utilize his crawling skills to get into everything}

{bad picture of me but this is myself, bug, my adopted sister jess and my niece and nephews @ rapture jam}