Since I'm a bit of a clipart guru, I thought I'd show you a couple tricks that will add a little pizzazz to the things you make.  Today is a video tutorial showing you how to add shadow and glow to your clipart and words.  Some of you are already pros at it.  Katie King and Amy Lemons are two that come to mind.  You can check out their resources and see what I'm talking about.  :)  

Enjoy!  Be sure to press that little square/circular button in the lower right-hand corner to enlarge the video and see my steps.  

Easy huh?  Here's the Derby Kids Clipart Set if you're interested.  

If you're into pinning, then here's a little button to pin!  

Hope you're having a blessed week.  :)  

Today's tutorial was a request from a follower who says "I made my first one [printable] a few weeks back, but had some trouble keeping everything lined up the same."   I hope this helps.  I don't know who you are (my suggestion form is nameless), but good for you!  Making sure your product doesn't throw us type-A people into a mental breakdown.  :)  

I know this is another pet peeve of mine... misaligned printables that require cutting.  Would you be excited to cut this?    

Trust me.  Spending a few extra minutes to make sure everything is nicely aligned will be worth it.  All of us Type-A (crazy) people will be satisfied... and you'll be putting paper trimmers to work around the world. 

Here are 4 basic ways to align your printables.  

I hope you learned something new.  :)

Let me know if you have anysuggestions  for future Technology Tuesday topics!  
Click here to suggest something.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

A pet peeve of mine, naturally, is squished clipart.  It drives me nuts.  I'm sure I drive you nuts, but not like this...

This is like nails on a chalkboard to me.  Let's discuss the why...

1.  The background is a hot mess.  It's beautiful and adorable in it's full-size glory, but my lack of tiling it has resulted in a clipart muffin top.  Not attractive.

2.  The star.  There's no reason for it to even be squished like that.  It's making me sick.  

If you're a newbie to making your own printables, then these videos might be helpful to you.  I know, personally, that I will hop right no past any products that look anything like the star card above.  I'm picky and like things to look proportional.  

This first one shows you how to "unsquish" that background paper and make it look normal.  

The next video is super beginner-level.  It shows you how to resize clipart while keeping it proportional.  I also show you a couple ways to avoid squishing images.  Sorry I'm sick and sound like a man in this one.  Also, I barely ran out of time so the end is crazy.  Haha!   

My last words were "Hope that helps!"  :)  

Hopefully this helped if your somewhat new to making your own things.  :)  Happy Tuesday everyone.

And "Just Say No".... to squishing... and drugs.  

Mostly to drugs though.  

Last week, I posted a little suggestion form for Technology Tuesday topics.  Someone submitted a great idea and I thought I'd do a little video tutorial for it.  :)  

I hope that was helpful!  Now you can make lines by yourself!  Yay!!!  Hahaha.  Here are some links to handwriting fonts that contain the lines: 

Have a great Tuesday!  

Here's that great link that you'll need to do it yourself!  

I hope that was easy and useful if you've been wondering how to do it.  :)  

I'm linking up with my blog buddy today... Katie King!   She started hosting "Techy Teacher Tuesdays", so my Technology Tuesdays will fit perfectly!  :)  Head on over to check out some more great tech tips.  

Happy Tuesday everyone!  :)

Some of you know that I'm currently getting my master's degree (le sigh).  It's mentally exhausting sometimes, but I am loving it so far.  I'm kind of a big nerd.  My degree will be in MEd in Educational Leadership, with a certificate in School Technology.  Lots of reading, collaborating, and writing.  :)  

With that being said, I decided it might be a good idea for me to do a little more with technology on the ole' blog.  There are so many awesome resources out there, but I just don't have time to add them all to the site!  To force myself into sharing them more often, I'm going to do something related to technology each Tuesday.  We'll call it Technology Tuesday... original huh?  :)  

First up?  Using purchased graphics.  I've received a few messages recently from 'newbies' in the world of 'purchased clipart.'  You know.  The stuff that you can buy from Etsy, MyGrafico, TPT, TN, etc.?   Some people are really intimidated about buying and using custom graphics.  I was when I first started, but now I'm hooked.  I've purchased a ton of sets and make a lot of my own.  I rarely use the Microsoft clipart anymore.  I'm picky.  

So, I did a little screencast video to show you how to get started if you're new... or just scared.  :)  This isn't really focused on 'instructional' technology, but I figured there were more than just three people who might be curious.  It's still technology though right?!  Haha!  Enjoy.  

I've been messing with this crazy video for almost an hour trying to increase the quality, but I've given up.   If it looks fuzzy to you, sorry. I'm not paying $200 for a fancy schmancy program to do screencasts.  I'll stick to the free version.  I think it gets the point across.  :)

Wasn't that so much fun!?!?  Haha.  I hate hearing myself talk.  Hope that was helpful to those of you who are 'newbies.'  If you're already an expert, then sorry.  Maybe I'll have something for you next week.  Leave a comment below if there's some sort of 'technology' you're wanting to learn about on Tuesdays!  

If you'd like some free clipart to try out then I have a few freebies for ya!  My newest one (Striped Pencils) is below.  Just click the picture below to head over to TPT and download for free.  I've also added some new sets (per request) recently, so check them out too.