Friday, November 5, 2010

Mini Blog Makeover

Watercolor with Wax Resist Blog Background

Creating a Custom Background
As I participate in Art Every Day Month, I've been spending a lot of time exploring artists' blogs. Everyone has such warm inviting spaces and that has inspired me to to a mini makeover of my creative space.  I was particularly inspired by Tammy of Daisy Yellow. She created an art journal background using wax as a resist under a layer of acrylic paint. I though I would give the wax resist a try with watercolors.

The Creative Technique
I love the banner that my dear designer friend Stacy created for me using my polymer clay sun as a focal point. I also love the cheery color scheme. I just felt it was a little plain. The wax resist watercolor technique was perfect for creating an interesting background with a little pattern, but not so much that it detracted from the content of the page.

The Technical Specs
I found a couple articles that explained how to add code to your template to change the background, but my code didn't match any of these. Finally, I found a simple article on Blogger/Blogspot Templates, Tips, How-tos, Tutorials & Help that showed how to do it in the new Blogger Template Designer. So simple.

Thank you Tammy (and all the other AEDM artists) for the inspiration!

11 comments:

  1. Ohhh, I would love to do a makeover. What I want to learn how to do is the top banner thingee.

    Love how you took the inspiration from the other artists and ran with it! Brava! Kudos!!

    So far today, a poem for AEDM2010

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh Oh Oh I love it! You are an inspiration Marie!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pretty new background, blog makeovers are always fun, I often switch mine up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've noticed all the yummy blogs out there too, and mine is about as ugly as they come! Makes me feel a little self conscious, but whatever, something will happen eventually to make it more inviting.

    Love how your background turned out. The colours are delightful, the orange in your header against the teal in your background. Way to go!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your blog is so creative and inviting! The banner is my favorite part of your decor... it really grabs your attention and pulls you into the inspiring vibe.

    I'm going to change my blog a bit more too (had a major rehaul about a month ago) and plan on spending time learning from and enjoying the other creative spirits out there.

    Thanks for inviting me to your blog! I'll be back to visit again. :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the cool aqua color with the orange sun! Nice job figuring out how to do it. A wonderfully productive way to spend the AEDM time.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you everyone! I've had so much fun spending time on your blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, this background is awesome. I love the technique you used, too. And I'm so glad you visited my blog, because it led me to you. You make stunning art, and I really enjoy seeing your poly clay pieces. I so enjoyed the cane you made in the previous post. BTW, I voted for you, at the poly clay site.

    ReplyDelete
  9. And Thank You for the link to the techno-instruction! Finding those tutorials is so challenging at times!

    Beautiful work!

    ReplyDelete

Ooh,a comment! How delightful.

recomendations

share icons