Free Blog Background | Brown Floral

 An autumn-inspired 2 Column background free to all with free matching header image.

Background code:

<style type="text/css">body {background-image: url("http://i33.tinypic.com/dw30ix.jpg"); background-position: top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed;} </style><div id="tag" style="Z-INDEX: 50; LEFT: 1100px; WIDTH: 200px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: 30px; HEIGHT: 100px"><a href="http://www.jannypie.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://i37.tinypic.com/f0cl0w.jpg"/></a></div>


**This is FREE. If you use one, please just leave a comment for me!**


TO USE THESE DESIGNS AS YOUR BLOG BACKGROUND
1. Log into your Blogger Dashboard
2. Chose the blog you want to show your new background
3. Click on the LAYOUT tab -> PAGE ELEMENTS
4. In your sidebar, click on ADD A GADGET
5. Scroll down to HTML/JAVA and select
6. Leave Title Blank. Copy and Paste the background code for each design into the Content box
7. Click the orange Save button, and your new background is installed!



Vote for jannypie.com in the 2009 Love This Site Awards!

Bloggy Birthday Contest

Happy Birthday to my craft blog!

This month we turn TWO years old!

I had about 75 pages (not really) of progress and highlights and thoughts about my audience, my own work, developing strategies to gauge my success.... blah blah blah blahdyblah. I bored myself writing it, and you all probably would be too. So, we're going to just skip straight to the free stuff.


(Use this code to share!)

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15361807@N02/3903510741/" title="giveaway 002 copy by jannypie143, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2605/3903510741_6e396eb6af.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="giveaway 002 copy" /></a>

How it works:
« See my feedburner count over there? At this moment it says I have 474 subscribers through various blog readers and email subscriptions. Our goal is to have that number reach 500 subscribers in honor of 2 years blogging.

When the Feedburner say 500, I will randomly select a winner of the give-away from comments on this post (and this post only).

The faster we reach 500, the better your chances are for winning- the longer it takes, the more chances others have to sign up!

✎  Comment Entries
1 entry for leaving a comment
1 entry for posting about this giveaway on your site
1 entry each for a follow and post on Twitter or Facebook (include your screenname in your comment so I know who you are)
1 entry for any NEW subscriber who gives me your name as a referral!

So many chances to win!! Here is what you get:

What a Witch birdhouse (moar photos)

Birdhouses started it all.
For years I wanted a miniature Christmas village. I looove miniatures. And I love birds. So I made myself a Christmassy birdhouse village and was happy. See how that works? Which inspired me to make more of my own home decorations, and a ton of people liked them, and so I signed up for a Christmas craft show and an Etsy store, and from there it has all been written about on my blog. Which is quite useful, actually, if only to remind us all how much my tastes have changed.


Skowly cardstock stickers

A set of 10 Skowly cardstock stickers, which are looking particularly scowly today.


Scented neck pillow

If you didn't already know, my aromatherapy pillows are filled with a blend of flax seeds and rice to maximize hot/cold temperature and fine pressure. The scented oils are 100% natural and plant-based, indicated for stress relief and health benefits. They are securely stitched, so no worries about splitting and losing your marbles. This large size wraps is perfect for the neck, joints like shoulders and knees, or lower back support.
Mmmmmm. Smells gooood. So warm. Perfect for a Fall evening. Or easing those muscles from grave digging. Which is a perfect Fall activity.


Speaking of Fall



Warm autumn colors and a silver center for this flower brooch.  I have one on my purse already, because I love Fall like that.
Antique spider pin

A friend recently gifted this to me, and it is just too cool not to include with the Halloween theme giveaway. Yes I am tempted to keep it for myself, but I just really love you guys. Better to pay forward the gift to someone to thank them for following. It has a brooch pin back and is about 2 inches long.

Okay, recap:
Halloween birdhouse
Cardstock Skowly tags
Aromatherapy pillow
Fall flower pin
Antique spider pin
Lots of chances to win

Best of luck, and thank you for your loyalty to my blog!


Vote for jannypie.com in the 2009 Love This Site Awards!

Meet: SKOWLY

He's fierce.
It comes from his pirate father.
He's cute.
It comes from his owly mother.
He's original.
From my own doodle in pencil!
He's flexible.
I can cut it out with my Cricut.
He's free.
(Wait, what?) (Why would she give her design away for free?)


With a face like that, how can I NOT share?!

Skowly 
Unique skull and crossbones design 
Download for free (Please leave a comment!)

SVG FILE | PNG FILE

Skowly is for Personal Use Only. Do not sell him in any form. Please give credit back to my site when used. Thanks!

Halloween Freebie

I made this photo layout for the dark and twisted mind of JC Hutchins as part of the reader involvement in his book Personal Effects: Sword of Blood.


It was included in the "patients artwork" of the super-scary Brinkvale Psychiatric Institute.


I'm reviving the layout to give away FOR FREE because it is perfect for Halloween, which is just around the corner.

Halloween Freebie

5"x7" + 300 DPI High Resolution .PNG File

You just have to click on the picture and save it to your desktop!
If you download it, please leave a comment, so I can know that it is being helpful!

Here is a sample I made from one of our Halloween photos, with a little embellishment added

SCAL 101: Finally cutting cool crap

Now we are just jumping ahead to the real reason anybody gets SCAL in the first place.... cutting whatever you want!


If you get lost, svgcuts.com has great videos for detailed use on how to navigate SCAL and such. They also have a large collection of FREE files already in .svg format!


To walk through this, I am going to use this pretty butterfly from Cheeky Magpie (we are ignoring that she already has the .svg file included- we'll work from the .png file!)



(Yes, I absolutely regretted chosing this as my example! All those details take forever to punch out. Anyways)

1) Open Inkscape > File > Open > Find butterfly file > open


2) Click on the image to select it > Path > Trace bitmap


3) Leave selection defaults > press Update > Then Okay
Inkscape will draw the vector right on top of the old butterfly. You will notice that the new butterfly has edges that are very smooth. This is good.
Click on top image (butterfly vector) > drag to side > click on bottom (original image) > delete




4) Drag vector back to center > File > Save

Next, we switch to SCAL

5) Open scal > file > import svg > find the butterfly .svg file you just made


6) Everything opens at 1 inch in size at first. Click and drag to scale




7) Load your paper into Cricut > click on the Scissors to cut > select Firmware version > Press Okay
The Cricut should start cutting
The settings I used are blade depth 4, speed low, pressure med



8) Now your filigree butterfly is all done!

Tip: Save the outline of the butterfly to use as a stencil!

And there you have it! Once you have done this a few times, it will go extremely fast. And you can start cutting out fonts, dingbats, shapes, whatever you like! I'll be posting some of the things I have made next, including a tutorial for this tote bag!




Bonus:
Here are a few more sites with FREE .svg files
http://freesvgfiles.com/
http://desertpea.4shared.com
http://scraption.com/

July desktop background

Thanks for reminding me, Karen!







1280x1024 large

800x600 small

It's my birthday!

Happy 27th Birthday to me!

Here is my gift to you all, a pretty, vintage desktop background for the month. Enjoy!


1280x1024 Lg size
800x600 Sm size

May free desktop background

Happy May and happy weekend everyone!


800x600 px


1280x1024 px

This month's desktop designed at Scrapblog.

Freebie for Swag

Yesterday was the deadline to turn in 40-50 promotional items to the Craftacular team. All the items from members will be split into eco-friendly bags, and given away to the first 50 customers at each day of the show.

Lemme tell ya.... those bags, will be NICE. I kinda wish I could have one. Okay actually I REALLY wish I could have one.

Anyways, this is what I came up with, being that I don't really have an easily mass produced and cheap to make product. It's a magnet that I digitally designed, to show everyone that you "Give a HOOT!" about recycling. I tucked it into the front of a cheery yellow envelope, which has an info card inside about my blog and what I make.

I printed the envelopes with my blog name, then hand stamped this fun tree from the Friendly Forest (<3) collection on each one.










And I'm also giving away the graphic file for this sticker! You can print it out or display it on your website. Enjoy!

April desktop background

Well, the month is half over (or is it half begun?) but here is your free April desktop background! Earth Day is next week!


Desktop size 800 x 600 pixels
Desktop size 1280 x 1024 pixels

STFU! FREE Digital goodness

I discovered some new Photoshop tricks and just sort of stumbled upon this cute effect, so I put it together to share! The felt texture and appliqued edges are 100% created from scratch by moi. Fun!

I request personal use only, but include a generous public use allowance described in the Terms of Use, so be sure to read it!


CLICK HERE FOR GOODNESS!

Happy March - Free Blog Backgrounds + Bonus!

**These are FREE. If you use one, please just leave a comment for me!**


TO USE THESE DESIGNS AS YOUR BLOG BACKGROUND
1. Log into your Blogger Dashboard
2. Chose the blog you want to show your new background
3. Click on the LAYOUT tab -> PAGE ELEMENTS
4. In your sidebar, click on ADD A GADGET
5. Scroll down to HTML/JAVA and select
6. Leave Title Blank. Copy and Paste the code following each design into the Content box
7. Click the orange Save button, and your new background is installed!



Green Stripe

<style type="text/css">body {background-image: url("http://i39.tinypic.com/27x2ioy.png"); background-position: top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed;} </style><div id="tag" style="Z-INDEX: 50; LEFT: 1100px; WIDTH: 100px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: 30px; HEIGHT: 100px"><a href="http://www.jannypie.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/34zlrlt.png" border="0" /></a></div>

Lucky Day

<style type="text/css">body {background-image: url("http://i39.tinypic.com/hvrwh4.png"); background-position: top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed;} </style><div id="tag" style="Z-INDEX: 50; LEFT: 1100px; WIDTH: 100px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: 30px; HEIGHT: 100px"><a href="http://www.jannypie.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/34zlrlt.png" border="0" /></a></div>

Shamrock Swirl

<style type="text/css">body {background-image: url("http://i41.tinypic.com/whxszq.png"); background-position: top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed;} </style><div id="tag" style="Z-INDEX: 50; LEFT: 1100px; WIDTH: 100px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: 30px; HEIGHT: 100px"><a href="http://www.jannypie.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/34zlrlt.png" border="0" /></a></div>

BONUS - FREE DESKTOP BACKGROUND!!

Here is a FREE desktop background for March in two screen sizes. Just click on the link, then right click on the image and choose "Set as Background"


Lg Size - 1280 x 1024
Small Size - 800 x 600

CuteTree free background - more options

Readers seem to be loving the free backgrounds so far! I am so happy to bring you something you like. I've had several requests for a smaller CuteTree background to smaller monitors, so that the trees along the bottom don't get cut off.

Keep in mind that if you have a small monitor, or low resolution, how you see your blog is not how others see it with larger or higher res sizes.
For example, here is a gorgeous blog currently using this design, on my 19" monitor:


Mad Imaginations - beautiful blog! and you can see the row of trees all pretty



And here is that same blog, just viewed on my husband's 15" monitor. It's the same blog, but the trees look cut off only because of the size of the monitor.

Conversely, if you use a smaller design, it may look too small on someone else's computer.

So why do some layouts look ok small?
It's because they are very simple, and use a narrow blog space in order to show more of their design in the background.
Take this for example: "I'm Irish" background from CBOTB


That source image is actually 2000 pixels wide, so it will fit any monitor and resolution. But the actual area where your blog goes is very narrow, which is why most other free blog design places require you to change your layout to "Minima" before using them. If you use anything wider, your text will overlap the background.

Like this


In the future, I will try and make my designs more flexible, while still allowing a wider blog to be used for you all.

Keeping that in mind, here is the CuteTree design that is 800x600 in size for you. I have also removed the code that hides your navbar. It seems that more people use theirs than find it ugly, so I won't be including that bit in any other backgrounds.


Cutetree

<style type="text/css">body {background-image: url("http://i42.tinypic.com/4zvsjb.png"); background-position: top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed;} </style><div id="tag" style="Z-INDEX: 50; LEFT: 1100px; WIDTH: 100px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: 30px; HEIGHT: 100px"><a href="http://www.jannypie.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i44.tinypic.com/34zlrlt.png" border="0" /></a></div>

Let me know how that works out for you!