Blog Facelift Part 1: Creating Your Own Banner

Yesterday in my spare time at 12:30am (haha) I thought about making my own banner for my blog.  I only write a post every few months it seems, but I hate to take it down in case I decide to dedicate more time to this.  So in my boredom I searched for how to make my own banner...Oh and I changed my name and URL (Part 2 of this post).  I found The Blog Guidebook to be very helpful! After reading this post it got me thinking about Picasa.  PicMonkey sounds just like it! So here's my guide to making a blogger banner on Picasa! 

1. First I picked out what pictures I wanted for the banner by looking through a ton of my most recent picture files in Picasa or you can download new ones to Picasa.  Each time I picked a picture I clicked on the Green Lightening Bolt (see pink arrow).  This icon will hold all the pictures you've chosen in the selections box at the bottom.

2.  After you've found your picture(s), go up to the CREATE drop down and click on Picture Collage to start your Banner!

3. Now you are on the Collage screen and you can choose your layout under the settings tab (hidden under the page format drop box screen).  Click on the Page Format drop box and you will see an option to Add Custom Aspect Ratio(See pink arrow) to create the banner size.

4. The Aspect Ratio box pops up and in the dimensions box type in how you see it here.  200x600 and name your banner for next time you change your banner. Click Ok to save it and it will automatically change the size of your collage.

5.Here is where you will arrange your pictures the way you want them and/or add grid spacing and  background color. Once that is finished make sure you click Create Collage(see pink arrow).

6.  Now you can move on to adding text or converting it to special effects(Sepia tone, etc) under the Editing. Make sure you click Apply (see pink arrow) to save your work. See Jones Design's Post for more on adding effects and making a collage.

7. Now to make sure everything is saved highlight(select) banner and click on File and Save or Save as to Save the banner in your computer picture files.

Now that you are finished you can upload it to your blog. I hope this has helped you! Have fun making your own banner!