Fan-Tastic Fridays Facebook Link Party!

I'm starting a new adventure today - a Facebook link party!  It has seemed like a fun trend among some food bloggers, so I thought I'd try it out in the crafting/diy world!

Join me on Thursday evenings at 9pm EST on my Facebook page to link up a project!  

I'll be kicking off the party each week and you can comment on my post with your own link, or post something directly to my wall.  I'm going to try to have a theme each week, although some weeks might just be a free-for-all for you to share whatever you've been working on.  And don't worry if you don't have a blog!  You can share a link to wherever you may have a picture, or just upload one of your own.

I'll be checking online all of Friday and the weekend, and will be highlighting projects on Facebook and Twitter throughout the week.  Then I'll be featuring some of my favorites right here on the blog the following Friday!

This week, the theme is Valentine's Day.  No surprise there.  Pick your favorite Valentine's craft or recipe and get ready to link, mingle and party tonight at 9pm EST!

Here's a button for your sidebar or link party page for you to share with your friends.  As always, the more the merrier!

<div align="center"> <a href="http://www.1dogwoof.com" title="One Dog Woof"><img src="http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb455/onedogwoof/fantastic_friday_zpsfc97830a.png" alt="One Dog Woof" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Do you think you'll be joining me?  Let me know, because I don't want to have to party alone!

Click here to see where I party!

Childhood Books and Memories

It's coming on towards Valentines Day, and for some odd reason, I started randomly reminiscing about a Valentine's book from my childhood.  I don't know why it occurred to me to think about it, but as usual, the idea gets stuck in my head and I drive myself crazy trying to place the book.  Does that ever happen to you? Where recognition is just at the edge of your consciousness and you wish you could just transmit those scraps of images to Google and hope that miracle of a search engine can just tell you the answer and put you out of your misery already? ...  Ok.  Maybe it's just me.

All I could sense was a vague image of a kid cutting a heart and always not quite getting it and kept cutting more until there was only a teeny tiny heart left.  I tried Google, and Ebay and Etsy, and and random old book online archives, when, FINALLY, I saw a book cover that triggered the memory.  

AHA!  

It was "It's Valentines Day" by Jack Prelutsky.   

That gust of wind you felt was my huge sigh of relief, as if I had just found a lost wedding ring or something, but no, not really of that magnitude.  I was pretty ecstatic though, and it brought back so many memories of those Scholastic book club order forms and library book sales, and the joy of receiving a brand spanking new book.

So, crazy me, I decided to look for other books from my childhood, because obviously, I hadn't spent enough time on the internet yet.  I found out that there was a whole series of books called the Scholastic Weekly Reader, and apparently, my parents had signed us up for a subscription.  I don't remember any of this, but I remember the books, which was what counted.

After browsing (yes, browsing now, instead of frantically searching) through vintage Etsy shops, I found a couple more of my childhood favorites, and ordered them online.  It's kind of crazy that if my parents had saved those books, they'd be worth a pretty penny now.  Well, not a whole terrible lot, but at least I wouldn't be shelling out money to buy them again, which I did.  Still, it was like Christmas all over again when those books showed up and I flipped through those pages.

Here are some of my favorites:

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by by Laura Joffe Numeroff

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble

The Biggest Nose by Kathy Caple

 

Happy Birthday, Moon (Moonbear) by Frank Asch

The Wild Swans by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by Susan Jeffers

Little Toot by Hardie Gramatky

Do you have any favorite children's books from when you were young?  There's so many books available these days (and I love many of them), but to me, those oldies really were goodies. 

Happy Reading!

Click here to see where I party!

Create Social Media Icons Using Ribbet, and Free Instagram/G+ Icon Silhouettes

Since I've joined Twitter and Stumble and completed my set of social media outlets (for now), I went ahead and updated my set of social media icons for the sidebar of the blog.  For my own icons, I used Gimp, which is a photo editing tool, probably similar to Photoshop Elements, but it's free, open source, and there's lots of tutorials on the internets.  However, this tutorial will teach you how to use Ribbet, an online tool whose premium features are free right now, since PicMonkey has started charging for some of their more advanced services.  This means you can sign up to Ribbet, and make your own social media icons with no special software needed!

This will be a bit of a long post, so bear with me, and if you have any questions, just ask!

Please do not redistribute or sell these images.

1.  First, you'll need a set of icon silhouettes.  I found transparent png images of social media icons at The Blog Designer Network, but since that set was missing the Instagram and Google + icons, I made my own for you to use.  You can just right-click all of the images and save to your computer.

2.  Go to Ribbet.com.  Register for their premium services, since it's free right now.  I assume they will start charging just as PicMonkey has, but I don't know when, and why not take advantage right now?  

3.  Once you've registered, start uploading your icon silhouettes.  You'll need to start with a blank white image, which you can just Save As here:

white blank image

4.  Pick the white image to edit.  In 'Basic Edits' -> 'Resize', alter the image to your desired dimensions.  Remember you can crop extra white space later if necessary.

5.  Go to 'Stickers' -> 'Geometric', and choose the shape you want for your icons.  I used circles for this example.  Adjust the size and color of your shapes.  Once you have one set up correctly, right click, choose 'Duplicate Circle' to generate the other bases for your icons.

6.  See that green 'Photo Basket' tab at the bottom left?  Expand that tab and you'll see the icon silhouettes you've previously uploaded.  Or you have the option of uploading photos at this point.  Drag the silhouette onto your shape.  Change the size of the overlay to fit inside your icon base, and change the color to white (the color is up to you of course, I chose white).

7.  Here you can see the RSS icon shrunk down to size and in white.  Continue adding the icon silhouettes as overlays to the other icon bases.

8.  I choose to zoom into my image so I can better center my overlays.  The zoom option is in the bottom right.  You can also adjust where the overlay sits in the base.  For example, some people place the facebook icon slightly off-center, and the G+ icon to cut off the bottom of the 'g'.

9.  You can mess around in here for ages, but when you're done, click the 'Save & Share' tab at the top, choose a file name, and save as a PNG file.

10.  Now that you have your image, you'll want to add an image map to it.  This enables different areas of the image to be linked to different sites.  Go to www.image-maps.com, upload your previously saved image, and click on 'Start Mapping Your Image'

11.  You'll be taken to an intermediate window that you can just click through.  On the right hand side, you'll be given the choice to using a rectangle mapping or a custom shape mapping.  Choose 'rectangle'.  This will open up a mapping box on your image.  Adjust and place the box over an icon, and enter in the link for that icon.  You can also enter in a title for that link.

Also, make sure to un-check the 'Show Text Links' box on the right hand side-bar.

12.  Keep adding mapping areas and adding links to each icon.  Once you are done (I only mapped one for this example), go to the side-bar and click on 'Get Your Code'.

13.  This image ended up a bit screwy on my screen, but you basically pick the 2nd tab, 'HTML Code'.  Copy the code.

14.  Enter the code to your website.  Remember to upload your own copy of the icon image and replace the image-map image code with your own uploaded image code in the HTML.  If you are on the Blogger platform, go to Layout -> Add a Gadget -> HTML/JavaScript.  Enter the copied code, save it and refresh your blog.

Notes:  As I mentioned before, I used Gimp to create my base image because it allows me to create my base image down to the pixel, and I'm a crazy perfectionist like that.  But obviously, you don't need Gimp to create your own set of social media icons!

 

Click here to see where I party!

I've Been Social Media'd!

Well, I know it's 2013, but I've finally joined the Twitter bandwagon!  I've always wondered why anyone would want to listen to be blather on about the mundane details of my day, but it's what the cool kids do, and maybe my mundane details are more fun to someone else?  Who knows.  Either way, I'm there, and you can follow me @1dogwoof.  

As of right now, I think I'm almost all caught up on the social media thing.  It's amazing how much we have to put ourselves out there, and yet, it really widens our network of support and friendship.  You only hope that the people who follow on all the different outlets are supportive and friendly, or at least respectful of your so-called privacy.  I was a pretty shy kid and sometimes had a hard time making friends.  I didn't like to share.  I mean, I share stuff, but it's harder to share about yourself, for fear of judgment or being the laughingstock of school, or apparently from Glee, for fear of being slushied.  But here I am, on a blog and sharing, and now sharing on a whole bunch of different platforms.  So go ahead, follow and like and join and subscribe and any other fun active verbs that pertain to whatever it is we bloggers do to tell people we want to hear about all the little details!

You can find me on:

Facebook.  You might not see any of my posts due to FB's realization that they're giving away free advertising and are locking down the number of people who can actually interact with you.  In this world, interaction breeds interaction.  Or, put me on a favorites list.  Or whatever.

Twitter.  Short sentences and razor sharp hashtags.  This is a lesson in condensing my thoughts to a sound bite, and #Ineedacrashcourseinhashtaggery.

Pinterest.  Of course.  So much fun, so many pretty pictures, so much time wasted looking at pretty pictures.  I see it as the 'prior art database' of the crafting world.  Got an idea?  Look for it on Pinterest and see if it's been done before.  Follow the etiquette and respect the intellectual property.  Grab a glass of wine and scroll and scroll and scroll.

Stumble.  Grab a glass of wine and stumble and stumble and stumble.  Lots of fun stuff out there, not enough hours in the day.

Instagam.  My phone stinks.  I use a stinky prepaid phone that has a stinky camera that takes stinky pictures.    Still, I appreciate the VERY low monthly costs, and unlimited data, so I can't complain too much.  I'll live with the stinky-ness.  Doesn't make my son or my dog any less cute.

Google+.  Um yeah.  Haven't quite figured this one out yet.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have too many accounts and feel like the performer who's juggling plates on sticks and hoping to keep all of them turning fast to stay put.  I'll get right on learning the Google+ thing.   Promise.

RSS.  You get my feed in your Google reader or whatever reader you use.  Get all your feeds in the same place.  On some days, it'll be like perusing a big ol crafting newspaper.  On others, it'll be like reading a book.

GFC.  It's still around?  Yes, if you so choose.  I've gotten over my obsession with numbers.  It's the friends that count.  GFC or RSS  - same big bloggy newspaper/magazine/encyclopedia.  Your choice.

And because no blog post can be without a picture, here's a stinky photo of my beautiful new floors, being stalled this weekend by Yours Truly and Mr. Your Truly.  Mostly the Mister.  I choose the wood pieces; he wields the power tools.  Although, I've been manning the chop saw, so yay!

These are hickory floors for the attic craft room.  Hardest wood my money can buy, so hopefully, it won't dent when I drop that bolt of cloth or the 20lb guillotine paper cutter.  Of course you'll see it when it's done.  You really think I won't be plastering the results all over every social media outlet available to me? Duh.

So, there you have it, 8 different ways to keep in touch.  Or you can just email me.  I always love emails!

Click here to see where I party!

5 Petal Crochet Flower

I know it seems like I've been talking crochet a lot these days, so I just want to explain a bit.  Not that crocheting needs explanation, I love it!  But right now, my craft space is under renovation and has no floor, which means 99% of my supplies are in storage, and the only thing I could get to were my crochet hooks and a couple balls of yarn.  So there it is.  You'll see my desk re-do once I'm done, and my new floors once they're in too.  If you can't wait, imagine how I feel!  For now, here's another little crochet pattern for you to enjoy!

When I was making hats for my craft fair, I discovered that I tended toward boyish or at the very least, gender neutral hat colors and designs.  Maybe because I have a little boy at home and always despair at the lack of cute boy designs.  I did make "girlie" hats, in hot pink, for example.  But I'm not a (very) girlie girl, and you won't ever catch me with a hot pink hat.  I'm also terrible at making up my mind, so I like having options available for those last minute mood-dependent decisions.  I decided to make (and sell) crocheted flower pins that can be pinned to a hat (or not), so you can mix and match flower and hat colors.

I couldn't find a flower pattern that I loved, so I made up my own.  These little flowers are quick and easy to make, and can brighten up any outfit.  Or group them together for some springtime cheer!

If you'd like to sell items from this pattern or share it with your friends, I just ask that you give credit back to One Dog Woof.  Please do not repost or re-distribute the pattern in its entirety.  Thanks!

5-Petal Crochet Flower

You'll need:

G size (4.25 mm) crochet hook

Small amount of cotton or acrylic worsted weight yarn.

Yarn needle

Pin or Barrette

Abbreviations, in US terms:
ch = chain stitch

sc = single crochet

sl st = slip stitch

hdc = half double crochet stitch

dc = double crochet stitch

Magic Ring:  Wrap yarn around 2 fingers as if to start with a chain, pull up a loop, but do not tighten.  Yarn over, and secure a chain stitch on hook.  Work Round 1 stitches into ring then pull tight.

*Note:  If you intend on attaching a pin or barrette to the flower, I recommend leaving a long tail before you start, and using the tail to secure the pin/barrette once the flower is complete.

Round 1:  Start with a magic ring.  5 sc in the ring.  Join with sl st to first sc, pull tight.

Round 2:  *Ch 3, sl st in next sc*.  Repeat from * 4 more times.  The last sl st will be in the sc you started with.  You should have 5 loops.

Round 3:  Work (sc, hdc, 3 dc, hdc, sc) in each ch-3 space.  

Round 4:  * Ch 5, working behind the first set of petals, sl st in the back of the sc from Round 2*.  Repeat from * 4 more times, with the last sl st at the beginning of the first ch-5.

Round 5:  Work (sc, hdc, 5 dc, hdc, sc) in ch-5 space.  Join with a sl st in first sc of round.

Fasten off and weave in ends.

This picture is my attempt to show where to make the slip stitch after the 5 ch in Round 4.  This is the back of the flower, with the white section being the back of the sc stitch from Round 2. 

Click here to see where I party!