Have you been wondering how other ActiveRainers come up with all these custom graphics for their blogs?

Take, for example, the Calendar posted on my "outside" blog, the Business Plan graphic on one of my ActiveRain blogs this weekend, or the book and sign-carrying dog on my 12 Key Questions for All Home Sellers blog a few weeks ago. Be sure to click on these three links before you continue, so you can see examples of what this blog is about.
Well, the book and sign-carrying dog were created using a free and easy website I learned about on ActiveRain, called ImageChef. But here is my easy 10-step recipe for the other custom graphics:
Secret Ingredients:
- MS Publisher
- MS Paint
- Shrink Pictures or Irfanview (or Picnik, per Julie Neering in the comments below)
Magic Formula:
In MS Pub, create your document or graphic - IF your MS Pub document or graphic has 2 or more elements, such as clipart and a text box, group them as follows: (1) Click on Edit and Select All, (2) Cllick on Arrange and Group. Now all your elements are combined into one image
- In MS Pub, click on Edit, Select All, and Copy
- In MS Paint, click on Flie and New
- In MS Paint, click on Edit and Paste
- In MS Paint, click on Image and Crop
- In MS Paint, click on File and Save As
- Choose the picture file on your computer where you want to save this (I created a new folder called "Custom Clipart") and save it there.
- In Internet Explorer, open Shrink Pictures or Irfanview and follow directions to size your new graphic image
- In ActiveRain, insert your new custom graphic image using the same tool you use to insert photos
Thanks to Brian Block, I learned that you can follow a similar recipe after you create a graph or chart in Excel (instead of a document or graphic in MS Pub). I had been suffering from "graph envy" for months, and he showed me that the process was super-easy. Be sure to check it out!
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Thinking of selling your home in Anne Arundel or Prince George's County? Check out some of the tools I provide for buyers because they could help attract a buyer for YOUR home:
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When you're ready to go from "just browsing" to "let's get serious", contact Margaret online or call her at RE/MAX Vision in Crofton Maryland. 410-451-1900
Copyright 2006-12. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER: Information contained in this post is deemed reliable on the date of publication, but it is not guaranteed and it is subject to change without notice.
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You know...I was just thinking where did you get that calendar.... you have ESP.
(let me save you a step, in MS Pub, Save as, Change type to JPEG under the title) And you are done ;)
Desiree - I'm with you. Tech stuff scares me to death. This isn't too technical, though.
Brian - You're welcome. I hope you find it helpful!
Thesa - I'm sure there are other ways to do this, but this works for me - and I'm no techie.
Todd & Danielle - I'm always so grateful when people share how they do things, and this is one I hadn't seen before.
Bob - Thank you! As to saving the MS Pub image as a jpg file, I know I can do that with the document, but I don't know that I can do it for "just" one image on MS Pub. Do you know how to do that? If so, would you share?
I just experimented until I figured out the calendar - 'used a portrait style template, colored and shaded it to taste, and then just figured out the right size for the blog by trial and error.
Karen - I'm glad you like my blog. One thing, though... those are black-eyed Susan's - Maryland's state flower. If/when you get a minute, read the "About" - but I think most Marylanders will recognize them.
Jason - Thank you, I hope you can use it - and do read Brian's blog about his charts and graphs, if you haven't already.
Margaret,
Good grief! And I should know that because I have zillions of them! Can I say it was late at night when I wrote that? :)
Margaret-You're the best! Did I say You're the best? Oh my gosh, you really put yourself out there to make us all better and better. I love it. Thank you. You've put it into such simple steps that it's fool proof. I can't wait to give it a try. Just an FYI, I ran across a blog by Jeff Turner over the weekend which featured http://www.picnik.com/. I wonder if you can use them in conjunction with each other. We'll have to give it a try.
Jeff - Yes I did that logo for Saly in MS Pub, as well as the one for Woda's Words of Wisdom (I'm really not all that creative, as you will see from the similarity of the two logos). There are probably more sophisticated programs available, but I've found this one to be "ol' reliable" for me for years. I do most of my ads, flliers, and postcards on MS Pub, too.
Julie - Thanks for the hint about picknik, I'll have to check that out. As to sellers' written goals, the time when you will whip them out is at negotiations, right along side the offer. Thank you for the nice compliment!
Diane, I look forward to seeing some of these in your posts.
Karen - Isn't that the greatest?
Adam - If you already have MS Pub, as part of a software bundle, and you just don't use it, then give it a try. However, it's expensive, and I don't know if I'd buy it before looking for an alternative that does something similar. I couldn't live without MS Pub, so I look for bundled software that includes it each time I upgrade to a newer version of MS software.
Karen, it took me a long time to figure out what you were talking about. Then I realized it was the Black-eyed Susans. I certainly don't know any other state's flowers! And they are the same color as sunflowers... just several inches shorter and smaller and... lol. The point is, you like my new blog, and that is what's important, right?
Thom, I'll have to take a look! Glad to be of service.
Hi Margaret,
Thank you for the great information, now let's see if I can find the time to work on this. :0)
Margaret,
great info.... thank you for taking time to list the steps
oh oh yeah, I see now...No. In order to resize and crop it you will have to paint or MS Photo Editor.
It saves the whole page as the picture. Maybe customizing the size of the blank page. Instead of using the 8.5 x 11 use a 4x6 and put the calendar or graphic on there then save it as a jpg. I will play around with that in the morning. I think that will work for you.
Bob, 2 things -
First I just had to delete that HUGE photo of me - too many wrinkles showing! But I do appreciate your little demonstration and I copied/pasted your comment into a Word doc so I could have the benefit of your information at a later time. Thank you!
Second, You may be making this harder than it has to be. It's really easy to make your logo or graphic in any random size that is convenient to work with, select all, copy, and paste to MS Paint, then crop, and do your resizing when you insert the graphic into your document.
It takes less time to do this than it does to type the explanation.
Jeff, You're right. That's why I just make it in a size that large enough to see and manipulate comfortably, because quality improves when youV shrink the image.
'Bob, Thanks for the rescue today.
M.
Chris, you're right, you can create a logo with Photoshop or any number of other programs. These are not logos I created - they are ones I found online with the same letters as commenters initials, and I tried to attribute each to the appropriate individual or business that uses the logo. The point of the post, of course, was to get people thinking by referring them to that article, and followed up by some real life examples. How about you? Do you have a logo with your initials?
Donna, If I write a book, it will be more along the lines of my new series - Woda's Words of Wisdom (title created by Adam Waldman)... But I promise you autographed copy!
Ha...right!
I meant to ask how did you get the pink border and logo on your pic?? Love it! You'll have to check out some of my recent blogs and Cancer.
Hello Margaret,
I really liked your link to the calendar. Do you have to pay extra for this service ? How would I go about setting something similar like this up for myself? This is really a great idea. Not that I would have any events to enter. LOL. Just real good to know. Thanks, Beate
Margaret, That is some VERY FUN AND VERY COOL advice! I gave it a 5. Thanks!
Very cool, this will be bookmarked and watch out my blogs will now rock. Thanks for sharing.
Hi, Bill - Glad to help! A lot of other ActiveRainers have helped me along the way, so now it's my turn!
Bob - I'll be watching for some neat graphics on your posts, now.
Shannon - Thanks for the 5, and good luck giving this a try. I have a lot of fun with it.
Keith - When I see some of these on your blog, I'll feel like a proud parent!
William - Obviously we can't do this with every post, but sometimes we just can't find the perfect graphic and this is good to have in our toolbag
Latonia - Sorry I missed your comment when you posted it. 'Hope this helps!