My Creative Muse

Alopecia Areata Awareness Collab Designer Call

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:04:00 +0000

A dear friend of mine - Jenny from Jenny's Designz - has an absolutely beautiful little girl, Veronica, who was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata when she was just 2 years old. Veronica suffers with this disease on a daily basis, but through it all, she keeps a smile on her face and is one of the sweetest little girls you will ever meet!

Alopecia Areata Awareness

Jenny has put out a Designer Call to anyone who creates digital scrapkits, templates, quickpages, masks, etc. to collaborate with her on creating an Alopecia Areata Awareness kit.

If you would be interested in participating, you can find more information HERE on Jenny's blog.

Thanks again everyone for chipping in to help out with this collaboration and for spreading the word about Alopecia Areata to make more people aware!

Do You Need a Blog Design? A Baby Needs Heart Surgery...

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:11:00 +0000

Mye de Leon is a member of one of the Facebook Blogging Groups that I belong to. This is what she has been dealing with the past week:
"I gave birth to my boy on Dec 27. That day was supposed to be the happiest. Until they told us the news. Alphonse has Tetralogy of Fallot - a heart disorder wherein his valve has to be closed by a surgery. He needs to have it done in Feb. We need to have $12,200 by that time which we don't have at the moment :( I am losing hope.
As if that isn't heartbreaking enough. He is suspected to have Down syndrome too. We will have a chromosome test done on January 2nd.

I cried a lot already and i have become the pessimist i never thought i'd be. Please pray for us. We need the surgery. Doc says there is a 98% success rate and it is curable.

Do I need help? - I am a blog designer http://mycreativezone.com/ , please if you need a makeover - please please order from me. I am willing to work hard.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Her little baby needs our help.

They need $12,200 by 1st week of February. If you can help her, any amount will be appreciated.

You can send it to her paypal : admin@myedeleon.com
I'm sure she and her little Alphonse would greatly appreciate it if you would send some work her way.

Gothic Inspirations October Blog Train

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:16:00 +0000

Gothic Inspirations October Blog Train starts tomorrow, October 1st! This month's theme is PICK YOUR POISON.Previews of the Designer creations are below. Be sure to follow Gothic Inspirations Blog Train to start blog hopping tomorrow! Please remember to leave some love for the other designers that are so freely giving you their hard work, it is always appreciated! You'll be able to snag for two weeks!

Here is my portion:

Kimmi with: My Creative Muse

Keep going and visit the rest of the fabulous designers!

Jo with: A Taggers Scrap

Muriel with: Creative Disorder Scraps

Stuart with: Creative Crazy Scraps

Sarah with: Designs By Sarah

Nika with: Devilish Dezines

Miriam with: Ellanoir Design

Jessica with: Gothic Inspirations

Victoria with: Maitri Scraps

Jennifer with: Perfectly Imperfect Creationz
Tiffany with: SSCC Graphic Solutions
Kara with: Sweet Cravings Scraps
Tasha with: Tasha's Playgrounds
Alyson with: Tyger’s Tidbits

Christina with: Tragedy's Creationz

Pumpkin Time

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:46:00 +0000

Finished up a cute little tag the other day using the artwork of Robin Pushay which you can find at Artistic Dreams Imaging. Included in the zip file is a collection of sayings that you can use in your emails. I hope that you like them!

Mom on Strike!

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 03:54:00 +0000

Anyone else out there sick and tired of being taken for granted by the men and children in your life? Put this on your computer and GO ON STRIKE!

(just click to download the size you need)

If that doesn't work ... email, text or Facebook this to 'em!

Fall Extras and Tags

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:21:00 +0000

Created a set of extras to use with alone or with the fall-themed letters I posted this morning. I hope that you like them!

Fall Themed Incredimail Letters

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:24:00 +0000

I have three new letters for you today that are fall-themed for Incredimail. Just click each of the previews to download.

At the Lighthouse by Myst Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 21:05:00 +0000

I have just had the pleasure of working with this beautiful kit for Myst and loved it! I have always held a fascination with the ocean (probably because I'm a water sign), and I could spend hours and hours creating with this kit.

Told you it was beautiful! Here are the two layouts that I've created this afternoon with this kit:

You can pick up this beautiful kit at ScrapSoul.com or any of the other stores that Myst sells at.

Tribute to Elric Childress

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Please join us this evening at 8:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) Thursday, September 13, 2012 for 10 Minutes of Facebook Silence to pay tribute to Elric Childress, an amazing young man who lost his battle with cancer this past Sunday.

No child should spend their childhood fighting catastrophic diseases of any type, please join hands with us and continue to help bring awareness to cancer and fighting for a cure.

Thank you for being a part of all our lives Elric. We love you.

The song that accompanies this video is by James Otto entitled "Where Angels Hang Around." This song is about a child who was diagnosed with cancer, and sung in the position of being a father and what he is going through, taking his child to St. Jude's Hospital for treatment. A more fitting song I could not find. Elric spent much time at the facility as well. Many thanks to James Otto and Warner Music Group.

A hundred miles out of Little Rock
Windshield full of rain
I-40 eastbound drivin’ while I pray
She’s asleep in the backseat

Holdin’ tight to her teddy bear
She’s got her daddy’s smile and her momma’s hair
But one word knocked our lives off track
Just one word keeps us comin’ back

Across the Mississippi
A mile or two from Beale Street
Not too far from Graceland
Where the king of rock and roll sleeps

To a place for children
Where God sends his mercy rainin’ down
In the heart of Memphis
Where angels hang around

All the deals I’ve made with God
The conversations that we’ve had
Tryin’ to accept things I could not understand
I wanna walk her down the aisle

While those church bells ring
See her get the chance to live all her dreams
But one word knocked our lives off track
Just one word keeps us comin’ back

Across the Mississippi
A mile or two from Beale Street
Not too far from Graceland
Where the king of rock and roll sleeps

To a place for children
Where God sends his mercy rainin’ down
In the heart of Memphis
Where angels hang around

So sleep tight, baby
While these four wheels roll
‘Cause just beyond the clouds
There’s a ray of hope

There’s a place for children
Where God sends his mercy rainin’ down
In the heart of Memphis
Where angels hang around

Fairy Mushroom CU Freebie

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 02:19:00 +0000

Greetings everyone! I am "almost" to the point where I am ready to begin creating and designing again and offering you some awesome freebies! Stay tuned by signing up to our newsletter - because when My Creative Muse hits - it hits in a BIG way!

I have a beautiful freebie to offer you today - well I think it's beautiful anyway! My youngest son, Tre, was playing outside a few weeks ago - running around our apartment complex here, there and everywhere - so I had given him my little cheapo tracfone (could only make phone calls and send and receive text messages on it) to keep on him so I knew where he was at. Well, he lost it - or so we thought. An entire week went by, couldn't find my phone - so I had to call and cancel the service and ordered a replacement phone.

Well imagine my absolute utter surprise when my new phone arrived and I found this waiting for me:

I can still make and receive calls and text messages - but now I can also download apps and ringtones, take photos with the built-in camera, record videos, listen to music, browse the web, and even connect my Facebook account to my phone. I am so completely and totally PSYCHED to have this phone after the little cheapo one that I had before!!!! (Two days before my new phone arrived, my dear son found the other phone in his shorts pocket - shoved under the bed mind you - and on vibrate ... which is why we couldn't find it when I called my number repeatedly!!!)

So now the boys have the old phone that they can use when they are out and about in the community and I have mine!

Out walking my little pooch, Mollyanna, today - I came across some gorgeous mushrooms growing in the grass behind our apartment. I call them "fairy mushrooms" because at night they close up and during the day they open their tops wide to shield the delicate fairies from the glaring sun. So naturally I just had to have a play with the phone and take a photo of them to share!

I absolutely love the crisp, clean images that my new camera phone takes! I will be using this a LOT in the coming months when the leaves begin to change colors and fall sets in here in Virginia - you can count on that!

Below is a mist that I did of the first photograph. You can freely use this in your commercial use or personal use designs and scrapkits. All I ask is that you provide credit for the image back to me by using ©My Creative Muse - http://mcmbykimmi.blogspot.com (unless you are using it with a licensed artist's work, then their terms of use apply and you do not need to add my information to the creative work). If you would like to tube the image and use it that way instead of the misted image, that is fine as well. You can e-mail me directly and I'll send it out to you. All I'd ask in return is a copy of the tube (giggles) so I could use it myself. (Did I mention that I suck at extraction and/or tubing?)

Just click the preview to download the misted image!

UPDATE - 9/7/2012 - Sorry everyone! I did not realize I uploaded the png file - should have been the psd file. The correct file is now attached to the image below and you can download the corrected version now!

I would really love to see any creations you put together with these adorable little fairy mushrooms! Have a great weekend!

Dad's Memorial Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 22:10:00 +0000

I know that I have been quiet since Dad's passing and haven't posted here. I've been dealing with Dad's passing in my own way - I've literally buried myself in my Facebook games (Cityville, SimCity Social, Chefville, and The Ville - should any of you wish to help feed my addiction and become my neighbor in those games lol) and have cut myself off from the rest of the world except for family.

It's painful - losing him the way that we did - and I've been beating myself up over the fact that I didn't go home more often, that I didn't call more often. That hurts more than anything...thinking that perhaps if I had called and visited more that he might still be with us, that I might have been able to help him deal with things better than he had been.

Hindsight is 20/20 they always say though - but I'm taking the opportunity every chance I get to call my sister and talk with her. I haven't been calling my brother simply because I don't know what his schedule is like - I know that he used to work crazy long hours - and I know his household has a strict schedule that they stick to, so I don't want to disturb that and annoy him - which I have a tendency to do I think LOL! I keep in touch with Amy, his wife, via Facebook so hopefully she passes my messages along to him.

After Dad's funeral services on Monday, July 23rd, some of the family got together at Dad's favorite local restaurant - Johnz Restaurant & Catering. It was nice to get together with everyone and get caught up with our cousins, whom I had not seen since my mother's funeral back in 1992. My cousin, Judy Weiss, is the photographer.

From left to right - my cousin Linda's friend, Linda, Me, Jonathan and the Man Thing.

From left to right - Tre (my son) and Shane (Danielle's son) - impatiently waiting for their lunch

From the back of the room on the left and around the table - the Man Thing, Me, Linda, Linda's friend, Polly, Stan (my brother), Amy (his wife), Danielle (my sister) and Kenny.

Ken and Danielle, Amy and Stan, and my cousin, Polly

My sister Danielle and Ken

It was nice to reconnect with everyone and find out how everyone was doing. We all exchanged phone numbers and email addresses so we all have no excuse not to keep in touch with each other anymore!

As for me, I'm slowly coming around. It's hard to think about, this feeling all alone in the world. I always just imagined that I'd have mom and dad to take care of in their golden years, that the two of them would grow old together and spend their days sitting out on the front porch rocking in their chairs and watching the cars go up and down the valley. In a perfect world, that's how it would be....but we don't live in a perfect world.

I know they are both in heaven looking down on us ... and that gives me comfort. I'll be back to my usual self again soon I'm sure - and I thank each of you for patiently waiting for My Creative Muse to kick in again and for things to start rolling once again.

Saying Goodbye...

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:53:00 +0000

You never really fully comprehend how much family means until it is taken away from you. Monday evening, my husband was injured when a truck fell on him, crushing the bones in the top of his right hand and destroying his index finger knuckle and breaking his index finger. He spent the entire evening at the emergency room and did not return home till 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. He was in severe pain and utterly exhausted. I was worrying and fretting over him when the phone rang. It was the county coroner's office calling to regretfully inform me that my father had passed away in his sleep.

I collapsed on the chair in utter shock. I had spoken with my father the day before, Monday. He had called me early Monday morning because he did not feel well. He said that he was drooling terribly and he was talking incoherently. He couldn't put two sentences together that made sense and his speech was slurred. He did not want me to call the ambulance to take him to the hospital, so I called the State Police and asked them to go by and check on him and check his vitals to ensure he was not having a stroke or another heart attack. I also called a family friend and asked him to meet them at my father's house and take him to his physician or to the hospital depending on the condition he was in.

Dad went to his primary care physician, who got him started on his high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, and heart medication once again since he had been off all of his medications since our ancestral home burned in October 2011. His physician checked him out and said that everything seemed alright and sent him on his way with his new prescriptions. I spoke with Dad again while he was waiting for his prescriptions to be filled, and he said that he was going to go home and try and get some sleep. He had not slept in three days, and had not eaten a decent meal (just snacked on things) in about two weeks because he just had no appetite for anything. So I told him I would check on him again Monday evening.

I called him again around 8:30 p.m. on Monday evening, and he still had not been asleep. At first his speech was alright for the first few minutes of our conversation, but then he started slurring his words once again and the last thing he said was that he had to go, Ken was calling him, he'd call me back.

He never did.

Tuesday morning, Ken was taking my niece and nephew out to see their Pop-Pop and to check on dad and see how he was doing. He tried calling, but no answer. When he got to dad's house, there was no answer to his banging on the door, so he went around to look in dad's window and saw him asleep in his bed. He called 911 at that point, and they came and found he had passed in his sleep. That is when the coroner called me.

When my mother passed away in 1992, Dad was lost without her. He never did remarry, she was his soul mate for life, and he used to talk about the day he'd see her again in heaven and he could fuss at her for leaving him to deal with everything on his own LOL. I know he used to talk to her all the time. I know in my heart that he is at peace now and happy to be reunited with my mother and feel whole once again.

My brother and sister and I are all dealing with this in the best manner that we can. It's difficult losing one parent, but when they are both lost to you - it seems even more difficult. I feel disconnected, as though I somehow don't 'belong' any longer. I know that children are their parents' legacy to the world, but that doesn't lessen the feeling any. Perhaps, with time, that feeling will fade. I hope so.

I haven't broken down yet. I'm trying to hold things together and be strong for my brother and sister, and to help with all of the final arrangements that need to be taken care of. I will be traveling to Pennsylvania to attend the funeral and help them with anything else that needs to be taken care of. We didn't need to worry about any of this when mother passed, as Dad was there to handle everything. Now, we're on our own, and its quite frightening to be perfectly honest.

For various reasons I won't go into, my brother and sister and I have been estranged from each other. The one positive out of this terrible incident, is that my sister has realized how important family is and how much she is loved and cared for, and I hope that this will bring my brother and I together once again as well. I know we'll never be the Norman Rockwell family that sits around the table together every Thanksgiving and Christmas - but I hope that we will at the very least stay in touch with each other and be a part of each other's lives once again. It is what I pray for.

I posted on Facebook, ironically, on Monday that I was "fearing that the old saying 'we aren't promised a tomorrow' is just too close to home at the moment."

I regret that my Dad never got to meet my youngest son, and that he had not seen my eldest son and daughter since 2001. That was the last time that I was home for a visit. I should have gone more often. It isn't from lack of wanting, it was just lack of money, time, schedules. It is my deepest regret. Yes I talked to him on the phone several times a week over the last several months - and for that I am eternally grateful - but I just wish I had been there for him, to see him, hug him, remind him that he is loved - always and forever.

Do not stand at my grave and weep...
I am not there. I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awake in the morning's hush,
I am the swift up flinging rush
of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft star-shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry...
I am not there. I did not die.

I know its cliché - but remember to tell the ones you love just how much they mean to you each and every chance you have. None of us are promised a tomorrow.

Blue Blush and Barely Legal

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:04:00 +0000

Good Sunday to you all out there on the internet! Have a new creation that I finished up the other night to share with you all (finally). I also wanted to announce that there will not be a Friday Color Challenge this week. I've spent the entire weekend working on trying to repair my son's computer. The eldest downloaded a slew of crazy toolbars and what-not to his brother's computer and just totally fooked it up. No matter what I have done to try and clean it - nothing has worked.

My last option, to run the Kaspersky Scan on it, resulted in the computer getting the blue screen of death and refusing to even open the operating system. So I'm waiting on our tech to bring the operating system disc over so I can reformat the hard drive and start fresh once again. I am SO totally putting them on lock and key as to what they can and cannot do on the computer this time though! Lesson learned ... the hard way! So that is why I have not had time to do the Friday Challenge.

This particular tag and set of extras is using a beautiful ColourPop Collection scrapkit from Creationz by Jo (available to purchase at Dreamscape Imaging) and a wonderful new artist at Artistic Dreams Imaging by the name Miss Kajun Kitty. This particular tube has not been released yet, but will be available soon. I just knew when I saw the blue in her eyes that this was the kit to use to bring out her exceptional talents!

My tag below is an example of what the extras look like. I made a set of extras that you can pick up here that include a variety of different titles to suit everyone's needs. I hope you like them!

Friday Color Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 19:12:00 +0000

Today's Friday Color Challenge is a beautiful summer sidewalk photo with beautiful daisies and lavender and lush green trees. I am in the process of putting together a summer sidewalk kit to share with you all and will post that momentarily. I'm in the midst of organizing and getting caught up on season 4 of Ugly Betty (which I've missed watching terribly) so who knows ... we might even get a few tacky flowers and Ugly Betty fashion in the kit - one never knows with 'my creative muse'!

Freedom Timeline Covers

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 02:13:00 +0000

For those of you in the United States who will be celebrating the 4th of July on Wednesday, a few free timeline covers to share with you! Just click to download the full-size version for Facebook.

Celebrate the 4th of July with a Huge Sale and Freebie!

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 00:15:00 +0000

Are you a newsletter subscriber? You should be! I have a huge tagger size kit (personal use only) available for newsletter subscribers exclusively! In addition, we are hosting a 75% OFF everything in the store sale now through July 7, 2012. You must be subscribed to the newsletter though to receive the discount - and it only takes a moment! Don't forget that we offer a convenient layaway plan as well - break up your payments into 2, 3, 4, or 6 payments - whatever works into your budget!

Here is a preview of what our newsletter subscribers receive absolutely free:

Instagram-Like Border Script Freebie

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:32:00 +0000

My daughter has an iPhone with the Instagram App and I love the border that it puts around her photos - so I decided to see if I could replicate it and make a script with it today. I've tried it out on several different sizes and, while the script will work on most any size photo - it works best on those that are 2000px wide or less.

This is a photo she took and posted on Facebook using Instagram:

And here is the same photo that I did with the Instagram script:

My corners are a little more rounded than the Instagram app - but I love rounded corners! Now for a little history lesson - this is a photo taken at Hollywood Cemetery here in Richmond, Virginia. I've only been once but enjoyed every moment of it, and plan on visiting again soon. My daughter was there this past Friday taking a walk through the beautiful grounds. I highly recommend putting it on your "must see" list if you ever get a chance to visit. Hollywood Cemetery was designed by John Notman in 1847 and serves as the final resting place of two American presidents, six Virginia governors, two Supreme Court justices, twenty-two Confederate generals, and thousands of Confederate soldiers. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a beautiful final resting place for a host of men, women, and children from all walks of life. Feel free to take a walk with the virtual tour that showcases some of the more notable resting places as well on the site.

History lesson over, and on with the freebie! You can pick up this free script by just clicking the preview shown below. Enjoy and have fun with it! I know that I will!

Friday Color Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 19:57:00 +0000

I know - I'm late with the Friday Color Challenge but its all Mother Nature's fault! We've been dealing with some wicked thunderstorms this week here in Virginia. We've had high winds, hail, tornadoes, torrential rains, thunder and lightening - all I can say is I think Mother Nature is a bit peeved at Virginia LOL! News reports yesterday (before last night's storm that knocked power out for approximately 8 hours at our place) said that over 2 million people in Virginia were without power and that the Governor had declared a state of emergency after Friday's storm. Yeah, it's been that bad.

So on with the color challenge! Due to the storms and all of the fallen trees we've had around our property, this week's color challenge is entitled "Peaceful River" and I pulled these beautiful colors from this photograph included with the color palette. Create anything you would like with this color palette and then come back here and leave a comment telling us where your creation is posted so we can check it out!

I created a collection of (10) stamps, a word art for your stamps, and an 8.5" x 11" writing paper using this beautiful color palette collection and photograph. I hope that you like them and enjoy them! Just click the preview to download below.

New Newsletter Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 23:24:00 +0000

Are you subscribed to our most awesome newsletter? You should be! We just published a new one with some GREAT deals and information! Stop by the site and get subscribed now! It only takes a moment ... and there are great specials available to subscribers only each month! I have a wicked deal coming up for July for my subscribers!

Want to check out the latest newsletter? Just click here!

Friday Color Challenge & CU Freebie

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 21:15:00 +0000

I don't know about the rest of you creative types, but there are times when my creative muse needs a jump start. So I've come up with the idea for a Friday Color Challenge. I'll supply you with a color palette ranging from 6 to 9 colors, and you have one week to create anything you would like using that color palette and then post it on your blog or Facebook page. Come back here and add your link to the list below so that everyone can check out what you've created and leave some love for you!

I've been trolling the internet this morning (instead of working - a horribly guilty pleasure of mine) and I came across some absolutely gorgeous images with just beautifully vibrant colors that I had to capture.

This is the palette that we will be working with this week. You can create anything you like with this color palette - a mini-kit, a signature tag, a wallpaper, anything you can imagine - you can create! To help get you started, I have created 6 papers and 9 ricrac ribbons coordinating with the color palette. Have fun with them and enjoy this CU freebie!

Letter Creator IMF Preview Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:14:00 +0000

This is a tutorial designed to assist those who create Incredimail stationery in creating a preview of your letters to share on your blogs or web sites to enable others to download your letters.

Very simple tutorial, and only takes a few steps. Put your letter together in Letter Creator as you normally would and add it to your Incredimail files. Before closing your letter creator screen; however, adjust the image preview on your screen so that a majority of the image can be seen as well as the text and/or footer section of your letter.

Your next step is to hit your Prt Scr key on your keyboard (Print Screen) to take a snapshot of your screen and then paste that image into Paintshop Pro or whatever imaging program you are using. We are now going to crop that screenshot image as shown below:

You need to crop just the image area that you want to share. Do not worry about trying to get the entire letter (especially if you have a header and sideborder area) in the cropped area – this is just a preview of the letter to give your readers an overview of what the completed letter looks like. Once you have this area cropped, just double click on the image and it will delete the areas that are outside the cropped area.

I suggest that when you save your preview you give it the same name as your IMF letter so that they are grouped together on your hard drive and easy to find both the letter and the preview.

You are now ready to move on to the next tutorial – How to Share Your Incredimail Letters on Your Blog.

How to Share Your Incredimail Letters on Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:13:00 +0000

I have had several people ask me how to go about sharing their Incredimail letters that they create on their blog for others to snag as well that are not part of the Yahoo and Google groups that they share them in, so I decided to whip up this tutorial for you and make it nice and simple!

You need a file cabinet on Google Sites to upload your files to. (The reason I suggest Google sites versus 4Shared is that you do not have to wait for the download, and the people saving your letters do not have to click on several different links or wait to receive the letters – makes for happy downloaders who will continue to come back to your site because you've made it easy to receive your letters!)

Go to www.google.com and sign in (if you do not have a Google account, make one). Once you are signed in you will see the following bar across the top of your browser:

Click on More and then click on Even more at the bottom of the drop down menu.

Scroll down to the Home and Office section and click on Sites and when the page opens you want to click on the CREATE button as shown below:

You then need to create your home page – don't worry – it's very simple! Just select the Blank template and then name your site (I suggest something short) and then click on CREATE when you have finished naming your home page:

You will now be taken to your home page for your site as shown below (I had to change my name from IM letters to my letter creations hence the different names) and your site should show up like mine below:

On your new home page – look to the right of your screen and you will see the NEW PAGE option – click on this to create your file cabinet to store your letters and wallpapers and whatever else you would like to share on your blog:

When you select the New page option – you will have the following screen appear. You need to fill in the name of your page (I suggest files) and then scroll down to "Select a template to use" and be sure you choose the "File Cabinet" option. Then just click Create and your file cabinet will now be available!

Google will automatically load your Files page for you which will look like this.

Now you can begin uploading your IMF files to share on your blog. To do so all you need to do is click on the Add file button as shown above, select the IMF file from your computer and you are finished! You will now see your IMF file uploaded to the files section as shown below.

Now we are going to show you how to share your IMF file using Blogger. Open a new window in your browser (you need to keep your file cabinet open in another window to access your files) and log in to your blog on Blogger and click on the New Post button to create a new blog post. Insert the Title you wish to use for the blog post and you can begin with your text about your post. We will then add the preview you created in letter creator (see my Letter Creator IMF Preview Tutorial) by clicking on the image link as shown below:

You will see the following screen appear giving you an option to choose a file to upload or to add a link to a preview already online. I suggest just uploading your preview and allowing Blogger to host the image (it is much simpler to do so this way than to upload and link from a photo sharing site such as Photobucket or Fotki). Once you see the preview on your screen with the blue box around it, click on Add Selected so that it will add that particular image to your blog post as shown below:

Your image will automatically be inserted as a small size – once it is inserted you will have the option to choose small medium large or original for your preview size. Use whatever size works best for you and does not overlap your blog post margins and bleed into your sideborder area of your blog.

Once you have adjusted the size of your preview, click the image once and then click on the link selection in your blog post bar. Switch over to your file cabinet and right click on the download link for your IMF letter, and then go back to your blog post window and paste it into the Web address field as shown below:

The nice feature of using Google Sites to host your IMF files is that the file will automatically download when clicked so there is no need to open the link in a new window (although you can leave this box checked if you wish to do so). Once you have inserted your link, click on the OK button and your IMF letter download is now attached to the preview!

All you need to do is instruct your readers to click on the image to download the file, add your labels, and publish!

This tutorial is of my own design and creation and copyrighted to ©Kimberly Miller. Any similarity to any other tutorial is purely coincidental. If you wish to share this tutorial with others, please only share the link to this tutorial in your Yahoo/Google groups and direct others to my blog to view the tutorial post. Thank you!

Easily Share Your Blog Button with Readers

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:11:00 +0000

Ever wonder how to share that pretty blog button you designed and slaved over for hours with others so they could post it on their blogs as well? Well here's the easy way to share (and more people will share your blog button if you 'do the work' for them!) your blog button!

First, you need to upload your blog button to a photo sharing site such as Photobucket. Once your button has been uploaded to your account, it should look like this:

The information you see below will appear when you hover your mouse over the uploaded image. Move your mouse down to the IMG code box and click on the link in the space to the right which will automatically copy this string of code for you.

Open a Notepad or WordPad window (or any program you have that will let you do simple unformatted text) and paste your copied code into that document. It should now look similar to this (only with your links):

[IMG]http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv209/themadwhitewoman/LifeInAHouseOfTestosterone1-1.gif[/IMG]

Hit enter a few times to put some space between your copied code and the following. Copy this exactly as is and we will change the highlighted parts to be specific to your blog and blog button:

So, my completed code would look like this:

Change the links in red above as I did to reflect YOUR personal blog address and YOUR personal blog button image code.

Next, go to your Blogger dashboard and find your blog and click on Design and then we are going to Add a Gadget. Look for the HTML/JavaScript gadget and click on that. When your gadget opens you are going to give it a name and then paste your completed information from above into the Content area.

Your gadget should now look like this:

Now before you hit "save" and add this to your blog design – at the very beginning you need to add <center> and then at the very end directly after </textarea> you need to add </center>. Once you have done that, hit "save" and then move your gadget to where you would like it to appear on your blog.

What these two codes do is tell it to center all of the information between. This way your information shows up neatly centered on your blog – like this:

That's it! If you wish to adjust the width of your text box – you can play with the area that says "cols=20" and just adjust the numbers higher (like 40) to make it wider if you would like. Now anyone can snag your blog button you spent so much time on and easily paste the code into an HTML/JavaScript gadget on their blog and share the love!

This tutorial is of my own design and creation and copyrighted to ©Kimberly Miller. This tutorial was written by me on February 28, 2012. Any similarity to any other tutorial is purely coincidental. If you wish to share this tutorial with others, please only share the link to this tutorial in your Yahoo/Google groups and direct others to my blog to view the tutorial post. Thank you!

My First "Summertime" Tag!

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 02:04:00 +0000

I am beside myself with joy at the moment. I figured there would be a few scrapkit freebie hounds out there (like me) that would download my first ever kit, Summertime, but I honestly was not expecting anyone to actually make anything with it roflmao! This beautiful, sweet, lovely woman - Moon of Moonlit Dreams Designs - made a tag for me using one of my absolute favorite FTU artists (Lia) and turned my humble little first-timer kit into a tag of beauty! Thanks so very much Moon!

Summertime Freebie TS Kit

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Miller) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 05:09:00 +0000

I am SO excited (and so relieved) to have finally completed my first tagger size kit called "Summertime" to share with you! I really, really hope that you'll like it! Please remember it is for personal use only and that comments go a long way towards gaining more freebies!

21 different elements, 9 papers, and 6 frames to use in your summer creations!

I would love to see what you create with the kit!