Goodbye "Picture Window" ~ Hello "Simple"

Recently I'd noticed that the Picture Window template had changed and the tutorial I wrote several years ago didn't seem to be working anymore. The problem seemed to be in the Html area and the built in presets, including a white center color, weren't disappearing the way they once did. This might have been fine except the awful white center  sat directly over my pretty themes, humph!

So the time had come to do some research and see if I couldn't come up with something better.  After many hours of playing and tinkering I'm happy to say that I've come up with a new tutorial. This one uses the "Simple" template and the best part is it's even easier, yay!  Now bloggers won't have to tackle the scary Html code area anymore.  The template even offers some added customization which is nice too.

So if you're interested in taking a look or have that awful white center on your own blog then click the title below to view the newest addition to my tutorials library:
How to: Setup and Modify the "Simple" Template.

Tutorial Revisions and Update

One of the trickiest parts about blogging over these past years has been trying to figure out how to offer snippets of Html code within my blog posts. If you've ever tried to do this it's a real headache because our blog posts are written in the same language so a simple snippet of code inserted within a blog post can easily be mistaken as part of the posting itself. It's been an especially big stumbling block with my most recent tutorial How to: Setup the Picture Window Template.  I feel awful for any headaches my previous tutorials have caused as I try to offer helpful assistance, not additional headaches.

The good news is that thanks to Rajib over at Techncom I've finally successfully overcome the issues, whoot!  Now, my tutorials will include the required Html code directly within the postings so there's no more cumbersome downloads and additional files to hassle with.  So if you've tried my newest tutorial, How to: Setup the Picture Window Template, and struggled in the past please give it another try.  You'll find it works great now without the error messages.  I even had it successfully tested by a novice with no Html or blogging experience and they were able to successfully setup and modify the "Picture Window" template, whoot! 
Here's the direct link for those of you using your mobile devices: http://plumroselane-tutorials.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-setup-picture-window-template.html

Enjoy~

Customer Shouts ~ a few "helping hands"

One of my favorite things to do in this business is help others with their blogs ~ whether it's fixing a problem or just making things pretty, it's fun to play the hero. Recently I've had several opportunities to do just that and I'm hear to share a few of those with you today.
The first is a family blog titled Stealing Mom and Other Telling Tales...

There I reset the template, set up my prefab Rose Garden theme and included a few coordiating custom items like her top navigation links, blog signature, and sweet blog badge.

During this project I also designed a new post divider to coordinate with my Rose Garden theme and you can now find that offered for free on the Rose Garden theme page by clicking here.
Next up was this fun project over at Flip Flops & Pop Tarts...

There I set the template with an extra wide layout to accommodate those gorgeous photos she shares about beading, art, and classes. Dawn selected my Treasures by the Sea prefab theme and I set that up along with a few additional custom items like her two-tier top navigation, blog signature and darling blog badge.
Finally we have Scrappin' Stuff 4 You...

This customer not only needed my help setting up a new template and my Emporium blog theme but also needed a little more personal attention. Being fairly new to blogging we setup one of my telephone tutoring sessions. Talking over the phone we worked through several items she was having trouble understanding and I was quickly able to teach her some much needed info to set her on her way in blogland.
These are just a sampling of the many Helping Hands projects I work on throughout a given month. If you are interested in finding out more about my Helping Hands you can click this link or just contact me.
Enjoy~