January, 2012 | Chicken Scratch

Unique Fonts for your Blog

Jan 312012

Ya know how everyone and their Aunt Sally was using that ‘swiss cheese’ font* from Picnik to label their pictures? I like that font too but who wouldn’t want to stand out a bit?

Especially if there are a million free fonts out there to pick from! And did I mention it’s easy? If you install a font on your computer it shows up in Picasa.

Don’t have Picasa?

You should.

It’s free (from google) and awesome.

It’s also simple, very intuitive for the non-computer geniuses like me.

Step 1. Pick your font. I use DaFont.

{I’ve never gotten viruses from them but always becareful!}

There are tons and tons of awesome fonts available for free. You need to start somewhere, I had an idea in mind I went with the Retro Category (green box).

Now you see the blue box? Type in what you want see. If you’re looking for a unique font for watermarking type the name of your blog ect. I went with Valentine’s Banner. Also change ‘Number per page’ to 50. You’ll want to scroll through them pretty quick and this makes it easier. Now click submit.

See? Those are the same fonts from the top picture, but with my words.
Something to note: see the box in the bottom font where the apostrophe would be? That means there isn’t one in that font. It means you can’t use it (duh!) so if that character is important keep looking!

There we go! I picked the font in the green box. Click on the font for for info

Good choice! This one has 2 versions. Some have many versions, some only one. These will all be separate true type files. If you’re sure this is the one click download (red box).

Step 2. Download and install:
After you click download this will pop up:

There are 2 ways to go from here, open or save. I go with open because I think it’s easier but you can also do it the other way. Click Open With and then OK

Click Extract (green box)

A window will pop up asking you where you want the files to go. I have a folder on my desktop for all the fonts I download. You don’t have to put it there, just make sure it’s somewhere you can find it. Make sure that folder is highlighted (green box) and click Extract (blue box).
This window will pop up:

Find the TrueType Font Files. Without closing this window go to the Control Panel

This is a little tricky if you have a small screen. You need to see both windows like this:

You want to drag the TTF’s (green box) to the Fonts Folder (double blue box).
If you have Picasa open you need to close and reopen it. If you don’t have it open now is the time.

Click the Text button. Go to the drop down bar.
Your font should be there (just need to remember the name!)
Click and start typing!

There you go! You just added a unique font to your computer.
You can use it in Picasa and Word/Powerpoint ect.
Think of all the printables you could make!

***

After all that I decided to go with a different font. The capital letters wouldn’t show in Picasa (they do in word?) and I wasn’t crazy about how it showed up over the pictures anyway.
So I went with this font – Devinne Swash.
Luckily the steps are pretty easy once you get the hang of it!

*If you happen to miss the cheese with the demise of Picnik you can get a similar one from DaFont.

If you’re still confused please email me @

ChickenScratchNY {at} gmail.com

This is the XP version!

If you’re running Windows 7 head over to Brown Paper Packages

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Valentine’s Banner

Uncategorized 18 Responses »

Jan 302012

Remember this guy?

I finally finished (and photographed!) the rest of that project.

I’ll be honest. This was a hard project for me. It’s different than anything else I’ve done. I’m still not 100% on it. I think it needs more, but it’s a bit out of my realm and I’m just not sure. I’m going to live with it for a while before I make anymore changes.

This one’s missing a flower, just noticed that! Bet the dog ate it. He eats everything else.

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Gandhi Sign

Uncategorized 12 Responses »

Jan 282012

I’ve never decorated for Valentine’s Day. It’s not a holiday I care a lot about.

I think life is too short to celebrate love on one day. I love Mike everyday, I (hope I) don’t wait until February 14th to show that.

But…

Seeing all the V-day stuff on Pinterest and on the linky parties has worn me down. (Yes Mom, if all the kids on Pinterest jumped off a bridge I would probably, eventually get around to it after pinning it, of course). And I was pretty bored with the Winter Wonderland Mantle. Still haven’t had more than a good 14 days with legit snow on the ground so it seemed out of place in the house.

I started out with a scribbled drawing of the buffet and shelf. It includes several projects you’ll see over the few days and some other stuff you might recognize from other set ups.

My plan is to go over board for V-day and then after the 14th I’ll remove the pink and hearts and be left with a less busy, easy to live with and cat proof (Ok that last parts a joke).

The sign is made from an old board Mike grabbed from his mothers garage. The spot in the middle looks less like an oil spot and more like a knot in real life. I used my slice to make letter stencils and went letter by letter with white and gold paint. The important words “Love” and “Life” are mostly gold. I sanded over it a bit but it didn’t make much difference and the stenciling was pretty messy so its not all that perfect anyway. The original quote is from Gandhi.

In it’s current home. Think of this as a mini peak into the final display!

I love my orange wall.

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Inking – Trial & {Mostly} Error

DIY 8 Responses »

Jan 282012

On the rare occasion that I’m not rushing to get something done RIGHT NOW I like to take my time and experiment. Once a scientist, always a scientist I guess. I’ve been working on a paper banner for my Valentine’s Day buffet (look for a revel sometime next week!) and it was missing something. A lot of something. I thought about rhinestones, ribbons, all that jazz. Then it hit me. Ink. I’ll ink up the edges, add some contrast. Make it fancy. Like on my Gift Tag Ornaments.

Teaser from the banner

But…

I’m using my slice. I’m not using easy shapes. I’ve got words, fun shapes, all sorts of stuff to ink. I used the plain ol’ ink pad on the gift tags. but those were circles and rectangles. There has to be a better way, an easier way, a more reliable way.

So I dug around my craft room and came up with this little trial.

I cut 5 semi-identical flowers with my slice, off the Wedding card. I grabbed a blue ink pad to make sure the ink would show up in pictures. I also grabbed a basic stiff paint brush, a stencil brush, a q-tip and a basic soft paint brush. The final flower was inked using only the ink pad.

First up was the stiff brush. It’s one I’ve got hanging around since my high school days, nothing special. Probably from a cheap-o multi-pack. Draw your own conclusions but to me it looks like it was done with a paint brush. It was tricky getting enough ink to really show up without going too far and basically creating a border.

Next up, the stencil brush. This is the most subtle. I like it, it can be really subtle or have more impact depending up how much pouncing you do.

Eeeeeee…. Yeah. Not great. I like the left, that’s using ~~very little~~ almost no ink at all. The right is what happens when you use too much ink. Basically a maker.

I think this is my favorite. It’s subtle but not so much that you can’t see it. It highlights the interior cut outs. I didn’t ‘paint’ with the brush so much as ‘scrub’ using a very small amount of ink.

The original. The biggest failure. I couldn’t get into the nooks and cut outs. The paper was to pliable to dig into the ink pad (works better with card stock) so I got very little ink on the paper where I wanted it. I had to do a lot of fancy bending to try and ink the inner petals but ended up with quite a few smears.

Here we have the side by side. My two faves are the the on the right.

What do you think? Which ones do you like?

*I used the stencil brush for the birdie*

Do you have any other options for me?

And… a word about the future! Expect a few baby-centric projects in the works.

Thanks to this little guy:

I’d like to introduce you all to Mr. Bentley. My first ever nephew!

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Pumkin Pie Croissants

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Jan 262012

When I saw this I immediately pinned it and knew I had to make it. I made them for my house warming party in October and last weekend for my last Christmas of 2011 (yeah, in January 2012). Everyone who has one loves it.

Pumpkin Pie Croissants From Pressed Down, Shaken Together

This is one of my favorite last minute recipes. I’ve made it twice now, once with canned pumpkin and once with homemade pumpkin.

See? Not as pretty but more pumpkiny

Here’s the secret, fill those suckers up! They look worse but taste sooo much better. There will be some explosions in the oven. I use a silicone mat to catch the spills. If you skimp on the filling you will have a lot left at the end.

One more tip: use a pizza cutter to 1/2 the croissant triangles. Add the filling before you separate the pieces then roll them up. You can get closer the the edges without making as much of a mess

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New Look

Uncategorized 5 Responses »

Jan 242012

I’ve had a few people mention that they, uh, hated the color of my blog.

So I decided to take advantage of the Last Days of Picnik and switch it up a bit!

So, what do you think?

I know it’s simple but so are my computer skills!

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Canvas Baby Decor

DIY 3 Responses »

Jan 232012

I did my first ever guest post earlier this month over at Domestic Deadline as part of her Beat the Winter Blues Party. In case you missed it here it is again:

This project is a bit out of my realm. My little sister is having a baby sometime between this month and February. I needed a quick (because I procrastinate with the best of them) and cheap gift that she wouldn’t get from anyone else.

I’m no where near the first person to cover canvas with pretty fabric and hang it on the wall but I did add a little twist. I use fabric (don’t bother washing it but do iron it really well), spray glue, scissors and a canvas.

Cut your fabric at least 1.5 inches larger on all sides. If you want to feature a specific part make sure it’s near the center. I tried to center the blue onsie (without cutting off the ducks head) on this canvas.

Spray the fabric with the spray glue then flip it over and smooth out the fabric with your hands. Then flip it back over and tightly smooth in two opposing sides pressing the fabric down on the back side. There are a few ways to finish up the wrapping, I’d recommend trying whatever method you use to wrap gifts. You might need a few more sprays of glue. repeat with the second canvas and you’ve finished 2 out of 3!

Paint the 3rd canvas to accent the fabric.

While it’s drying pick a motif from the fabric that you like. Iron either paper-backed fusible webbing or freezer paper to the back. Then cut it out as close as you can get.

I use my Slice cutter to cut a 4 inch tall ‘B’ from the Applique Basics card. (The baby’s name is Bentley). Make sure the paint is really dry for the next step!

I put the item to be glued (in this case the duckie) inside a plastic bag, spray it and them pull it out. Spray glue gets all over the place if you aren’t careful!

Glue on the letter and the duckie and you’re done!

These are super light weight, I have a set in my hallway that I hung with push pins.

I haven’t tried it but in theory the fabric should peel right off if you get sick of it.

Cheap, easy and versatile? Oh yes. You can have it all!

Once again thanks to Emily for letting me take over her blog for the day!

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Sunday Suprise!

Uncategorized 5 Responses »

Jan 222012

I got a bit of a shock this morning. There I was, taking a shower.

And suddenly I was not alone.

Hang on! This is rated G (for golden!).

I had half (a huge) puppy in the shower with me. Alfie loves to lick water off his people. Today he must have gotten anxious and decided not to wait for me to get out.

Silly puppy. But we love him!

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Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Uncategorized 13 Responses »

Jan 202012

Mmmmm….

Vanilla.

Sugar.

Cream.

(and egg yolks, but that doesn’t sound as good)

I stepped outside the dessert box and made Creme Brulee.

I used the recipe from Serious Eats

I’ve never made or had Creme Brulee before but I have to say, this was delicious.

It was creamy and cracking the top was fun!

I used eggs from my chickens and heavy cream from a local farm (I bought a gallon to make butter).

This recipe makes a. lot. of yummy.

Next time I’ll only make a 1/2 batch. It’s a simple technique that I can’t wait to play around with.

Coffee? Mint?

So many options!

Don’t Forget:
Win A Necklace! (ends 1/31)

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WW: Maggie

Uncategorized 6 Responses »

Jan 182012

This is Maggie. She is a miniature Scottish Highland heifer. She isn’t ours (thank goodness!). She belongs to Mikeys mom. She came from the same auction as Dorothy. The two of them lived together for a year until we moved. She started out really shy.

Now she’ll stick her head in your pocket if she thinks you have a cookie.

Did I mention the horns?

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