G R O W Y O U R W I N G S

Starting playing with LJ options last night and ended up going off the deep end.   I hate it when this happens.   I got it to a point last night where I could stand it, but it may not stay like this.   And it might be wonky.   I'm playing with the concept of a format that does a better job showcasing photos.   We'll see where it ends up.  I just don't want to go too far down the CSS rat hole because I find it takes forever.

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Thanks to elsiecat and my insomnia of last night I now have a new layout.

I finally figured out that it was that darn black curtain backdrop that was messing with my Photoshop-fu in trying to make headers out of any J2 panel pics. While I liked some of my results, they were all so dark and I wanted something more lively.

So since I couldn't sleep last night...I ended up doing this. And I was very happy with the results. So I played some more to adapt one of them for a new header and came up with this...


It has a transparent background so the background colors you see will depend upon the background of the page you are viewing.

Then I played around with my layout and the final results are below.


Plus I made a shiny new icon to match! And I think this is the first icon I've ever made that I really like. (Not that I've made a lot, mind you.)

Is it just me? I find it so hard to read light-colored text on light background. But the layout and artwork is cool.

My LJ layout broke several weeks ago and I haven't had the mental (and emotional!) energy to try to fix it after spending a couple hours one day trying to no success. So I left it broken--but it's been driving me NUTS looking at it. This morning I finally said to heck with it and switched back to a standard LJ layout until I can re-apply a custom-built one.

Opening this post to keep a scrapbook of my layouts, icons, etc. that I've used on my LJ in 2008. Found 2008_scrapbook  a short time ago and it seemed like a good idea.

This is going to be a WIP for a while...



01.22.08 Heath Ledger dies.  See posts here.
02.18.08 WGA Writer's strike ends.  It started on November 5, 2007 and resulted in a shortened TV season.  See posts here.
03.28.08 CreationCon Tribute to Supernatural - LA Con 2008.  fickleone  and I attend our first SPN Convention!  See posts here.
04.10.08 Emily has surgery for her nose.  See post here and here.
04.15.08 Infamous Twizzle Incident.  See posts here.
05.10.08 fickleone  and I decide to swap from the SPN Dallas Con in June to the November Chicago Con due to RL conflicts and Jensen cancelling for Dallas. 
05.15.08 SPN S3 Finale--No Rest for the Wicked.  See my reactions here.
06.21.08 Bob & I take a trip to Lincoln City for the weekend.  See post here.
06.24.08 Emily turns 20 (OMG!).  See my Happy Birthday Emily post here.
06.27.08 In which Karen gets old--arthritis 
07.07.08 In which my work life sucks
07.23.08 My two-year LJ-versary!  See post here.
08.05.08 Bobby turns ... well it was Bob's birthday!  He went fishing with a work buddy.  We had a family dinner at Outback.
08.11.08 In which I have a work meltdown
08.22.08 Tim turns 15.  But due to illness (mine) we don't celebrate until about two weeks later.  See my Happy Birthday Tim post & picspam here.
08.27.08 Family trip to Sunriver.  See post here.
09.07.08 J2 Soapbox Derby in Vancouver BC.  Jared and Jensen race each other for charity!  See posts here.
09.09.08 BuddyTV publishes a partial interview with the boys where it's said Jared & Jensen are living together.  See explosions here.
09.18.08 SPN Season 4 preimier episode Lazarus Rising airs.  See my reactions.
09.29.08 In which the universe kicks Karen soundly in the butt and tells her to get going.
10.17 thru 10.19.08 Three-day Creating The Life You Want workshop at the coast.
10.23.08 Amazing Eye of the Tiger Jensen performance.






00 | 07.15.08 - present | Impala Gold Variation.  Header by lierina . 
                                                Layout by me.


 
     

01 | 01.28.08 - 06.28.08 | Just Let Go by sweetgirl7808 
02 | 06.28.08 - 07.14.08 | Impala Gold.  Header by lierina . 
                                                  Layout by me.




       

01 | 09.08.08 - present  | SPN J2 Soapbox Sunglasses by apieceofcake 
02 | 06.02.08 - 09.08.07 | SPN Dean Dear LJ by noway_icons 
03 | 03.02.08 - 06.01.08| SPN Sam & Dean S3 DVDs by me
04 | 01.01.08 - 03.01.08 | Chatty by unknown




       

01 | 01.01.08 - present  | Shatner Pretty in Pink by unknown
02 | 05.01.08 - present  | SPN Dean Rock On by nyaubaby 
03 | 05.01.08 - present  | SPN Jared Dork by librarianstash 
04 | 04.01.08 - present  | SPN Jensen as Sam by me
05 | 05.01.08 - present  | SPN Jensen Green Eye by me

       

06 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Dean SAA Charter Member by me
07 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Dean Gargling by causette 
08 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Dean ?!? by dyslexia 
09 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Jensen Eyesparkle by stawberynvanila 
10 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Dean I Feel a Sin Coming On by gigglingkat 

       

11 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Jensen by mrsr58 
12 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Jensen-No Words by mrsr58 
13 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN J2-Adorable as Hell by mrsr58 
14 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN AVSC by mrsr58 
15 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Jensen Lips by mrsr58 

       

16 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Is It Thursday Yet? by schute23
17 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Boys Will be Boys by misty_creates 
18 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Dean Hates You by stealth__girl
19 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN J2 Magic Dance by caffienekitty 
20 | xx.xx.xx - present  | SPN Dean Dude by carmendove 

      

21 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN Dean Don't Objectify Me by serenitysangel 
22 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN Dean Over Shoulder by alchemilla 
23 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN J&J Soapbox by andune 
24 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN J2 Had the Time of My Life by mata090680 
25 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN J2 S3 gagreel dance by maichan0808

      

26 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN Jensen Dramatic Chipmunk by speakfree 
27 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN Jensen Kimono Dance by benitle 
28 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN Ruby Deep Fried Crack by _cuethepulse 
29 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN Sam Strap on Your Party Hat by mata090680 
30 | 09.29.08 - present  | SPN Sam The Antichrist Awakes by chal 

       

31 | 10.08.08 - present | J2 TV Guide S4 Promo #2 by apieceofcake 
32 | 10.08.08 - present | J2 TV Guide S4 Promo by apieceofcake 
33 | 10.08.08 - present | Jared TV Guide S4 Promo by apieceofcake 
34 | 10.08.08 - present | Darcy--It's so Involved Being Me by kaatie 
35 | 10.08.08 - present | SPN Castiel Thursday Cometh by maharet83 

       

36 | 10.24.08 - present | SPN Weird with Crazy On Top by raloria 
37 | 10.24.08 - present | SPN Jensen Eye of the Tiger I Did Good by angstpuppy 
38 | 10.24.08 - present | SPN Jensen Eye of the Tiger Jensen Rocks by dodger_winslow 
39 | 10.24.08 - present | SPN Jensen Eye of the Tiger Pointing by librarianstash 
40 | 11.02.08 - present | Canoe - Green by growyourwings 

       

41 | 11.02.08 - present | Autumn Leaves by growyourwings 
42 | 11.02.08 - present | Wonder & Whimsy by growyourwings 
43 | 11.02.08 - present | Autumn Sunflower by pkabyssinian 
44 | 11.02.08 - present | Autumn Equinox by pkabyssinian 
45 | 11.02.08 - present | Autumn Pomegranate by pkabyssinian 



46 | 11.02.08 - present | Artistry by dgtall   growyourwings

I really love the one I loaded in January of this year.



Snagged it back in January from sweetgirl7808   from here.  But now I want something lighter, brighter.  Perhaps more J2 than Sam & Dean.  So I either have to figure out where to find more fandom-made LJ layout's I can snag or figure out how to do one myself.

I kinda want to do one myself.  The CSS coding doesn't really daunt me--I've done websites before.  But I'm not sure I'm up to designing a banner.  I'm not even sure I know what the dimensions should be.