2.23.2012

Boost Your Blog // Using Your Color Palettes

Last week we learned how to use a really cool site called Colour Lovers to make some neat color palettes.  If you didn't see that post, check it here.  Making color palettes is a fun past time, but a while ago I realized I just had a load of palettes that I wasn't doing any thing with!  

If you played around on the site, you may have realized that you can create patterns using your color palettes, but I like the look of those little paint strips & wanted to use the color palette itself for something.  This got me thinking about blog improvement.

We all know that headers are super important on our blogs.  It's the first thing readers see when the come to your site & a good one can really make a simple blog layout pop.  You don't have to have fancy software to make a really cool blog, you just need to train your eye.  Blogger provides some really great customizing options & you can have a professional looking blog in no time! (There will be a really good post on this oh so soon!)

So to make a really cool & fun blog header, open your palette & click Your Screen to download the .png of your palette:


Open it up in the editor of your choice (I have Photoshop Elements) & crop it how you wish.  You can even use MS paint on your computer to edit it....you don't have to be fancy:



Add your text (you can get free fonts from places like DaFont, etc. I always like to read the license to make sure I can use it).  After I added the text, I cropped this one down some more:



Experiment with tall banners, small banners, wide banners, etc.  See what you like.  Add shapes & textures if you're fancy or keep it simple.  Even crop it down to a square for your blog button!

Making a few will also help you decide which color palette you'd like to use on your blog if you have a some you haven't really decided on.  This will give you a jumping off point for customizing your blog through blogger.

You can even make a seamless pattern & use it create a blog banner, too:

So start playing around on Colour Lovers & find some colors you'd like to adopt as your favorite!

What would you do with your color palettes?


5 comments:

  1. This is great! I can't wait to try it! My blog is definitely not a beautiful one... considering I haven't really formatted anything. :( But this is definitely a good way to start! Thank you for sharing!

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  2. Fascinating idea for building banners! I never would've thought to just clip out a color palette to use. Very simple yet very effective!

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  3. Thank you for sharing this! I've been blogging for about a year right now, and I'm trying to figure out some things to take it to the next level. Your "Boost your blog" series is giving me some great ideas.

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Hi there, thanks so much for taking the time to comment. I love &value each & every one! If you have a question, I will respond as soon as I can. Don't be afraid to shoot me an email! If you have a blog, I will pop on by :)