Code for Crafters :: Images 101

By tara on March 10, 2010

You asked for it! Basics. I’m going to *attempt* to teach you a few things via video tutorial. This is my very first attempt and I know it needs work – but I also know you need this information!

Fair warning, you’ll need to turn your speakers up.

In this short slideshow, you’ll learn the basic parts of linking & displaying an image – visually.

I’ll be working on more installments soon!

Updated! March 11, 2010

Here’s a second look at the code so that you can reference the structure easily.

How can you use your new knowledge? Great question!

  • Edit your images within blog posts to specify “titles” and “alt” text. Simply click “HTML editor” or “Code Editor” on your blog platform’s post editor. Then look for the code that looks like what’s above. Hint: It’s the stuff that’s not the text of your post ;)
  • Create “buttons” in your sidebar with images. You’ll want to use a “text widget” in Wordpress or other generic widget in your own blog platform. You’ll need to write the code by yourself – but you can do it!

Want an opportunity to play & practice? My very favorite place to learn about & mess with code is on the W3 Schools site. Hey, people, they literally wrote the book on this – they invented it. To practice with image code, go here.

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my story

By tara on March 9, 2010

from formspring:
How did you go from studying religion in college to being Scoutie Girl?

latte art

My personal journey from high school to college, college to full-time work, and full-time work to mom to career, has been a convoluted one. I’m flattered that you’d even ask! But if my story can:

  1. help you to understand me better. or
  2. inspire one person that she can do it too

then it’s completely worth writing.

I didn’t start as a religion major, I applied to Lebanon Valley College as a music education major. To prepare me, I “interned” with my high school band director my senior year of high school. I quickly discovered that I was too big a perfectionist to teach kids music and that I wasn’t talented enough to teach anyone older or more experienced!

So, I entered LVC as a music (trombone) & religion double major.

During my four years, I switched back & forth from one to the other – ultimately graduating with a major in religion, minor (just a few credits shy of major) in music. What I discovered in all of this was a real passion for writing & communicating – oh, and a healthy dose of earth-shaking theology.

My senior year of college, I was completely hooked on religion. I applied to grad school and was accepted on a full-tuition scholarship to Syracuse University to study with one of my theology crushes. Freaking Awesome. I graduated, got a summer job, and waited to move out-of-state and start my life as an academic.

Oh… that summer job… I wanted to be surrounded by my old love: books or my new love: coffee. Luckily for me, I got a job as a barista at bookstore. Sweet! I could buy all the pretentious books I wanted & sip discounted coffee while doing it! I was hooked. A bit too hooked. Oh, and I’m still hooked on the caffeine.

Two weeks before I was to leave for Syracuse, my supervisor quit. Crisis of conscience. I could take a full time job at the place I love & figure out where my life was headed. Or I could follow a path I seemed destined for but offered no clear cut future. Crap. I took the job.

And I worked. hard. and harder. I made my way up the ladder, I took a frighteningly low level of pay to help run a multi-million store, manage human resources, supervise merchandising, and run a coffee shop. The company cut jobs around me and my pay stayed the same even as my responsibilities increased.

When I was 8 months pregnant, my general manager left for a new job. I applied, as I had been trained & groomed for the position. After a killer interview, I had a lot of confidence that I would have a great job & a pay increase to come back to after Lola was born. A week before I gave birth, I got a call from another manager that the position was filled. Not by me.

Obviously, I can’t make any claims that I was discriminated against due to my pregnancy, but I can tell you that that’s what it felt like.

So I had my baby, took my disability leave, stayed out my FMLA, and then quit.

I started out helping my mom with her Etsy business. Learning the ropes of marketing, teaching myself to blog again (I first started blogging in college), and discovering a thriving community of women just like me. In December 2008, my mom gave me the idea for Handmade in PA, my first serious blog.

It thrived! I was on cloud nine knowing that I had created something of value to people. I met Jan, the founder of Scoutie Girl, through Handmade in PA, after discovering through a coincidence of photography, that we lived just two blocks away from each other. We kept in touch, Handmade in PA grew & grew, and all the while Jan’s business grew in a way that made maintaining Scoutie Girl near impossible.

We began discussing the possibility of me taking over the SG side of her business. Slowly, very slowly, the idea took hold. And in July 2009, I purchased Scoutie Girl and took over editorial control.

I still go to the bookstore often. Last time I went, I saw a woman who worked for me & struggled with her dreams, never seeming to make them reality. She asked me what I was doing now: “I write.”

Wow. That’s what I do for a living: I write. I communicate. I call my own shots.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

{image credit: dennis wong via flickr}

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me and lola

By tara on March 7, 2010

tara gentile & lola

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quick tip: linking to your etsy shop

By tara on March 5, 2010

example etsy url

this is probably how you’re used to typing your etsy shop address. easy to remember, easy to tell someone, easy to put on a business card. it looks great without the “http://” and gives your brand a little zip!

but: it’s not giving you everything it could be!

that etsy address of yours has always been handy but it’s always resolved to another URL, the URL your shop is actually located it. up until a few months ago, your actual URL involved a random user id number. well, it doesn’t anymore!

example etsy shop URL

now your etsy URL looks like this (above). that’s the URL your shop actually resides at, no resolving or redirecting. whenever you’re linking to your shop on your blog, twitter, facebook, or anywhere that search engines may scan, use this URL.

if you’re telling people your shop URL in “real life” or using it in printed marketing materials – even in email marketing! – feel free to use the easier to remember URL (top).

nailing your shop URL is a quick & easy way to improve your shop’s SEO and page rank!

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great question! blogging controversial topics

By tara on March 4, 2010

From formspring:
I am a Christian and I don’t necessarily want to market my art to Christians. But it is hard for me not to talk about God on my blog. Do I just not go there, or do I just share who I am because it is authentic? Feeling torn.

Great question! It comes back to my whole theory on using social media (that includes blogging): for it to work, you have to be you! And you define who you are by what you choose to share with your audience.

If you faith is important to you & inspires your work, you owe it to your audience to share it with them. You don’t have to do it in a pushy way or even blatantly, but you should definitely share it.

The same goes for political or social convictions that may be controversial. If you present your views as a part of your art & a part of who you are, few people will argue with you. You can probably even advocate for your own views & beliefs in you are careful to do so respectfully and with passion.

I think I do this on a daily basis – but you probably don’t even realize it! I’m pretty liberal politically – okay, really liberal – and I feel that that informs my conviction to buy & support handmade/independent business. It also informs my desire to buy “green” whenever possible and encourage others to do so, as well.

But I have no misconceptions that you have to be a flaming liberal to hold those opinions.

So I might use that as a barometer for your own faith. Please tell people what informs & inspires your work – but accept – and love! – that others may appreciate your work & ideals without holding the same beliefs.

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