Showing posts with label Graphics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Graphics. Show all posts

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Free Tools to Make Your New Year Shine!

One of the best things about owning your own business is being able to create new items for business use.  The only thing that isn't awesome about that is that many of the programs that give you the most ability cost a significant amount of money.  The purpose of this post is to give you free alternatives (most of which I use myself) to allow you to create professional-looking graphics, documents, etc.  If you have tools that aren't mentioned, please post a description of the program and a link to where you can get it in a comment!
  • GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program has virtually all of the tools and utilities of Adobe Photoshop except for the price!
  • OpenOffice - Apache OpenOffice is an Office Suite with all the capabilities of Microsoft Word.  In fact, it can open MS office documents and save in their formats.  When you download it, it comes with a whole ton of options including:  Writer (equivlent of Word), Calc (equivalent of Excel), Impress (equivalent of PowerPoint), Draw (better than Paint ever tried to be), Base (equivalent of Access), and Math (does mathematical formulas; not sure there's a MS equivalent).
  • CutePDF - The CutePDF Writer allows you to take a single page (or pages) out of any PDF document and save them individually.  Their Editor allows you to combine multiple PDF documents into one and save it.
  • CollageIt - This photo collage maker can randomize collages of your nails, pictures from parties, or anything and make them look amazing.  I use this at least once a week!
  • WiseStamp - This free program creates a custom, professional email signature that you can add to your emails.  Mine looks like this
    photo Jennifer Forbes
    Independent Consultant Jamberry Nails

Websites

  • MailChimp - Mail Chimp can help you create amazing mailings to your clients for absolutely free!
  • Pinterest - Seriously, you can get amazing graphics on Pinterest that you can't find anywhere else!
  • Jamberry Documents - This Facebook Page is the second best place to get graphics!  If you can't access it, request me to add you to the group. 
Homework:  Post which, if any of these websites and programs you think you'll use in the next year.  Due tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Using Polyvore

If you're anything like me, you see these neat little pictures that get posted with clothes and accessories that coordinate with Jamberry shields and think, "How did they do that?"  As usual, I decided to try to figure it out. It took me an hour to figure out how to add Jams to my picture and save it to my computer, so I decided to help you out and show you how I did it.  If you have a better way, please make your own tutorial.  For now, this is how I made this picture:
To start, you're going to need a few things.  I recommend using a browser that has multiple tabs so you can switch between websites easier.
  1. You'll need a membership to Polyvore.  This seems pretty obvious, but I figure I should mention it.
  2. You'll need the Polyvore Clipper.  Follow that link.  It has really good instructions.
  3. You'll need a Pinterest account.  We'll get to that shortly.
Okay, on with how this works.  Polyvore is a community powered social commerce website. Members curate products into a shared product index and use them to create image collages called "Sets".  That's what you're going to create.

Log into Polyvore and click "Create" and then "Set."

This part is up to you.  Select a dress or a top and pants that you can see coordinating with a Jamberry design.  You place them on the board by dragging them from the right panel into the left then resizing them to work with your scheme.  As you see here, I chose a shirt with Peacock accents and black pants.
You can stop here, but most of the designs you see around social media have some accessories that also coordinate.  Create a complete look, but leave room for your Jams!
Now that you've got a look, it's time to add your Jams.  The problem is that Polyvore doesn't have Jamberry shields already programmed in, and you can't import them directly from the website.  However, you can import them from Pinterest.  So, here's what we're going to do.
Open your website (or the generic Jamberry one) and choose a nail shield that coordinates with your outfit.  Click the "Pin It" button to the right.
This will open up a dialogue where you choose the image you're going to pin.  Choose the Jamberry design.
Now open the Pinterest board you just pinned to and open the same image.
Click the "Clip to Polyvore" link on your bookmark bar and (again) choose the Jamberry design from the dialogue.
Once you've done that, you're going to head back to your Polyvore set creation.  Click on the tab that says "My Items" and it will open to show any and all Jamberry designs you've imported in this way.
Now drag the design you want into the left panel like you did with the clothing and accessories.
Click the blue publish button and give your set a name and description.  I'm not very good at those yet.
This set will automatically share to Facebook if you keep the check box checked.  However, saving the picture can be difficult as the elements are still separated in Polyvore.  To fix that, I pin my creation to my Pinterest board and save it from there.
There you go.  How to create and save Polyvore images with Jamberry Nail Designs!