It's technology tip Tuesday!
I have written a tutorial for how to make a very basic banner for your TeacherspayTeachers store.
I have had so many requests to help people create their own banners.
There are many ways to do this, but my tutorial will primarily help people that have never attempted something like this before or with very limited skills in the area of design on the computer.
Hopefully you will have Microsoft PAINT on your computer. If you cannot locate it directly from your start button , try START, ALL PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, PAINT.
'Accessories' will be a little yellow folder in your program list.
1. Find Paint on your computer and open
2. Once Paint is open, from the drop down menu, select 'Properties'
3. Select 'Pixels' and add the exact dimensions from TpT 706x90 pixels
4. Select the rectangle from the shapes menu
5. Select a colour and then click and drag to make a rectangle. Click from the top right corner. Keep the rectangle within or just on the edge of your document.
6. You can now fill your rectangle shape. Choose a colour from the selection panel (this will show up as Colour 1). Click the fill tool. Then click on your rectangle. The rectangle will fill with your chosen colour.
7. Now its time to add text. Click on the text button, it's a capital A. Be sure to select a font that you have a commercial licence to use. For example, if you want to use a Kevin and Amanda font, they sell a commercial licence as well. You won't be able to give the credit they require to use their 'free' fonts, on your blog button - it just won't fit!
8. Click and drag to create a text box and then type your name. Make sure the 'Transparent' button is selected and that you have chosen the font colour that you would like to use.
9. Add some details if you wish. I used the circle shape tool to create polka dots on this one. You can also copy and paste clipart into paint as well. Be sure to use .png clipart files, as they will have a transparent background. Most likely, any clipart you put in, you will need to resize to make them fit. To do this, save an additional copy of your clipart, so your original is preserved. Open your clipart file in Paint, go to 'resize' and make it smaller (you may need to use trial and error to see what size you need... I always use the percentage tool, and reduce to 25% for example).
You will also need to check the terms of use of your clipart before you use it for a banner/logo. For example, the clipart that I sell at Graphics From the Pond is NOT to be used for a banner/logo without permission. Just email me or your designer of choice and ask them if you can have permission to use it in this way. You most likely will be allowed!
10. When you are done, choose SAVE AS from your menu. Save it as a PNG picture. It will be crisper on the screen that a JPEG.
11. Give your banner a file name and save it in a folder on your computer.
12. Now its time to upload it to your TeacherspayTeachers store. Go to your Dashboard. Select DRESS UP YOUR STORE.
13. Click on BROWSE and locate your saved banner from the folder you saved it to. Here you can see the one that is already loaded in my store.
Enter a link. The banner is clickable. This means that when a buyer clicks on it, it needs to have a web address embedded in the picture to take the buyer to. TpT has a rule that this MUST be a page on the TpT website (rightfully so!).
Choose either the home page of your store, or one of your favourite products. Copy and paste the URL (of the page of your choice) from your web browser and into this space.
It will take a day or so to get approval for you banner, so you will not see it straight away.
I hope that may have helped you create your own banner... or other wonderful creations with PAINT!