A Great Friend, our 195th POTW, Patricia asked me how I was doing these Amazing and Special Graphics... After answering her, she suggested that I did a thread in my forum to explain it to my Friends... So, here it is ;-)
For those interested, here is what I do...
There are many steps involved...
1) search the internet for the graphic that would be suitable for what I want to create and save it to my hard drive;
2) come here in Adland and go to the picture - really at the picture page - of the Friend I want to feature and save his/her picture on my hard drive;
3) from where it has been saved on my computer - eg. in My Documents - I will open the picture simply using Microsoft Photo Editor, only if I need to somehow re frame the picture to better fit my needs;
4) then, I will use Microsoft Powerpoint to create it as I want - as I see it in my mind...
a) from Microsoft Powerpoint, import the first graphic saved from the internet and play with the size of it to fill up my originally blank page... so the image becomes full page;
b) from Microsoft Powerpoint, import the picture of my Friend on top of the other one; then, play with the size and place of it in order to have the image that I want;
c) from Microsoft Powerpoint, import a text box to add some text to that newly created picture - like "195th POTW" - and display it where I want it to be; I can again play with the size of it, the character type, the angle of display, the color, etc...
d) from Microsoft Powerpoint, when I am done creating what I want and that new picture is to my taste - hoping it is gonna meet the taste of my Friend - I go to the file tab, select save as - giving it the appropriate name - and, saving it as a picture using the "JPEG File Interchange Format"; this is done!
5) There is one final step... I need to find a place to bring that picture on to the internet and save it there so that I can use it in my different posts... I personally use FlickR @ http://www.flickr.com I find it being very easy and friendly user.
6) When my newly created picture is saved on to FlickR, I simply do as with any other graphic to go get it and add it to my posts... by getting the actual internet address of the picture.
It might look as being much complicated... This is simply a series of simple steps to follow to make something Special for a very Special Friend
Here are some examples...
Have fun with it... And, do not hesitate if you do need any additional info in the process of getting use to it... I will try to help You as much as I can...
With Lots of Friendship,
Blessings,
Alain