Powered by Pastries

Powered by Pastries is MOVING

Hello friends, Powered by Pastries is moving to Pugly Pixel! I'm going to combine my graphics and tutorial blogs into one and Pugly Pixel will be the place to be.

All the tutorials and free layouts have already been copied over to Pugly Pixel's Tutorials Section. The tutorials that are here will stay here for a little bit longer, but please be aware that all NEW Blog Tips, Photoshop Tricks and all new Free Blogger Layouts will post at Pugly Pixel from now on.

More news: I'm going to announce some affordable and high quality video-rich e-Lectures that will show you how to build your own Lemon Meringue Layout from scratch. I'll announce more details in the weeks to come, so please remember to update your RSS feed so that you don't miss a thing!

Subscribe to Pugly Pixel's RSS Feed

♥ credits:
vintage envelope: fuzzimo

CSS is Like Fashion Blogging

I've received numerous CSS-related emails and my overall impression is that many people are hesitant to edit the CSS in their blogs. There is a grave misconception about CSS and how it's just for geeks -- this is not true. Speaking in style comes naturally to all of us. To show what I mean, I made a screencast that will put it all into perspective. Check out the video to understand how your natural sense of style can be applied to understanding CSS.

Need an HTML and CSS primer? Check out the screencasts I made here.

How to Make Your Own Tileable Wallpaper

This tutorial was inspired by the seamless and tileable floral patterns I made for my premium members at Pugly Pixel. I thought that you might enjoy making some of your own so I made this short and easy to follow tutorial.

The graphics used in this screencast were provided by The Graphics Fairy. If you want to follow along, you can download the floral ephemera directly from her site, or you can download a set with the backgrounds conveniently removed for you from our collaboration last year.

The screencast is best viewed in fullscreen, HD. Let's get started! :)

How Do I Add a Horizontal Nav Bar: PART 2

Here's the second installment of the three-part series on how to add a horizontal navigation bar in Blogger -- this time, using your own custom HTML and CSS. Using the techniques you learn here, you can create a navigation bar that suits your aesthetic. The screencast is best viewed in HD, full screen. :)

If you have any questions about the HTML or CSS that I use in this video, please watch the Web Basics videos -- they're a good place to start if you're new to HTML and CSS.

Check out my blog demo here.

Thanks to everyone who submitted layout questions to my Formspring account, and a hearty thank you to my screencast volunteers! I will answer every question in a blog post or a screencast tutorial.

Today I will begin by answering this frequently asked question: "How can I get rid of drop shadows"? I'm going to show you how to banish drop shadows in a short demo. I'll be working on Marangelie Caballero's blog. :)