How to Make Your Own Craft Blog Header with Gimp

Nowadays, craft blogs are huge. They are essentially online craft diaries that catalog all of your finished and work-in-progress projects. They are also social communities that enable crafters to share their creations and connect with fellow art-lovers and peers.

When you first decide to start a craft blog, you will more than likely want a blog design, logo or blog name that lets your readers know what you’re about -- especially if you haven’t published any posts yet. Your blog’s header is perhaps the best way to start as it is the first thing people will see when they arrive at your blog.

You don’t need expensive software or a web-master in order to create your blog’s custom header. Gimp is a free, easy-to-use photo-editing software tool that can allow you to do just that. To start, you will want to create a “new project” that is approximately 800 pixels wide by 140 pixels tall in a 72 dpi resolution. Anything larger than that can become distorted.

Next, you will want to choose a background. You can choose to keep the background white, add a background color, or add a layer that contains a background design. Many background papers can be found with a simple Google search. Keep in mind that if you choose to use a background, it should be a background that isn’t too busy or your logo and/or font will be hard to see.

Next, you will need to add clip-art or pictures. For my blog, I downloaded clip-art from Fotolia.com and made a few tweaks before re-saving it as a .jpeg. You can easily add your clip-art to your header with a simple copy/paste. To move your image, make sure your “move tool” icon has been chosen or your image will be anchored and you will not be able to adjust it. Continue adding your clip-art/photo images until you are satisfied with placement and then “merge layers.” It is best to place your images prior to adding text just simply because it is easier to see how big your font should be and where you would like it placed. (If at any time you don’t like the placement, simply click “undo” until you are satisfied with the layout).

Now that all of your images are set, you will need to add text. Again, the text placement, size, color and readability is paramount in terms of your blog’s header because it is the first thing your readers will see. Gimp itself contains a wide variety of fonts that you can use, re-size, re-color, and shape, but if you’re looking for an even larger variety, websites such as dafont.com,fontgarden.com or fontstock.net offer hundreds of free downloads in handwritten, script, modern and many other themes.

Once your header is to your liking, save your file in .jpeg or .png format. You will now be able to upload your blog header just as you would any picture.

When in the process of creating your custom blog header, save your header each time you add a new element. You may find that once your header is complete, you are not happy with an element and will want to go back and fix it. It is much harder to edit your header once all layers have been merged and saved as one new file.